Aerodynamic design and Aeroelasticity analysis of Vertical Axis Wind Turbine farms

The wind energy market is driven by Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWTs), however, Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs) have the potential to outperform them. Although VAWTs are considered to have lower aerodynamic efficiencies, recent studies show that VAWTs, in array configurations, are much better suited for future wind farms by producing significantly more power per square meter.

The fatigue issues and material failures, due to cyclic stresses in the earlier VAWTs designs, have been a major problem faced by the wind industry which has prevented unlocking the potential of VAWTs for wind energy conversion. Recent advances in computational modelling have enabled an in-depth understanding of the aerodynamic and fluid-structure interactions of wind turbines. These tools can be used to investigate the applications of new structures and innovative blade designs to overcome most of the fatigue issues for VAWTs.

The overall aim of this research is to enhance the integration of numerical and experimental models with real-condition wind farms data and innovative geometries to reveal the potential high performance of VAWTs both individually and in array configurations. As a case study, the proposed method will be used to investigate and optimise the aerodynamics and structural integrity of an innovative VAWT which is designed to withstand strong winds.

The co-supervised PhD student at Northumbria University will be involved in computational and experimental modelling and optimisation of wind turbines using an in-house code and wind tunnels. Experimental investigations in the industry will be used to validate the numerical model aerodynamic performance and aeroelastic instabilities predictions.