3D Aerodynamic Effects and Circulation Control of Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

The vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) concept in its current, fixed-pitch iteration is hindered by lower aerodynamic efficiency compared to existing horizontal axis wind turbines. Implementing a form of circulation control on the VAWT by actively pitching the blades throughout the turbine’s rotation could potentially enhance power capture...

Aerodynamic modelling of vertical axis wind turbine struts: Using the lifting line method CACTUS

This research presents the modelling of struts of a vertical axis wind turbine and its effects on the wake and performance. The 3D non-linear lifting line solver CACTUS is extended to include the struts in the rotor as lifting bodies. A case study is performed for different strut configurations in the rotor, with the focus set on the inclination...

Investigating the potential of load and power control on a VAWT through active pitch control in 2D

Within this thesis influence of thrust vectoring for VAWTs, controlling the magnitude and direction of the thrust vector with respect to the freestream, is investigated through active pitch actuation. The H-type Darrieus VAWT is modelled in 2D through the actuator cylinder model with the Mod-Lin correction included. The evaluations are performed...

Double actuator cylinder (AC) model of a tandem vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) counter-rotating rotor concept operating in different wind conditions

The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the influence between the two counter-rotating VAWT rotors with the Double Actuator Cylinder (DAC) model which will be validated against the panel code. The DAC model is developed from the original Actuator Cylinder (AC) model which includes the Modified-Linear (Mod-Lin) correction. The original AC model for...

Hybrid Eulerian-Lagrangian Vortex Particle Method: A fast and accurate numerical method for 2D Vertical-Axis Wind Turbine

The wake geometry of a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) is unlike the standard Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT). The blades of the turbine continuously passes through its own wake, creating complex wake-body interactions such as flow separation and dynamic stall, and convectional grid-based numerical method which is capable of describing...