Darrieus wind turbines are experiencing a renewed interest in the wind energy scenario, in particular, whenever small and medium-size installations are considered. In these contexts, the average wind speeds are generally quite low due to scale effects and therefore the most exploited design choices for the turbines are the H-shape configuration, as the entire blade can take advantage of the maximum rotational radius, and high chord to radius ratios, in order to ensure suitable Reynolds numbers on the airfoils. By doing so, the aerodynamic effects induced by the motion of the airfoils in a curved flowpath become more evident and the airfoils themselves have to be designed to compensate these phenomena if conventional design tools based on the blade element momentum (BEM) theory are used. In this study, fully unsteady 2D simulations were exploited to analyze a three-bladed H-Darrieus wind turbine in order to define the real flow structure and its effects on the turbine performance; in detail, the influence of both the virtual camber and the virtual incidence were investigated. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) results were supported by experimental data collected on full-scale models reproducing two different airfoil mountings. Finally, the proper design criteria to compensate these phenomena are proposed and their benefits on a conventional simulation with a BEM approach are discussed.
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January 2015
Research-Article
Blade Design Criteria to Compensate the Flow Curvature Effects in H-Darrieus Wind Turbines
Francesco Balduzzi,
Francesco Balduzzi
Department of Industrial Engineering,
Via di Santa Marta 3,
e-mail: balduzzi@vega.de.unifi.it
University of Florence
,Via di Santa Marta 3,
Firenze 50139
, Italy
e-mail: balduzzi@vega.de.unifi.it
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Alessandro Bianchini,
Alessandro Bianchini
Department of Industrial Engineering,
Via di Santa Marta 3,
e-mail: bianchini@vega.de.unifi.it
University of Florence
,Via di Santa Marta 3,
Firenze 50139
, Italy
e-mail: bianchini@vega.de.unifi.it
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Riccardo Maleci,
Riccardo Maleci
Department of Industrial Engineering,
Via di Santa Marta 3,
e-mail: maleci@vega.de.unifi.it
University of Florence
,Via di Santa Marta 3,
Firenze 50139
, Italy
e-mail: maleci@vega.de.unifi.it
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Giovanni Ferrara,
Giovanni Ferrara
Department of Industrial Engineering,
Via di Santa Marta 3,
e-mail: giovanni.ferrara@unifi.it
University of Florence
,Via di Santa Marta 3,
Firenze 50139
, Italy
e-mail: giovanni.ferrara@unifi.it
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Lorenzo Ferrari
Lorenzo Ferrari
CNR-ICCOM,
Via Madonna del Piano 10,
e-mail: lorenzo.ferrari@iccom.cnr.it
National Research Council of Italy
,Via Madonna del Piano 10,
Sesto Fiorentino 50019
, Italy
e-mail: lorenzo.ferrari@iccom.cnr.it
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Francesco Balduzzi
Department of Industrial Engineering,
Via di Santa Marta 3,
e-mail: balduzzi@vega.de.unifi.it
University of Florence
,Via di Santa Marta 3,
Firenze 50139
, Italy
e-mail: balduzzi@vega.de.unifi.it
Alessandro Bianchini
Department of Industrial Engineering,
Via di Santa Marta 3,
e-mail: bianchini@vega.de.unifi.it
University of Florence
,Via di Santa Marta 3,
Firenze 50139
, Italy
e-mail: bianchini@vega.de.unifi.it
Riccardo Maleci
Department of Industrial Engineering,
Via di Santa Marta 3,
e-mail: maleci@vega.de.unifi.it
University of Florence
,Via di Santa Marta 3,
Firenze 50139
, Italy
e-mail: maleci@vega.de.unifi.it
Giovanni Ferrara
Department of Industrial Engineering,
Via di Santa Marta 3,
e-mail: giovanni.ferrara@unifi.it
University of Florence
,Via di Santa Marta 3,
Firenze 50139
, Italy
e-mail: giovanni.ferrara@unifi.it
Lorenzo Ferrari
CNR-ICCOM,
Via Madonna del Piano 10,
e-mail: lorenzo.ferrari@iccom.cnr.it
National Research Council of Italy
,Via Madonna del Piano 10,
Sesto Fiorentino 50019
, Italy
e-mail: lorenzo.ferrari@iccom.cnr.it
Contributed by the International Gas Turbine Institute (IGTI) of ASME for publication in the JOURNAL OF TURBOMACHINERY. Manuscript received July 15, 2014; final manuscript received July 30, 2014; published online September 4, 2014. Editor: Ronald Bunker.
J. Turbomach. Jan 2015, 137(1): 011006 (10 pages)
Published Online: September 4, 2014
Article history
Received:
July 15, 2014
Revision Received:
July 30, 2014
Citation
Balduzzi, F., Bianchini, A., Maleci, R., Ferrara, G., and Ferrari, L. (September 4, 2014). "Blade Design Criteria to Compensate the Flow Curvature Effects in H-Darrieus Wind Turbines." ASME. J. Turbomach. January 2015; 137(1): 011006. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4028245
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