Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) CFD Simulation by Mesh Motion Method, ANSYS Fluent Training

Description

Description

The present problem simulates the air around a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) by ANSYS Fluent software. In the present case, it is assumed that three blades of a wind turbine are rotating with a rotational velocity of 2.8285 rad/sec while the air is blowing at the speed of 7 m/s.

This simulation shows how the air treats around the moving blades of the wind turbine, presenting different solution parameters. The dynamic stall phenomenon is also considerable.

The geometry of the present model is three-dimensional and has been designed using Design Modeler software. We do the meshing of the present model by ANSYS Meshing software. The mesh type is Hybrid (Structured and Unstructured), and the element number is 904,145.

Methodology: Vertical  Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT)

The Mesh Motion method is enabled to model the rotational movement of the wind turbine. The solution is Unsteady (Transient), and the Standard K-Ꜫ model is chosen to simulate the turbulence of the flow.

Conclusion

Since the main purpose of the issue is to investigate air movement around a Virtual Axis Wind Turbine, its related contours can be shown in the figures. Two-dimensional contours related to pressure, velocity, as well as turbulent intensity were obtained.

In the case of pressure, it is visible that the amount of air pressure in front of the blade’s zone is critical. Also, the wakes around the blades are visible in the velocity contour.