Renewable Energy 89 (2016) 231e244

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Renewable Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

Effect of twist angle on the performance of Savonius wind turbine

Jae-Hoon Lee, Young-Tae Lee, Hee-Chang Lim*
School of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, 2, Busandaehak-ro 63beon-gil, Geumjeong-gu, Busan, 46241, Republic of Korea

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 28 January 2015
Received in revised form
30 October 2015
Accepted 6 December 2015
Available online 20 December 2015

This study aimed to understand the performance and shape characteristics of a helical Savonius wind
turbine at various helical angles. The power coefcient (Cp) at different tip speed ratios (TSRs) and torque
coefcient (CT) at different azimuths for helical blade angles of 0
, 45
, 90
, and 135
were observed
under the conditions of a constant projection area and aspect ratio. The numerical results discussed in
this paper were obtained using an incompressible unsteady Reynolds average NaviereStokes (k- RNG)
model. A numerical analysis in the unsteady state was used to examine the ow characteristics in 1

steps from 0
to 360
. In addition, an experiment was performed at a large-scale wind tunnel, and the
results were compared with those of the numerical analysis. Wind speed correction was also employed
because of the blockage effect between the wind turbine and wind tunnel. Our results showed that the
maximum power coefcient (Cp,max) values in both cases had similar tendencies for the TSR range
considered in this study, i.e. from 0.4 to 0.8, except for the twist angle of 45
. The Cp,max occurred at the
twist angle of 45
, whereas it decreased by 25.5% at 90
and 135
. Regarding the CT values at various
azimuths, the results showed that the peak-to-peak values in the proles for 90
and 135
were less than
those for 0
and 45
.
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Numerical study
Savonius wind turbine
Helical blade
Maximum power coefcient
Q-criterion

1. Introduction
Because of the excessive use of fossil fuels, the world is facing
serious problems related to energy depletion and environmental
pollution. To overcome these problems, many alternatives to fossil
fuels have been proposed. Among these, renewable energy has
drawn much attention because of the signicant investments in
its research and development by governments and the diverse
policies established by governments to extend it to the private
sector. According to a report published by the [1]; the amount of
renewable energy generated is increasing yearly. In 2012, the
amount had grown by about 19% from the previous year. The capacity of wind energy in particular has increased compared to
other forms of renewable energy. The annual average growth rate
of wind power capacity from 2007 to 2012 was reported to be
about 25%.
Within wind energy, horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs)
have attracted most of the attention during recent years. However,
vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) have an inherent advantage
over HAWTs. For example, in the case of VAWTs, the blade is easily

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: hclim@pusan.ac.kr (H.-C. Lim).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2015.12.012
0960-1481/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

manufactured, repaired, and maintained. Moreover, no tail or yaw

device for the wind direction is necessary, because the rotor blade is
installed vertically to the ground. Furthermore, VAWTs can
generate power even at relatively low wind speeds compared to
HAWTs, and they are also easy to install [2]. VAWTs can be classied
into two groups: the Darrieus and Savonius types. A Darrieus turbine is a device that uses the lift force generated by an airfoil,
whereas a Savonius turbine exploits the drag force. The Savonius
wind turbine, which was invented in 1929, has an inherently
simple shape compared to other types of wind turbines. Therefore,
the cost involved in its development can be lower. Furthermore, it
produces less noise and maintains stable performance at relatively
low wind speeds (see Refs. [3,4]).
Recently, a few studies have been conducted on the optimization of a VAWT based on an evolvement in the eld of experimental
study and numerical analysis [10]. and [11] numerically studied the
inuence of the overlap ratio of a Savonius wind rotor. The results
showed that the maximum performance appears at an overlap ratio
of 0.15. Regarding the numerical study with the steady Reynolds
average NaviereStokes (k- RNG) model, some recent papers
simulated the vertical axis wind turbine rotors (see [5e9,12,38]);
examined the inuences of the diameter-to-height aspect ratio of a
Savonius wind rotor and an increase in the number of stages on the
performance. They also analysed the performance of a Savonius

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J.-H. Lee et al. / Renewable Energy 89 (2016) 231e244

Fig. 1. Top view of Savonius wind turbine design.

wind turbine at a 90
twist angle. They reported that the performance at a low aspect ratio (0.88) was better than those at 0.93 and
1.17 [13,14]. performed a numerical analysis on a Savonius turbine
with either two or three blades. The results indicated that the twobladed rotor generated better power coefcients than the threebladed design. Furthermore, they attempted to optimize the
blade shape using evolutionary algorithms [15]. numerically studied the inuences of the number of blades, overlap ratio, twist
angle, and aspect ratio on the power coefcient [16]. conducted an
experiment using a helical blade in a wind tunnel. Their results
indicated that an increase in the twist angle enhanced the performance at low speeds. On the other hand, increasing the twist angles
resulted in a reduction in the net positive torque.

There has been some literature regarding the helical Savonius

wind turbines. (see Refs. [32e35]). However, have focused on their
specic cases. For instance [32]; studied the Savonius-Darrieus
turbine model combined with the k- turbulence model, and they
validated their numerical model through comparison with existing
results [34]. attempted to obtain performance data of a helical
Savonius turbine (45
), and interestingly, they found a marginal
increase in the power coefcient [35]. conducted numerical and
experimental studies on a variety of helical Savonius turbines (45
720
), but the software platform and test model used were not
reliable enough to support the power performance [33]. proposed a
guideline for designing an appropriate helical Savonius geometry
by utilising the calculus principles of denite integrals, which
would help to gain a basic understanding of the turbine design.
If we take into account existing studies, it is evident that many
previous researchers have focused on studying various shapes of
Savonius wind turbine. However, a closer look at the design parameters clearly shows that there is a lack of clear analysis results
that would indicate the effects of the helical angle on the performance of a VAWT. These previous studies encouraged us to develop
and optimise the Savonius wind turbine with different helical angles by means of an experiment and numerical calculation.
Therefore, the primary objective of this study was to investigate the
variation in the power coefcient and ow patterns of a wind
turbine at different helical angles based on a constant projection
area, which is the area of the wind rotor actually receiving the wind.
This paper is organized in the following manner: Section 2 outlines
the basic description of experimental and numerical methods with
various blade models. Section 3 describes the parametric analysis of
VAWTs under uniform wind ow. Section 4 explains the effect of
various blade parameters on Savonius VAWT, and Section 5 gives
the major conclusions.

2. Design of wind tunnel experiment

2.1. Denitions of wind turbine performance
Usually, it is not easy to evaluate the performance of wind rotors
with different shapes using a wind tunnel experiment. In addition,
it is time consuming to fabricate an appropriate measurement

Fig. 2. Top and side view of wind rotor shapes with different twist angle (solid line: contact line on the upper endplate, dashed line: lower endplate).

J.-H. Lee et al. / Renewable Energy 89 (2016) 231e244

233

Fig. 3. Various projection areas and blade shape of different azimuths.

system. In addition, because of the limited conditions implanted in

the boundary condition, a numerical simulation cannot be applied
effortlessly. Therefore, we utilized both approaches in this study,
whereas most studies have focused on and used only one. In order
to dene the wind turbine performance and evaluate the interactive ow characteristics between the uid ow and rotational
blades, it is generally important to express the performance using
well-known non-dimensional parameters. These parameters Cp, CT,
and TSR were used. In particular, Cp is a coefcient used to present
the wind rotor performance.
The Reynolds number based on the conguration of the wind
turbine is expressed as

rV H
Re
m

(1)

where V and H are the velocity at the tunnel freestream and the
height of the Savonius turbine, respectively. In this study, V and H
are taken as 8 m/s and 10 m/s and 2.1 m, respectively. Therefore, the
Reynolds numbers used in this study are 1.8106 and 1.44106 for
the experiment and simulation, respectively.
In addition, in order to dene the power and torque coefcients
(Cp and CT, respectively), the dynamic effects of the rotational wind
turbine need to be considered; therefore, the hydraulic diameter Dh
of the Savonius turbine is used to form an appropriate projection
area A.

Dh

2D  H
DH

where D is the diameter of the Savonius turbine.

TSR is dened as the ratio of the blade tip linear speed to the
undisturbed ow speed. TSR can be expressed in Eqn (3), where R
denotes the rotor radius [m], n is the revolutions per minute [rpm],
and V is the free stream wind speed [m/s].

TSR

uR
2pRn

V 60V

Average area

f0

f45

f90

f135

0.296
0.297
0.297
0.297

m2
m2
m2
m2

Maximum area
0.392
0.386
0.366
0.335

m2
m2
m2
m2

Minimum area
0.136
0.183
0.229
0.268

m2
m2
m2
m2

(3)

The power coefcient Cp is the ratio of the power produced by

the wind rotor to the power available at a specic wind speed. The
power coefcient can be calculated using Eqn (4), where T represents the torque [N,m], r is the air density [kg,m3], and A is the
area covered by the rotor [m2].

Table 1
Average, maximum, and minimum projection areas at different twist angles.
Twist angle

(2)

Fig. 4. Experimental setup used for wind tunnel test.

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J.-H. Lee et al. / Renewable Energy 89 (2016) 231e244

Fig. 5. Experimental setup used for wind tunnel test.

Cp

Tu
3
0:5rAV

(4)

The torque coefcient CT can be calculated using Eqn (5). In a

case where the wind rotor lift is used to determine the rotational
force, the torque can be generated using the moment due to the lift
produced by the rotating plane of the blade. On the other hand, in
the case of a drag-type wind rotor, the torque is generated using the
moment due to the drag.

CT

T
2
0:5rARV

(5)

2.2. Design of helical Savonius blade shape

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, a variety of parameters are used to
design a helical Savonius wind turbine blade. Some representative
design parameters are as follows: the aspect ratio (a), overlap ratio
(b), twist angle (f), and azimuth angle (q). The aspect ratio a0 is
dened as the ratio of the height (H) to the diameter (D) of the
blade, as shown in Eqn (6). In order to nd the inuence of the
aspect ratio, this study considered the effective a0 as one of the
primary parameters, which may increase the rotor performance
efciency, as reported in previous papers (see Refs. [13,19]).

H
a
D

(6)

and lower end-plates of the blades. In order to properly join all the
blades and stabilize the ow around them, the use of both upper
and lower end-plates was the best choice, as previously suggested
(see Refs. [20,21]). Regarding the aspect ratio, a was set to 1.33:1,
which was considered to be the optimum shape [19]. Overlap ratio
b was set to 0.167, and end-plates were installed. In order to
conduct an experiment and numerical analysis based on different
twist angles, we made four different models: - 0
, 45
, 90
, and
135
.
In the case of a Savonius wind rotor, the projection area would
change along a cycle of rotation when two blades are rotating.
Therefore, when the blades are rotating, a performance evaluation
needs to consider a full cycle. Depending on the twist angle, the
projection area appears to have a variety of shapes: a nut, ellipsoid,
almost circle, etc. At a twist angle of 0
, the projection area has the
shape of two partly overlapping circles. As the twist angle increases, however, the projection area turns into an ellipsoid shape,
as indicated in Fig. 3. Therefore, the various projection area shapes
at different twist angles were taken into consideration in this study.
Note that even at different twist angles, the wind turbine was
designed to have projection areas with identical average sizes. The
maximum, minimum, and average projection areas are listed in
Table 1. The gures in this table indicate that the difference between the minimum and maximum projection areas became lower
as the twist angle increased.
2.3. Wind tunnel experiment
The experiments were carried out in a large-scale boundary

b0 ,

Equation (7) represents overlap ratio

where b is the ratio of
the gap between two adjacent blades (e) to the distance between
both blade ends (D) [18]. explained the effect of the overlap ratio
between blades using particle image velocimetry (PIV). The
parameter e is used to dene a gap, and the oncoming wind blows
through the gap along a concave surface of the blade, which lets air
move through this gap and reach an opposite blade. When the
overlap ratio b increases to some extent, the torque and power
coefcient reach their maximums and decrease (see Refs. [38,39]).
Hence, overlap ratio b is one of the design parameters used to increase the performance of Savonius rotor blades. Some papers have
already been published on this subject (see Ref. [10,11,13]). Therefore, the effect of the overlap ratio was not considered in this study.

e
D

(7)

The twist angle is dened as the twist angle between the upper

Fig. 6. Variation of velocity correction factor with S/C [21].

J.-H. Lee et al. / Renewable Energy 89 (2016) 231e244

layer wind tunnel at Pusan National University. The dimensions of

the wind tunnel were 2 m  2.1 m  20 m. A 185kW three-phase
variable speed DC motor was used to keep the wind speed constant.
The maximum wind speed was limited to 23 m/s with the turbulence intensity less than 1% (see Ref. [17]). One of authors previously described the experimental method in detail (see
Refs. [22,23]). Therefore, only a short introduction and brief
description of the experiment is given here. Fig. 4 shows the details
of the experimental setup employed. A pitot tube was installed 5 m
ahead of the wind turbine to measure the non-disturbed wind
speed in the upstream region. The incoming wind speed was
measured using a micro-manometer (FCO12).
The incoming wind from the wind tunnel rotated the blade and
generated rotating power. The rotational power produced as a
result of the wind ow was analysed using a torque meter (TRD50KC) built in a circular box placed below the turbine model. When
measuring the torque, we used a powder brake (ZKG-50YN) to
create force control power. The rotational speed (rpm) of the wind
turbine was measured using a tachometer, which was installed to
receive the signal sent by an optical sensor (ROS-5P). The torque
meter was connected to a computer through an A/D converter,
through which the voltage signal produced by the torque meter
was transmitted to the computer. The signal travelling from the
torque meter to the computer was acquired by means of in-house
code, which was coded using the Labview platform data acquisition software. The output power of the helical Savonius wind turbine was calculated based on the measured values. Fig. 5 shows the
helical Savonius wind turbine model and measurement devices
used in the experiment.
2.4. Wall interference effect (blockage effect)
The Cp of the wind turbine was affected by the wall (see
Refs. [21,22]). Many researchers have tried to study this effect.
Among them [21]; suggested a relation for the velocity correction
due to the blockage ratio of a Savonius wind turbine, as shown in
Eqn (8) and Fig. 6.

Vc
1

V
1  m CS

235

reconnects with the external domain so that the wind ows are
readjusted and repeatedly renewed. Therefore, after creating this
unsteady condition, it is nally stabilized. The nal values depend
on the number of iterations (i.e. 50 iterations in our study) and then
become converged. In addition, the data began to be saved after ve
rotations of the turbine rotor to ensure ow stabilization. The data
began to be saved after ve rotations of the turbine rotor to ensure
ow stabilization.
3.1. Governing equation
The turbulence model employed in this paper requires an unsteady Reynolds average NaviereStokes (URANS) analysis. In this
case, the governing equations under a Newtonian uid condition
required two equations: the continuity equation expressed in Eqn
(9) and momentum equation expressed in Eqn (10).

vui
0
vxi

(9)


vui
v

1 vp
v

ui uj 

vxj
r vxi vxj
vt

3. Numerical analysis
In this study, the numerical simulations were coaxially performed using ANSYS Fluent, which is a commercial computational
uid dynamics (CFD) solver. This software calculates the complicated ow structure based on the nite volume method (FVM) of
the NaviereStokes governing equation, which is suitable for
resolving the problems associated with the interaction between the
complicated on-coming wind ow and the rotating blades. The
numerical domain and meshes were generated using ANSYS ICEM.
The number of meshes used in this study ranged from 1,200,000 to
1,500,000.
In order to calculate the ow around the wind turbine, it is
important to set an appropriate iteration time at each step during
the rotation of the blade. As the subdomain is rotated in each step, it

vui
 u0i u0j
vxj

!
(10)

where ui and u0i are the mean and uctuating components,

respectively, of velocity in the xi direction. In addition, p is the mean
pressure, n is the kinematic viscosity, r is the density of the uid,
and t is the time. The Reynolds stress u0i u0j also needs to be modelled
to close the problem mathematically. (See Ref. [26] Among the
various turbulence models (e.g., standard k-u and k-, etc), the k-
RNG model was chosen to better predict the swirling effect behind
the rotating blade, particularly to enhance the accuracy of the rapid
strain and streamline curvature (see Refs. [24,26,27]. The turbulence kinetic energy (k) is also described in Eqn (11). The turbulence
dissipation rate () is given by Eqn (12).

Dk
v

Dt vxj

ak meff

vk
vxj

(8)

where the blockage ratio (S/C) is the ratio of the wind turbine
projection area (S) and wind tunnel cross-sectional area (C). V is the
free stream velocity, Vc is the correction velocity, and m represents
the coefcient of wall, which had a value of one. In our study, the
values of S/C and Vc/V were 0.092 and 1.15, respectively. After
correction, the velocity in the wind tunnel during our experiments
was increased from 10 m/s to 11.5 m/s, while the velocity in the
numerical simulations was changed from 8 m/s to 9.2 m/s.

Dk
v

r
Dt vxj

v
a meff
vxj

Gk  r

(11)

2
C1 Gk  C2 r  R
k
k

(12)

where ak and a are the turbulent Prandtl numbers for k and . In

addition, meff and Gk are the dispersion coefcient and the generation of turbulence kinetic energy due to the mean velocity gradients, respectively. In these equations, C1 and C2 are constants
having values of 1.42 and 1.68, respectively. In addition, the term R
is used to improve the accuracy for rapidly strained ows (see
Refs. [24,26,27].
A k- RNG turbulence model was selected for our analysis. In

Fig. 7. Overall domains of boundary and internal condition used in numerical analysis.

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J.-H. Lee et al. / Renewable Energy 89 (2016) 231e244

order to deduce the link between the pressure and velocity in the
calculation domain, the semi-implicit method for pressure-linked
equation (SIMPLE) algorithm was used.
In order to deduce the link between the pressure and velocity in
the calculation domain, we implemented a second-order upwind
scheme (thus improving accuracy and feasibility) rather than using
a rst-order scheme. In order to convert the continuity equation
into a discrete Poisson equation for pressure, the Simple method
was applied (see Refs. [11,14,27]). The differential equations are
linearized and solved implicitly in sequence, starting with the
pressure equation (predictor stage), followed by the momentum
equations and the pressure-correction equation (corrector stage).
In order to manipulate the gradient, we used a least-squares cellbased scheme. (See Ref. [28]).
The time step we used in the calculation was 5.89104 sec at
TSR1 (i.e. 1
rotation every time step) to observe the detailed
structure of the separated wake behind the turbine blades. For a
reliable result, the calculation was continuously made to achieve
consistent torque from each blade during one cycle. In addition, in
order to provide a suitable time step, the CFL number was maintained at less than 10, which is a bit unsuitable, but the standard
wall function compensates for the wall treatment instead.
During each iteration, the values obtained for the variables
should get closer and closer so that they converge. For some reason,
the solution can become unstable, so a relaxation factor refers the
value from the previous iteration to dampen the solution and cut
out steep oscillations. As a rule of thumb in this study, we simply
keep the relaxation factors at default, which is quite reasonable for
especially cold ows without combustion. In our study, we used
pressure 0.3, body force 1, momentum 0.8, turbulent kinetic energy
0.8, turbulent dissipation rate 0.8, and turbulent viscosity 1.

3.2. Boundary conditions

For appropriate analysis, the overall domain was divided into
two sub-domains: surrounding xed and inner rotating bladed
domains as shown in Fig. 7. The total number of grids was 1.0~ 1.5
million, and the grid shape is shown in Fig. 8. Fig. 8 (a) and (b) are
the main grid shapes of the rotating rotor and surrounding outer
domain, respectively. In order to link the inner and outer domains,
the interface condition was used to describe the separated wake
ow interaction with the rotating blades and surrounding region. In
addition, the sliding mesh model (SMM) was used for a (pseudo-)
rotating mesh to simulate the rotating blades. The sliding mesh
could be effectively used in a case where the mesh did not deform.
The rotational speed could be set depending on the experimental
conditions (see Refs. [11,24,27]).
In order to impose a similar condition as the wind tunnel, the
inlet boundary conditions were set as follows: velocity inlet at a
uniform velocity of 8 m/s, and the outlet atmospheric pressure
condition at 1 atm. The no-slip wall condition was applied to the
surface of the domain wall and the blade surface. In terms of tur02
02
bulent kinetic energy (k), k is dened as 12 u0i u0j 12 u02
x uy uz
3 u02 and the axial stresses are assumed to be approximately 0.7 in
2
our study. Therefore, the turbulent kinetic energy (k) and turbulent
dissipation rate () are dened as a unit. The wall boundary condition was applied to the side and top/bottom wall planes. The
moving wall condition was set for all the moving components such
as the helical blades, main supporting pipe, and end plates. In order
to observe the vortex formation behind the blades in detail, the
downstream size of the sub-domain was set at around 4D.
Regarding the sub-domain side, this study mainly attempts to
understand the near-vortex ow close to the blades determining
the ne subdomain in the downstream approximately 4D, which

Fig. 8. Mesh generation and distribution around VAWT.

J.-H. Lee et al. / Renewable Energy 89 (2016) 231e244

237

simulation results at different twist angles (f) ranging from 0
to

135
.
Because of the blockage effect, Cp,max was reduced to 38.2% in the
experiments and numerical simulations. Compared to 0
and 45
,
Cp appeared relatively low at twist angles of 90
and 135
. Cp,max
was found to be between TSR values of 0.5 and 0.65 for all of the
twist angles. In addition, the Cp values were not present below a
TSR of 0.4 in the experiment, which was due to the high mechanical
friction between the main axle of the Savonius turbine and the
mechanical powder brake. The difference between the Cp,max values
in the experimental and simulation results was the largest (around
0.02) at the 45
twist angle, whereas at the 135
twist angle, this
difference was found to be very small (i.e. almost negligible). The
performance of the Savonius wind turbine was observed to be the
most efcient at the 45
twist angle from both the experiments and
numerical analysis, with a Cp of 0.13 at a TSR of 0.54, whereas the
twist angle with the lowest value of Cp was 135
, with a Cp of 0.12 at
a TSR of 0.54.
All experimental data may contain more or less uncertainty. An
uncertainty analysis was carried out for all experimental results to
assess their condence levels, following the method suggested by
Ref. [25]. The total error consists of the bias error and precision
error. The bias error can be minimized by carefully calibrating the
measuring instruments. To evaluate the precision error, the standard deviation of the sample records was calculated for the surface
pressure. The total error, with 95% condence, is depicted as a form
of error bar. (see Fig. 9) As shown in the gure, the maximum error
of uncertainty reaches approximately 5% at most.
4.2. Temporal variation of torque coefcient at different azimuths

Fig. 9. Power coefcient variations against TSR.

includes the smallest scales of the vortex. In fact, a parametric study

was also conducted for the downstream subgrid of the wind blades.
It was found that an approximately 4D to 6D subdomain in the
downstream of the blades was enough to generate small-scale
eddies. In addition, in order to maintain the vortex in the region
that is farther downstream, the midsized subdomain was also
created so that the vortex region was still maintained farther
downstream. One of the interesting facts in the result is that the
dissipation of the vortex wake behind the blades depends on the
twist angle (e.g., see Fig. 12, and the periodic regular vortex wake
appears downstream, whereas the dissipation seems faster when
the twist angle increases).
4. Results and discussion
To analyze the results, we compared the Cp values with various
TSRs. In this study, the wind tunnel experiment results were
compared with those of the numerical simulations. Based on the
numerical analysis, CT was examined at various azimuths under the
condition that the blade was being rotated. Furthermore, we also
investigated how the air ow changed at different azimuths for the
Savonius wind turbine.
4.1. Power coefcients of experimental and numerical analysis
The Reynolds numbers used in this study were 1.24106 and
1.55106 depending on the averaged projection area. Fig. 9 shows
the TSR versus Cp plot for both the experimental and numerical

Fig. 10 shows the torque coefcient (CT) values at different azimuths. When the azimuth was varied, CT attained its highest value
of 0.34 at a twist angle of 45
and TSR of 0.45. The graphs also
indicate that the phase difference of CT decreased as the twist angle
increased. At a twist angle of 135
, the phase difference was the
least.
In the experiment, the torque sensor actually reads the averaged
torque values during the measurement so that the values of
different azimuth angles in real time may not be possible or
available owing to the hardware limitations of our experiment. In
addition, depending on the condition of the wind tunnel, the torque
signal sometimes becomes unstable in the early stages of measurement. Therefore, during each measurement, we waited to
obtain a stable condition that yielded a reliable rpm and torque. The
averaged values were obtained after waiting for approximately
5e10 min to get reliable values in the tunnel. For the numerical
simulation, the torque variation having consistent periodic values
from each blade was averaged for each cycle.
In the result, negative CT values occurred in the azimuth angle
ranges of 60
-150
and 240
-330
at twist angles of 0
, 45
, and
135
, with a TSR of 0.88. Regarding this observation, which will be
explained shortly, it is inferred that a force by air is not properly
transferred to the concave surfaces of both blades. Instead, it might
affect convex surfaces. However, in a case where TSR was less than
0.45, no negative values were found. This might be because the air
resistance increased at the convex part of the blade in comparison
to the rotational power of the turbine as the rotational speed
increased. In contrast, the blades with twist angles of 135
did not
show any negative value of CT at TSR 0.88.
Fig. 11 shows CT values with a TSR of 0.6 at different azimuths.
Interestingly, in Fig. 11(a) and (b), the CT of blade 1 tends to increase
and decrease within the range of 225
-270
. However, this phenomenon was not observed in the case of blades with twist angles
of 90
and 135
. It seems that the twist angle caused the internal

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J.-H. Lee et al. / Renewable Energy 89 (2016) 231e244

Fig. 10. Torque coefcient variations against TSR.

ow to circulate effectively. In addition, with twist angles of 0
and

45
, the internal ow through the central overlap hole stuck the
main axis pipe during the rotation of the blade, and then moved to

the opposite side of the blade. When the twist angle was 90
, the
instant kink of the torque coefcient did not appear because of the
twist angle. In addition, with an increase in the twist angle, the

J.-H. Lee et al. / Renewable Energy 89 (2016) 231e244

239

Fig. 11. Torque coefcient variations of Blades 1 and 2 at different azimuths.

convex surface side always faced the on-coming wind, which

reduced the torque coefcient. From this observation, it can also be

implied that the generated torque would remain consistent as the

twist angle increased.

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Fig. 12. Q-criterion distribution around Savonius wind turbine (Q-value was 0.011).

4.3. Flow visualization at different azimuths

Fig. 12 shows the vortex formation at a twist angle of 0
and
azimuth angle of 0
, 45
, 90
, and 135
. We used the Q-criterion
method, which can be dened as the ow regions with a positive
second invariant of the velocity (see Refs. [29e31]). The value for
the Q-criterion coefcient was set as 0.011 in this case. In the case of
the Savonius wind turbine, vortex formation was in the direction of
rotation. As shown in the gure, the symmetric vortex pairs are
separated from both sides of the blade end and propagated
downstream, yielding horseshoe-shaped vortex structures. In this
visualization scheme, it is noticeable that the vortex is a bit
complicated, but owing to the end plates they would be making
better stable wake shape.
Fig. 13 shows the case with a twist angle of 0
and a TSR of 0.6 at
different azimuths. At an azimuth angle of 0
, the results show that
the air did not directly impact on the concave surface of the blade,
as shown in Figs. 13(a) and 14(a). Instead, it impacted on the convex

surface of blade 2, and then hit the concave surface of blade 1.

Figs. 13(c) and 14(b) show the air-ow pattern at an azimuth angle
of 90
. Looking at the streamlines shown in Fig. 13 and velocity
vector eld in Fig. 14, it can be seen that the air moves towards the
concave surface, and the ow separates at the inner and outer regions. Subsequently, the air moves towards the opposite blade,
passing through a narrow space between the shaft and the blades.
At this moment, the air entering blade 1 hits the concave surface of
blade 2, which creates the rotational power for blade 2. On the
other hand, Figs. 13(b) and (d) suggest that the air moves towards
the concave part of the blade. It is also found that when the concave
surface of the blade receives the force of the air, this force is
transferred to the concave surface of the opposite blade.
In Fig. 14(a), the air surrounding the shaft slowly moves from the
concave surface of blade 2 to the concave surface of blade 1. In
contrast, Fig. 14(b) shows that the air moving from blade 2 to the
inside of blade 1 moves relatively fast. Moreover, the area marked
by the black circle in Fig. 14 is the point where the separated eddies

Fig. 13. Streamline and speed magnitude contours at different Azimuths.

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241

Fig. 14. Snapshots of velocity vector elds at different azimuths.

occur in the direction indicated by the arrow.

Fig. 15 shows the blade surface pressure (Cpr) and velocity vector
elds at twist angles of 0
and 135
at an azimuth angle of 45
.
Fig. 15(a) shows the vector eld around the blade. In the gure, the
wind directions are toward the page. It can be seen that the surface
of the blade is divided into two parts, i.e. right and left. Moreover,
the surface pressure is the same at each part. In the case of
Fig. 15(b), we can see that unlike those at a twist angle of 0
, here
the directions of the velocity vectors are not only towards the left
and right but also in the upward and downward directions. In
addition, the pressure elds are different in the upper and lower
portions of the blade. Generally, the pressure has been found to
increase near the end plate. This seems to occur as a result of the
wall interference effect by the end plate.
Fig. 16 presents and compares the surface pressure distributions
for the twist angles having the highest and lowest performances.
For the azimuth angle having the highest performance, Fig. 16
shows that the pressure side of the blade (i.e. concave surface)
creates a pressure-driven ow on the suction side of the blade (i.e.
convex surface). By contrast, for the case having the lowest performance, the pressure side maintains high pressure, whereas the

suction side has little effect on the pressure-driven ow.

Fig. 17 shows the surface pressure distribution on the blade
surfaces with different twist angles. For a twist angle of 0
(see
Fig. 17(a)), the surface pressure close to the end plates experiences little change, but as the twist angle increases, the surface
pressure increases gradually at the bottom area close to the end
plate and reaches a maximum at a twist angle of 135
(see
Fig. 17(d)). In addition, in Figs. (a) and (b), it is noted that the
surface pressure coefcient at the concave surface has an almost
constant distribution, whereas it increases substantially at the
convex surface.
Fig. 18 shows the sectional averaged pressure distribution
around blades with different twist angles. For slice S1, the overall
pressure distribution is a bit higher than that of the other slices. The
implication of this gure is that in the case of twist angle 0
, the
oncoming wind impacts the blade at a perpendicular angle directly
so that the surface pressure on the blade is almost consistent along
the lateral direction through the blade. However, as the twist angle
changes, the wind is in multiple directions (i.e. horizontal and
vertical) along the blade surface, and the suction pressure increases
(i.e. the colour turns brighter at high twist angles). In addition, the

Fig. 15. Surface pressure (Cpr) and velocity eld at twist angles of 45
and 135
with an azimuth angle of 45
. In the gure, the wind directions are toward the page.

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J.-H. Lee et al. / Renewable Energy 89 (2016) 231e244

Fig. 16. Sectional pressure distribution indicating the maximum and minimum Cpr. In the gure, (a) and (c) are the case of maximum Cpr and (b) and (d) the minimum Cpr.

Fig. 17. Averaged surface pressure distribution for different twist angles.

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243

Fig. 18. Sectional averaged pressure distribution around the blades with different twist angles.

stagnant pressure close to the end plates is a bit high for the blade
with a twist angle of 0
(see the slices S1 and S5. The suction
pressure would be high close to the end plate). However, this effect
seems to be reduced for the blade with a twist angle of 135
(see the
slice S5). Considering the structural stability, this effect reduces
relatively the vertical load (vertical lift force and bending moment,
etc.) on the main rotational axis (i.e. the negative lift force increases
as the twist angle increases).

4) The maximum CT was observed at an azimuth angle of 45
and

twist angle of 0
but varied with the azimuth and twist angles.
5) Regarding the surface pressure distribution around the blade,
when the convex blade faced the ow, the surface pressure had
the maximum distribution, while the concave blade had the
minimum. While the blades were rotating, some sections had an
effective torque, and others had a relative drag force, which
retarded the blades rotation.
Acknowledgements

5. Concluding remarks
This study investigated the performance and shape characteristics of a helical Savonius wind turbine at various twist angles. The
power coefcient (Cp) values at different TSRs and torque coefcient (CT) values at different azimuths for twist blade angles of 0
,
45
, 90
, and 135
were observed under the condition that the
projection area and aspect ratio were constant. The key conclusions
are summarized as follows.
1) The simulation results successfully veried the experiment results at a range of TSRs and maximum power coefcient (Cp,max)
values as the Savonius wind turbine blade twist angle was
varied.
2) The maximum Cp appears to be approximately 0.13 at a twist
angle of 45
. However, at twist angles of 90
and 135
, the value
of the power coefcient (Cp) became lower than that at 0
, but
the maximum Cp appeared to be similar.
3) When the twist angle was greater than 90
, it was found that the
torque coefcients stabilized and remained constant.

This work was supported by the Human Resources Development of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and
Planning (KETEP) grant funded by the Korea government Ministry
of Knowledge Economy (No. 20124010203230, 20114010203080).
In addition, this research was supported by Basic Science
Research Program through the National Research Foundation of
Korea(NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and
Technology(2013005347).
This research was also supported by the Fire Fighting Safety &
119 Rescue Technology Research and Development Program funded
by the Ministry of Public Safety and Security (MPSS-2015-80).
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