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ABSTRACT
In this study, the H-Rotor vertical axis wind turbines with and without winglets are simulated by ANSYS CFX software based on structured meshing technology and incompressible continuity Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equations (RANS) solver. It is shown that the CFD and experimental results of the rotor power coefficient have a good agreement during the range of calculations. The rotor power coefficient of H-type vertical axis wind turbine with winglets is 10% to 19% higher than that of the original H-type vertical axis wind turbine. In each revolution, the output torque of H-type vertical axis wind turbine with winglets is larger than that of the original H-type vertical axis wind turbine at every azimuth angle; the maximum torque increases by 12.8% and the negative torque is avoided when tip ratio reaches 1.53; the minimum and maximum thrust increase by 26.7% and 3.4%. The vorticity distribution at the tips of wingletted H-Rotor blades are weaker than the H-Rotor without winglets. The aerodynamic performance of the near region of blade tips is improved. Winglets increase the overall torque-generating, but does not improve it at every azimuth angle for each blade. The reported results may provide a valuable reference or benchmark for the design and optimization of future wingletted H-Rotor VAWTs.
Acknowledgments
The authors are thankful for the financial support from “the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities” (under Grant No. 2018B48614 & Grant No. 2019B67014), Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (under Grant No. SJKY19_0430), and the first group of 2011 plan of China’s Jiangsu (under Grant No. [2013]56).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Xin Cai
Xin Cai, A professor of engineering mechanics in the college of mechanics and materials, Hohai University. Mainly engaged in the application research of modern design theory and method of complex civil engineering, water conservancy engineering structure and renewable energy structure. Responsible for a number of projects such as the National Natural Science Foundation, the national "12th Five Year" science and technology support plan, and the Doctoral Program Fund of institutions of higher learning. In recent years, a series of achievements have been made in the research of new hydraulic structure, safety and energy saving efficiency of rural small hydro-power projects, wind turbine structure system, coastal beach reclamation engineering technology, etc.
Yuan Zhang
Yuan Zhang, A PhD student of engineering mechanics in the college of mechanics and materials, Hohai University. Research on aerodynamics of wind turbines. Current research is multi-rotor system wind turbines.
Wenxiang Ding
Wenxiang Ding, A postgraduate student of engineering mechanics in the college of mechanics and materials, Hohai University. Research on aerodynamics of wind turbines. Current work is on transmission system of wind turbines.
Saixian Bian
Saixian Bian, A PhD student of engineering mechanics in the college of mechanics and materials, Hohai University. Research direction is structural optimization design, and currently studying lattice wind turbine tower.