Numerical study of flow through a Savonius wind turbine

Abstract

The main objective is intended to be the numerical investigation to determine the structure of the real flow in a fixed Savonius wind turbine. A secondary objective of this numerical study will be to obtain the aerodynamic performance of studied wind turbine and also information about velocity field around the rotor.

Due to its principle of operation and the continuous variation of flow angle with respect to blades, strong unsteady effects including separation and vortex shedding are observed in a Savonius wind turbine . The flow analysis helps to qualify the design of the wind turbine and to assess the quality of numerical simulations, data concerning the mechanism of torque creation, the vortex structure downstream of the rotor and aerodynamic performance. The numerical investigation is carried out using open source CFD software.The main tasks will be:- State of the art of efficient wind turbines- Theoretical study of a Savonius wind turbine- Study of the different available geometries of Savonius - Choose the best numerical solver for the flow simulation and learn how to use it- Design and construction of the Savonius wind turbine geometry and mesh- Numerical running- Results analysis