Effect of Auxiliary Blade on Aerodynamic Characteristics of Vertical Axis Wind Turbine by Numerical Simulation

Abstract

In order to improve the aerodynamic characteristics of the Straight-bladed Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (SB-VAWT), a rotor structure with auxiliary blade installed behind the main blade was proposed in this study. To investigate the effects of relative thickness and the fixing angle of the auxiliary blade on aerodynamic characteristics of SB-VAWT, numerical simulations were carried out. Two shapes of NACA 4-digital series blade-section, NACA0018 and NACA0024, were selected as the main blades in this work. Effects of relative thickness and fixing angles of auxiliary blade on the aerodynamic performance of SB-VAWT had been analyzed in detail, which had 5 kinds of relative thickness and 3 kinds of fixing angles combined into 13 working conditions. And the main blades and the auxiliary blades were also decided as the NACA series airfoil with five kinds of relative thickness. Three kinds of fixing angle of auxiliary blade installed behind main blade were used including 0°, 5°, and 10°. The simulations included the output power coefficients, the static torque coefficients, and the flow fields around the main blade and auxiliary blade for both the dynamic and static conditions at some typical azimuth angles. The results show that the auxiliary blade with certain relative thickness and fixing angle can improve the output power characteristics and static torque characteristics of SB-VAWT, which can also provide research reference for improving the performance of VAWT.