Renewable Energy 96 (2016) 928e939

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

Effect of solidity on aerodynamic forces around straight-bladed

vertical axis wind turbine by wind tunnel experiments (depending on
number of blades)
Qingan Li a, *, Takao Maeda b, Yasunari Kamada b, Junsuke Murata b, Kento Shimizu b,
Tatsuhiko Ogasawara b, Alisa Nakai b, Takuji Kasuya b
a
Division of System Engineering, Mie University, 1577 Kurimamachiya-cho, Tsu, Mie 514-8507, Japan
b
Division of Mechanical Engineering, Mie University, 1577 Kurimamachiya-cho, Tsu, Mie 514-8507, Japan

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The prediction of aerodynamic forces around straight-bladed Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWT) is
Received 23 March 2015 important for wind turbine applications. This paper focused on evaluating the aerodynamic forces acting
Received in revised form on a single blade, depending on the different numbers of blades in wind tunnel experiments. In this
28 March 2016
study, numbers of blades were from two to ve and the cross-sectional shape of the tested airfoil was a
Accepted 15 May 2016
Available online 24 May 2016
NACA0021. Firstly, the power coefcient was measured by a torque meter and a six-component balance.
Secondly, pressures acting on the surface of rotor blades were measured during rotation by multiport
pressure devices. Then, the evolutions of normal coefcient, tangential coefcient and lift-to-drag ratio
Keywords:
Wind turbine
CL/CD, which were obtained from pressure distributions, were discussed. Finally, the power coefcients
Pressure distributions calculated by pressure distributions were compared with the experiment data of the torque meter and
Numbers of blades the six-component balance. The results showed that the pressure difference substantially decreased with
Six-component balance the increase of solidity. In addition, the values of six-component balance and torque meter showed
Wind tunnel experiments smaller values than those calculated by pressure distributions. In words, these results provided theo-
retical signicance towards the development of a simple design for straight-bladed VAWT.
2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
In recent years, the use of wind turbines has risen rapidly for its
potential in power generation since wind energy resources are
unaffected by environmental pollution and economic insecurity
[1e4]. Wind turbines are classied into HAWTs (horizontal axis
wind turbines) and VAWTs (vertical axis wind turbines) based on
their axis of rotation. HAWTs are better suited for large scale energy
generation on at land and in mountainous terrain, while VAWTs
are better suited for small scale energy generation in urban regions
[5e9].
The straight-bladed VAWT is distinguished by its simplicity and
relatively low manufacturing cost. In urban regions, wind ow
continuously changes direction and is also extremely turbulent
[10,11]. Therefore, VAWTs potentially perform better in urban re-
gions than HAWTs due to the fact that VAWTs do not require a yaw
* Corresponding author. ,
E-mail addresses: 434687517@qq.com, li@fel.mach.mie-u.ac.jp (Q. Li).
mechanism for the inow. Besides, they can be applied in remote
areas such as in street lighting and an independent power gener-
ation system for families [12]. All these advantages have driven
many universities and researchers to study this type of VAWT. IEC
61400-2 [13] and JSWTA 0001 [14] have a very good description of
simple design equations of performance and safety standards of
small HAWTs [15]. However, the development of the aerodynamic
performance and safety standards for small HAWTs is not suitable
in the case of VAWTs. The reason is that the two turbines are totally
different. As shown in Fig. 1, the directions of the loads for the blade,
support structure, and rotor shaft of the straight-bladed VAWT
represent different coordinate systems. Furthermore, for VAWTs,
the wind ows into the rotor surface, causing disturbed ow in the
downstream region so that large uctuation torque is generated.
Therefore, the performance of VAWT mainly depends on wind ow,
airfoil type, turbulence intensity, pitch angle, number of blades and
so on [16e20]. In order to have a good master of its operating
principle and understand better the inuence of different design
parameters on its performance, experimental tests are generally

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2016.05.054
0960-1481/ 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Q. Li et al. / Renewable Energy 96 (2016) 928e939
Nomenclature
A swept area of wind turbine [m2]
c blade chord length (0.265) [m]
CD drag coefcient (FD/(0.5rc U02 ))
CL lift coefcient (FL/(0.5r c U02 ))
CL/CD lift-to-drag ratio
Cp pressure coefcient (P/(0.5r U02 ))
Cpower power coefcient (Qu/(0.5rDH U03 ))
CQ torque coefcient (Q/(0.5rDHR U02 ))
CN normal force coefcient (FN/(0.5rc U02 ))
CT tangential force coefcient (FT/(0.5rc U02 ))
D rotor diameter (2.0) [m]
FD drag force per unit length [N]
FL lift force per unit length [N]
FN normal force per unit length [N]
FT tangential force per unit length [N]
Fx thrust force per unit length [N]
H span length of blade (1.2) [m]
N numbers of blade (2e5)
P pressure acting on the surface of blade [Pa]
used and have made remarkable achievements recently.
Armstrong S. et al. [21] investigated the effect of airfoil type and
blade pitch angle on the power performance and ow character-
istics in wind tunnel experiments. The results showed that,
compared with straight blades, the installation of fences on the
canted blades increased the maximum power coefcient and
reduced the optimum tip speed ratio, suggestive of a reduction in
spanwise ow on the swept blades. Besides, the effect of blade pitch
angle was also presented. It was noted that the uctuations of
power coefcient appeared to be slightly dependent on blade pitch
angles. The results were also reported in literature of Li Q. et al.
[22,23], Staelens et al. [24], Fiedler A. et al. [25], In SH. et al. [26] and
Paraschivoiu I. et al. [16]. In order to have a better understanding of
aerodynamic performance prediction of Straight-bladed VAWT in
the spanwise direction, Li Q. et al. [27] investigated the pressure
acting on the blade surface in the different cross-sections,
depending on the pressure measurement system and CFD ana-
lyses. They found that the power coefcient illustrated the
maximum value at the blade central height, and gradually
decreased when approaching the blade tip.
The effect of wind velocity was studied by Song SH. et al. [28], Li
Q. et al. [29], Islam M. et al. [30] and Ohlmann HA. et al. [31]. From
these studies, it was found that, at the same tip speed ratio, when
Fig. 1. Blade load in the ap direction of Vertical Axis Wind Turbines.
929
pref maximum dynamic pressure attached the surface of
blade [Pa]
Power power output (W)
Q rotor torque [N m]
R rotor radius (1.0) [m]
Re local Reynolds number [ Wc/n]
U0 free stream wind velocity [m/s]
U local wind velocity [m/s]
W resultant velocity to blade [m/s]
V tip speed of blade (Ru) [m/s]
x longitudinal coordinate [m]
y lateral coordinate [m]
z vertical coordinate [m]
a angle of attack [ ]
b blade pitch angle [ ]
f angle of resultant velocity to the blade [ ]
q Azimuth angle [ ]
l tip speed ratio (Ru/U0)
n kinematic viscosity [m2/s]
r air density [kg/m3]
s solidity (Nc/pD)
u angular velocity of rotor [rad/s]
the wind velocity was higher, the power performance of VAWT was
better. The measurements also indicated that wind turbine with
higher wind velocity had higher optimum power coefcient and
lower optimum tip speed ratio. And then, Li Q. et al. [32] and
Carpman N [33] further discussed the power performance with
different turbulence intensities. As shown from their research, for
low tip speed ratios, the output power uctuated slightly with the
increase of turbulence intensity. Meanwhile, for high tip speed
ratios, output power increased as turbulence intensity was raised.
In order to determine the optimum variation, El-Samanoudy M.
et al. [18] studied the effect of the design parameters, such as tur-
bine radius, airfoil type and chord length, with some experimental
data for comparison and analysis. What the obtained results
showed that when the turbine radius was decreased, the perfor-
mance was decreased greatly, showing a signicant effect of the
turbine radius. Similar results have been investigated by Beri H.
et al. [34], Siddiqui M S. et al. [35] and Ismail MF. et al. [36].
Meanwhile, it was found that symmetrical airfoils had higher po-
wer coefcient values compared with that of cambered airfoils.
There was a much larger drag coefcient in performance results
from using cambered airfoils instead of symmetrical airfoils. Cas-
telli MR. et al. [37], Saeed F. et al. [38], as well as Ismail MF. et al. [36]
also arrived at the similar results by wind tunnel experiments or
930 Q. Li et al. / Renewable Energy 96 (2016) 928e939

CFD simulations. In addition, in the research of El-Samanoudy M., it

was noted that the increase of the chord length had a signicant
effect in improving power performance. Ferreira CS. et al. [39] and
Ali AM. et al. [40] also came to the same conclusion as that of El-
Samanoudy M.
Many researchers focusing on the aerodynamic phenomena of
VAWT performance and ow eld characteristics concluded that
the phenomena were inuenced by the number of blades. Marco
RC. et al. [41] compared the uctuation of torque coefcient against
azimuth angle during the rotation by increasing the number of
blades with a CFD model. As can be seen from their study, it was
important to note that with the increase of number of blades the
torque coefcient peak became lower and the frequency of the
oscillations in the torque was increased. The peak of power coef-
cient took maximum value in the upstream region for azimuthal
positions where rotor blades were experiencing very high relative
angles of attack. This result is similar to the investigations by Roh
SC. et al. [42] and Li S. et al. [43]. Li Q. et al. [29] further studied the
characteristics of ow eld around straight-bladed VAWT at Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of experimental apparatus in this research.
different numbers of blades by Laser Doppler Velocimeter system
in wind tunnel experiments. The authors found that an increase in
number of blades promoted the expansion of wake decit area and the wind turbine.
recovery of wind velocity. Similar results have also been investi- The coordinate system was dened as a Cartesian frame, with
gated by Tescione G. et al. [44], Rolin V. et al. [45] as well as origin at the turbine center, x-axis directed positively downwind
Scheurich F. et al. [46] by CFD simulation. However, these recent the turbine, positive y-axis pointing to the windward side and
studies were mainly done with CFD. Little work has been carried positive z-axis upwards. The rotation direction of the blade was
out to discuss the effects of VAWT aerodynamic forces on the clockwise when viewed from the top of wind turbine.
number of blades in wind tunnel experiments.
As previously described, no studies were carried out to deter- 2.2. Wind tunnel
mine the effects of the number of blades on aerodynamic force,
neither did they take into account the inuence of the support The wind tunnel experiments were carried out at the Fluid
structure and shaft. For this study, multiport pressure devices were Engineering Laboratory for Energy and Environment at Mie Uni-
used on a single blade of a straight-bladed VAWT in wind tunnel versity in JAPAN. The large wind tunnel was an open test section of
experiments. The aerodynamic performance investigated different a circular type wind tunnel with an outlet diameter of 3.6 m, which
numbers of blades during rotation by directly measuring the is illustrated in Fig. 3. The components of wind tunnel in this
pressure acting on the blade surface. Accordingly, the effects of experiment were shown as the following:
different parameter variations (such as the azimuth angle q, the tip Blower: A double suction centrifugal blower was used with a
speed ratio l, solidity s and Reynolds number Re) on the perfor- function of 400 kW-8P and its maximum rotational speed was
mance of the VAWT were investigated. Meanwhile, this paper 900 rpm.
attempted to determine the variations which would result in the Test section: The wind tunnel inlet size was 4.0 m  4.0 m and
best performance based on different performance parameters. In the length of test section was 4.5 m.
this way, this method is extremely important for the design and Wind velocity: The maximum wind velocity was 30 m/s by
optimization of a straight-bladed VAWT. blower. The turbulence intensity was less than 0.5% and the free
stream wind velocity reduced at the test section of the wind turbine
2. Experimental procedure was 1.2%, when the free stream wind velocity was set at 8.0 m/s.

2.1. Experimental apparatus

2.3. Wind turbine

In this research, the measurement of pressure acting on a single

The test straight-bladed VAWT model shown in Fig. 4 had the
rotor blade was conducted in 2D. The schematic diagram of the
whole wind tunnel experimental apparatus is indicated in Fig. 2.
The main measurements and experimental apparatus in this
experiment consisted of the following components:
Pitot tube: The freestream wind velocity was determined at the
wind tunnel outlet by using a Pitot tube survey installed at the
upstream of 2.07 m from the rotor shaft.
Torque meter: The rotor rotational speed and rotor torque of the
wind turbine could be measured by using a torque meter installed
in the rotor shaft of wind turbine.
Multiport pressure devices: Pressure distributions, which was
applied to the rotor surface, were analyzed by multiport pressure
devices in the span of airfoil center height.
Six-component balance: The forces and the moments applied to
the entire wind turbine in the x, y and z-axis directions are pre-
dicted using a six-component balance located in the basement of Fig. 3. Present large wind tunnel in three-dimensional view.
 Q. Li et al. / Renewable Energy 96 (2016) 928e939
following components and parameters:
Blades: The airfoil used in this work was a symmetric prole
NACA 0021 with a chord length of 0.265 m and a thickness of
0.056 m.
Span length: The type of VAWT itself was straight-bladed design
and the span length of the blade was 1.2 m.
Number of blades: 2 to 5 blades were tested.
Diameter: The wind turbine diameter is 2.0 m, which gave a
projected area of 2.4 m2, a blade aspect ratio of 4.5 and a turbine
aspect ratio of 1.67.
Blade pitch angle: The blade pitch angles are set at 6 , 8 , 8 and
12 , for the number of blades of N 2, 3, 4 and 5, respectively. The
blade pitch angles are the optimum values, which has the
maximum power coefcient when the number of blades was
different.
2.4. Multiport pressure devices
The airfoil model was equipped with 16 pressure taps on the
suction side and 16 pressure taps on the pressure side, which
measured the chordwise pressure distributions on the airfoil sur-
faces. The pressure taps with diameters of 0.4 mm were perpen-
dicularly drilled using ZOC22B modules, which incorporated with
32 individual piezoresistive pressure sensors. The acquisition of the
pressures was done by multipoint pressure devices. In this
research, the steady pressure is done by a Scanivalve RAD 3200
pressure measurement system. Besides, the airfoil model was also
equipped with Scanivalve ZOC22B sub-miniature pressure trans-
ducers, which measured the dynamic pressure on the airfoil model
surfaces. The detail information of RAD 3200 and ZOC22B are listed
as follows.
RAD 3200: It was powered by 15 Vdc. The maximum value of
channel inputs pressures will not exceed 512. The typical data
acquisition rate is 500 samples/sec. Operating temperature is from
0 to 55 .
ZOC22B module: The ZOC22B is powered by 15 Vdc and the
pressure will not exceed 50 psi. The sampling frequency is 1250 Hz
and the accuracy is 0.1%. The operating temperature is from 0 to
60 . The scan rate for standalone is 20 kHz. Each ZOC22B module
incorporated with 32 individual silicon pressure sensors,
Fig. 4. Photo of test wind turbine and the airfoil in this research.
931
calibration valve, a high speed multiplexer (45 kHz), and an
instrumentation amplier.
The pressure distributions acting on the airfoil surfaces are
captured by pressure sensor, and then transmitted through copper
pipe and vacuum pipe. The detecting pressure signals in the
rotating system are transmitted to the stationary system by mul-
tipoint pressure devices. The pressure transducer output is run
through wireless LAN which is installed on the upper rotation axis
and then is read by the computer A/D converter. This system works
in conjunction with computer software to automate the calibration
process. Calibration velocities are calculated from compressible gas
equations using differential pressure, barometric pressure, tem-
perature, and gas constants.
Model surface pressure measurements are sampled at the total
number of 10,000 and saved to a data le. Tunnel dynamic pres-
sures are sampled at every pressure tap to account for any uctu-
ation in tunnel velocity. Mean values, statistics, and turbulence
quantities are then calculated from these components. Finally, the
computer software is then used to average the data, apply static
pressure corrections and calculate force coefcients. In order to
examine uctuation of pressure distributions, for each 5 BIN
change of azimuth angle, the pressure measurement data are
averaged during one rotation.
2.5. Six-component balance
The test straight-bladed VAWT model was placed on a six-
component balance, measuring three forces and three moments
applied to the entire wind turbine on x, y and z-axes. These quan-
tities were used to quantify the thrust force Fx, the lateral force Fy,
the longitudinal force Fz, the rolling moment Mx, the bending
moment My and the tilting moment Mz. The accuracy of the force
balance was less than 0.2% during the rotation of the wind turbine
at design condition and the total error in the thrust force was al-
ways less than 1.2%. The force balance was rotated a full 360 with
respect to the rotor axis.
The azimuth angle q was dened as zero as shown in Fig. 5,
when the blade was at the position moving towards the wind from
the upstream side to the downstream side. In this study, the posi-
tive direction of azimuth angle was the same as the direction of
932 Q. Li et al. / Renewable Energy 96 (2016) 928e939

rotor rotation. Moreover, the azimuth angle was computed on the

basis of the reference signal by a photo sensor, which was attached
to the center of rotation. Just as pressure measurement data, the
forces data obtained from six-component balance were also aver-
aged at each azimuth angle of 5 .

3. Experimental methods

3.1. Power coefcient measurement

Wind turbine performance is usually characterized by its torque

coefcient, CQ, and power coefcient, Cpower. In this study, in order
to accurately investigate the performance of straight-bladed VAWT,
torque coefcient and power coefcient are measured by torque
meter (Eqs. (1) and (2)), six-component balance and pressure dis-
tributions (Eqs. (3) and (4)), which are calculated by the following
expressions, respectively.

Q Q
CQ (1)
0:5rAU02 R 0:5rDHU02 R

Power Qu Fig. 5. Denitions of various types of angles and resultant velocity relative to blade.
Cpower (2)
0:5rAU03 0:5rDHU03

8 9, from pressure distributions is dened as:

Q < R Z2p =  
CQ FT qdq 0:5rDHU02 R (3)
0:5rAU0 R :2p
2 ; s
0
2pref
W (5)
8 9, r
Power < Ru Z2p =  
Cpower FT qdq 0:5rDHU03 (4) where, pref is the maximum dynamic pressure attached the blade
0:5rAU03 :2p ;
0 surface.
where, For the symmetrical airfoil of NAVA0021, thus, the aerodynamic
center of blade is around 1/4 chord length. The external torque
Q is the rotor torque; caused by the uctuation of the aerodynamic center can be ignored
A is the swept area of the wind turbine, this area is equal to when the rotation center is at 1/4 chord length. The main aero-
(H  D); dynamic forces relative to the blade chord line are represented in
D is the rotor diameter of the wind turbine; Fig. 6. As shown in this gure, the force acting on a rotating blade
q is the free stream wind velocity; section at an arbitrary azimuth angle q is divided into the tangential
H is the hub height of the wind turbine; (FT) and the normal (FN) forces. From these relationships, in order to
R is the rotor radius of the wind turbine; quantitatively analyze the performance of VAWT, tangential coef-
r is the air density; cient CT, normal coefcient CN, lift coefcient CL and drag coef-
q is the azimuth angle; cient CD are shown as the following, respectively. By using pressure
FT is the tangential force; measurement results for tangential coefcient CT and normal co-
u is the angular velocity of the rotor. efcient CN, the lift and drag coefcients are computed according
to:

3.2. Data processing method

CL CT cosf  CN sin f (6)
As previously described, large uctuations of aerodynamic
forces are generated during rotation. These aerodynamic forces are
not completely independent but rather interlinked and interacted CD CN sin f  CT cosf (7)
with each other. The main disadvantage of straight-bladed VAWT is where.
that the drag forces largely uctuate when rotating into the wind
[14]. CT is the tangential coefcient;
In order to compute the lift and drag coefcients of the blade CN is the normal coefcient;
airfoil, it is necessary to consider the angle of attack a. In this study, CL is the lift coefcient;
it could be directly calculated by measuring the wind velocity in the CD is the drag coefcient;
ow eld by the Laser Doppler Velocimeter (LDV) system. A more f is the angle of resultant velocity to the blade chord line.
detailed description of the calculation process can be found in Li Q.
et al. [7,23,29]. According to Fig. 5, it appears that the angle of attack Solidity is one of the most important parameters that can affect
a is the angle between the airfoil cord and the relative velocity to the performance of straight-bladed VAWTs. The solidity s, states a
blade W. The resultant velocity W is the synthesis of the tip speed of relation between the blade area and the turbine swept area, which
blade V (V uR) and local wind velocity U. The resultant velocity W was dened as
 Q. Li et al. / Renewable Energy 96 (2016) 928e939
Nc
s (8)
pD
where s is the solidity and c is the blade chord length.
Reynolds number is also one of the main parameters dictating
rotational velocity and inow velocity at which the turbine reaches
its maximum performance coefcient. The local Reynolds number
Re relative to the blade chord line c is
Wc
Re (9)
n
where Re is the local Reynolds number, n is the kinematic air
viscosity.
4. Experimental results and discussion
4.1. Pressure distributions acting on the blade surface
For each test case, pressure measurement experiments were
carried out when the blade pitch angle b and tip speed ratio l are
set to optimum values, to make sure that the wind turbine has the
maximum power coefcient. The free stream wind velocity is xed
at U0 8.0 m/s and the numbers of blades are two, three, four and
ve. For evaluating the effect of solidity s and Reynolds number Re
on the aerodynamic performance of straight-bladed VAWT, the
power productions with the variation of the solidities of s 0.084,
0.127, 0.169 and 0.211 are calculated at Re 2.89  105, 2.31  105,
2.17  105 and 1.85  105, when the numbers of blades are two,
three, four and ve, respectively.
The uctuations of pressure distributions along the airfoil at
optimum blade pitch angles are analyzed when tip speed ratios are
l 2.19, 1.78, 1.68 and 1.39, respectively. Fig. 7(aed) indicate the
pressure distributions as rotor blade passes through the azimuth
angles of q 0 , 90 , 180 and 270 , respectively. The horizontal
axis represents the non-dimensional chord station of x/c and the
vertical axis is the pressure coefcient calculated by the dynamic
pressure of undisturbed ow.
Fig. 7(a) illustrates the evolution of pressure distributions for the
azimuth angle of q 0 . From this gure, it is determined that the
pressure gradient shows a large value around the leading edge and
Fig. 6. Denitions of various types of forces acting on the blade.
933
a small value around the trailing edge at different solidities s and
Reynolds numbers Re. At the outer side of airfoil, the pressures
substantially decrease with the increase of chord station of x/c and
always illustrate positive pressure. At the inner side of airfoil, with
the increase of x/c, pressure coefcients come down and the peak
values are obtained near the leading edge. Besides, it is noted that
the pressure coefcients present the negative values, especially
with the higher Reynolds number of Re 2.89  105 and the lower
solidity of s 0.084. The negative pressure makes great contri-
bution to the lift, leading to negative lift and negative angle of
attack. Furthermore, the maximum value of pressure difference
measured at Re 1.85  105 is larger than the values at
Re 2.17  105 and 2.31  105. It seems that the angle of attack
have a larger value when the tip speed ratio is l 1.39.
As shown in Fig. 7(b), suction steadily decreases in the leading
edge region with the increase of solidity for the azimuth angle of
90 . For the solidities of s 0.084, 0.127, 0.169 and 0.211, the
maximum values are up to Cp 22.6, 17.1, 14.1 and 11.1,
respectively. In contrast, the maximum value of pressure difference
increases in the leading edge region with the increase of Reynolds
number Re. From Fig. 7(c), at the azimuth angle of 180 , pressure
difference between outer and inner surfaces becomes small in
value regardless of solidity and Reynolds number. The reason is that
the direction of the rotation of rotor blade is the same as the inow
direction. Therefore, the resultant ow relative to the blade, which
is shown in Fig. 8 reaches a minimum value at the azimuth angle of
180 . When the blade moves to the downstream region at the az-
imuth angle of 270 , the pressure difference becomes larger, but
still smaller than the values at the azimuth angle of 90 . It seems
that the values of the angle of attack and the resultant ow become
smaller as a result of a velocity decit in the wake.
It is clearly seen from Fig. 7 that, compared with the trailing
edge, the leading edge is very important for aerodynamic forces,
which depend on the pressure distributions around the leading
edge. Moreover, as the solidity s increases, the pressure difference
substantially decreases. On the other hand, as the Reynolds number
increases, the pressure difference substantially increases.
Fig. 8 depicts the changes of resultant velocity to blade W
against azimuth angle q at the solidities of s 0.084, 0.127, 0.169
and 0.211, respectively. From this gure, the resultant velocity
reaches a maximum value when the blade is at the azimuth angle of
q 15 , and then decreases while further increasing azimuth angle.
It seems that, considering the pitch angle at this position, the di-
rections between tip speed of blade V and local wind velocity U are
almost opposite. However, from the azimuth angle of q 180 ,
where the value of W takes a minimum, the resultant ow velocity
will increase with the increase of azimuth angle. In addition, it
seems that the resultant velocity becomes larger with the increase
of solidity. The reason is that the tip speed of blade increases along
with increasing tip speed ratio.
4.2. Tangential and normal coefcients
In the development of straight-bladed VAWT, two important
parameters (tangential and normal coefcients) should be consid-
ered for the inuence of aerodynamic performance. As mentioned
above, the tangential and normal forces can be calculated by inte-
grating the pressure distributions acting on the airfoil surface.
The variations of the tangential coefcient against azimuth
angle are plotted in Fig. 9. In this gure, the tangential coefcients
for a single blade are compared at the different solidities. As shown
in this gure, it is noticed that the tangential coefcient CT takes a
maximum value at the upstream region and takes a minimum value
at the downstream region. Moreover, the peak value of tangential
coefcient increases with the increase of solidity. The maximum
934 Q. Li et al. / Renewable Energy 96 (2016) 928e939

Fig. 7. The uctuations of pressure distributions with the variation of the solidities of s 0.084, 0.127, 0.169 and 0.211. The azimuth angles are registered at 0 , 90 , 180 and 270 ,
respectively.

values of CT are about 2.37, 2.02, 1.84 and 1.81, for the different
solidities of s 0.084, 0.127, 0.169 and 0.211, respectively. In
addition, from this gure, it is particularly noted that the rate of the
tangential coefcient, enhancement with the increase of Reynolds
number is reduced with approaching to a higher Reynolds number.
In Figs. 10 and 11, the variations of the total tangential coefcient
CT and normal coefcient CN are investigated for the entire wind
turbine as a function of azimuth angle during rotor rotation. From
these curves, the instantaneous tangential and normal coefcients
are presented to show periodic change and the cycles within each
rotation match the numbers of blades. It also indicates that there is
a large uctuation at the solidity of s 0.084, and the peak value
becomes small when the solidity increases. That is to say, the peak
values of tangential and normal coefcients decrease with the in-
crease of solidity. The main reason is that the pressure differences
and the resultant ow become smaller with the increase of solidity,
making great contributions to the formation of aerodynamic forces.
Meanwhile, when the solidity increases, the uctuation amplitudes
of tangential and normal coefcients become narrow.
4.3. Lift and drag coefcients for a single blade
Fig. 12 compares the estimated results of lift and drag co-
efcients for a single blade against azimuth angle during rotation.

Fig. 8. Changes of resultant velocity with the variation of the solidities of s 0.084, 0.127, 0.169 and 0.211.
 Q. Li et al. / Renewable Energy 96 (2016) 928e939
Fig. 9. The uctuation of tangential coefcient CT for single blade with the variation of
the solidities of s 0.084, 0.127, 0.169 and 0.211.
As can be seen clearly, a similar phenomenon as concluded for the
normal coefcient (in Fig. 9) is noted: The lift and drag coefcients
become large and reach their maximum values around the azimuth
angle of 90 at the upstream region. Moreover, the results suggest a
maximum value increase with the increase of Reynolds number. For
the Reynolds numbers of Re 2.89  105, 2.31  105, 2.17  105 and
1.85  105, the maximum values of lift coefcient are about 8.86,
8.12, 6.97 and 5.76, respectively; the maximum values of drag co-
efcient are about 1.06, 0.96, 0.93 and 0.85, respectively.
And here, the evolution of the lift-to-drag ratio CL/CD against the
azimuth angle are also inspected in Fig. 13. From this gure, it is
clearly seen that the uctuations of lift-to-drag ratio changed
slightly for the different solidities and Reynolds numbers. Mean-
while, at the beginning of rotor rotation, the lift-to-drag ratio de-
creases, and then tends toward a constant value. This is because the
rate of lift coefcient is faster than the rate of the drag coefcient.
As the azimuth angle increases, the angle of attack also increases, so
that the ow is separated from the airfoil surface and generates a
phenomenon called dynamic stall. Therefore, the lift-to-drag ratio
becomes a constant value. At the upstream region (0  q  180 ),
the values of lift-to-drag ratio mainly show positive values. In
contrast, at the downstream region (180  q  360 ), the values of
lift-to-drag ratio mainly show negative values.
4.4. Fluctuation of power and torque coefcients
Solidity is also one of the main parameters dictating the tip
speed ratio at which the turbine reaches its maximum power
Fig. 10. The uctuation of tangential coefcient CT for total blade at the solidities of
s 0.084, 0.127, 0.169 and 0.211.
935
Fig. 11. The uctuation of normal coefcient CN for total blade at the solidities of
s 0.084, 0.127, 0.169 and 0.211.
coefcient. In order to verify the reasonableness of results, it is very
important to measure with different experimental approaches. In
this study, the uctuations of power and torque coefcients can be
investigated with torque meter, pressure distributions and six-
component balance.
For evaluating the solidity effect on the performance of a
straight-type VAWT as a rotating blade, the power coefcients with
the variation of the solidity are calculated at Re 2.89  105,
2.31  105, 2.17  105 and 1.85  105, which are shown in Fig. 14.
These measurement values are against azimuth angle and are ob-
tained from pressure distributions. It is noted that the power co-
efcients present a periodic uctuation and the numbers of peak
values are the same as the numbers of blades. Moreover, the peak
values and amplitude uctuations decrease with the increase of
solidity. Fig. 15 shows the uctuation of power coefcient as a
function of the tip speed ratio. These measurement values are
calculated by the six-component balance. As can be clearly seen,
the peak of power coefcient decreases with the increase of so-
lidity. For the solidity of s 0.084, 0.127, 0.169 and 0.211, the
maximum values of power coefcient are about Cpower 0.211,
0.202, 0.195 and 0.184, respectively. However, the optimum tip
speed ratio is delayed when the solidity increases. Lower solidity
usually shows a higher tip speed ratio and a higher power coef-
cient. At low tip speed ratios, the rotor blades are not strongly
inuenced by the air ow passing through the swept area of wind
turbine when the number of blades increases. To the contrary, at
high tip speed ratios, rotor blades are strongly inuenced by the
wakes from the upstream blades. Therefore, the efciency of the
turbine (given by the Cpower  l curve) varies greatly with wind
speed, which is a disadvantage of constant speed operation, but it
should be designed such that the maximum efciencies are ach-
ieved at the wind velocities with the most energy available.
Fig. 16 illustrates the uctuation of the torque coefcient CQ (for
single blade) against azimuth angle at different solidities. From this
gure, it must be noted that, at any cases of solidities, the torque
coefcients become greater at the upstream region and reach the
maximum values at the azimuth angle of q 100 . In contrast, the
torque coefcients decrease at the downstream region. Fig. 17 de-
picts the torque coefcient (for the whole blades) as a function of
the tip speed ratio for the different solidities. These measurement
values are calculated by the six-component balance. It can be
observed that the optimum tip speed ratio is expected to increase
with the increase of solidity. However, the peaks of torque coef-
cient increase with the increase of solidity.
In Figs. 15 and 17, it is still noteworthy that the values estimated
by the pressure distributions show larger values than the results of
the six-component balance, especially at the highest solidity of
936 Q. Li et al. / Renewable Energy 96 (2016) 928e939

Fig. 12. Lift coefcient for single blade with the variation of the solidities of s 0.084, 0.127, 0.169 and 0.211.

Fig. 13. Fluctuation of lift-to-drag ratio CL/CD for single blade at the solidities of s 0.084, 0.127, 0.169 and 0.211.

Fig. 14. Fluctuation of power coefcient for single blade at the solidities of s 0.084, Fig. 15. Fluctuation of power coefcient for total blade at the solidities of s 0.084,
0.127, 0.169 and 0.211. 0.127, 0.169 and 0.211.
 Q. Li et al. / Renewable Energy 96 (2016) 928e939
Fig. 16. Fluctuation of torque coefcient for single blade at the solidities of s 0.084,
0.127, 0.169 and 0.211.
s 0.211. Furthermore, Fig. 18 compares the uctuation of the
power coefcient for the six-component balance, pressure distri-
butions and torque meter, respectively, when the solidity is
s 0.084. As shown in this gure, the value of the six-component
balance is closer to the value of the torque meter. Fig. 19 compares
the uctuations of torque coefcient (for single blade) obtained
from pressure distributions against azimuth angle at different blade
spans from CFD calculations. The positions of measurement points
in the spanwise direction are observed in Fig. 20. The result from
Fig. 19 shows that the blade spans have a signicant effect on the
performance. In this experiment, the highest value of torque coef-
cient obtained in the center of blade span z/(H/2) 0 is 40% more
than the blade span of z/(H/2) 0.55. That is to say, the pressure
coefcient in the blade span has a signicant impact on the power
coefcient. The reasons are shown in following: (1) The result from
pressure distributions only considered the center of blade span, not
taking into account pressure distributions at other positions; (2)
The effects of the additional loss from the support structure are
ignored; (3) The mechanical loss of the rotating system, for
example, the loss due to the vibration and the friction between the
turbine shaft and the two bearings and due to the elastic torsion
produced by exible couplings. More details of the reasons will be
investigated in our future studies with wind tunnel experiments
and CFD simulations.
5. Conclusions and future research
The aim of this paper was to illustrate the improved
Fig. 17. Fluctuation of torque coefcient for total blade at the solidities of s 0.084,
0.127, 0.169 and 0.211.
937
Fig. 18. Comparison of power coefcient for different measurement methods at the
solidity of s 0.084.
understandings of the aerodynamics of straight-bladed VAWT
performance through wind tunnel experiments. In this research,
the evaluation of tangential coefcient, normal coefcient, lift co-
efcient, drag coefcient, power and torque performance at four
different solidities are investigated. Some highlights were sum-
marized as follows.
(1) At the inner side of airfoil, with the increase of the x/c,
pressure coefcients come down and peak values are also
obtained near the leading edge. Moreover, pressure differ-
ence substantially decreases with the increase of solidity s.
For the solidities of s 0.084, 0.127, 0.169 and 0.211, the
maximum values are up to Cp 22.6, 17.1, 14.1 and 11.1,
respectively. On the other hand, pressure difference sub-
stantially decreases with the decrease of Reynolds number
Re.
(2) The peak value of tangential coefcient increases with the
increase of solidity. The maximum values of CT are about 2.37,
2.02, 1.84 and 1.81, for the different solidities of s 0.084,
0.127, 0.169 and 0.211, respectively.
(3) The maximum values of lift and drag coefcients decrease
with the increase of solidity for single blade. However, the
uctuations of lift-to-drag ratio changed slightly for different
solidities s and Reynolds numbers Re.
(4) The power coefcients decrease with the increase of the
solidity. However, the torque coefcients increase with the
increase of solidity. For the solidity of s 0.084, 0.127, 0.169
and 0.211, the maximum values of power coefcient are
about Cpower 0.211, 0.202, 0.195 and 0.184, respectively.
Fig. 19. Fluctuation of torque coefcient for different blade spans from CFD calcula-
tions at the solidity of s 0.084.
938 Q. Li et al. / Renewable Energy 96 (2016) 928e939
Fig. 20. Positions of measurement points in the spanwise direction.
(5) The value of six-component balance is closer to the value of
torque meter. Nonetheless, the uctuation amplitudes from
pressure distributions show larger values than the results of
six-component balance and torque meter.
However, analysis of pressure distributions in the wind tunnel
experiments was carried out in the measurement of 2D. As previ-
ously mentioned, the power and torque coefcients obtained by
pressure distribution show larger value than the results of six-
component balance and torque meter. Therefore, it is necessary
to measure the pressures on the blade surface in the spanwise di-
rection. In our future research, the effect of 3D will be considered in
wind tunnel experiments. Furthermore, these areas of future
research will be investigated in our future studies with wind tunnel
experiments and CFD simulations.
Acknowledgement
First and foremost, this work was supported by the New Energy
and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) in
Japan. Special thanks go to JOHN Roberts and FARRELL Cleary for
providing language help. Last but not least, our sincere appreciation
also goes to our team members Toshiaki Kawabata and Masayuki
Yamamoto for their helpful assistance during the experiment.
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