3D Simulation of the vertical axis
Wind Turbines
Michal Petruela, Vojtch Blaek
Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
VB - Technical University of Ostrava
Ostrava, Czech Republic
michal.petruzela@vsb.cz, vojtech.blazek@vsb.cz
AbstractComputational fluid dynamics (CFD) is
appropriate method to analyse aerodynamic flow in wind
turbine. This is why we choose this method to compare static
torque characteristics of two vertical axis wind turbines
(VAWT), one with straight blade and the other one with helical
blade. Analyses are realized by use of Ansys CFX software. At
first, three-dimensional (3D) simulations of straight blade turbine
with different meshes are carried out. To determine how much
mesh parameters affect the accuracy of result and computational
time. Then we perform 3D simulations of helical blade turbine
and compare its results with straight blade one.
KeywordsComputational fluid dynamic (CFD); vertical axis
wind turbine; Darrius turbine; Gorlov turbine; straight blade;
helical blade; static torque
I. INTRODUCTION
Due to continuously growing emphasis on renewable
energy sources, there is also increased focus on research on this
sources, among which belongs wind power. Wind power is
attractive due its low maintenance cost. Currently most
widespread type of wind turbine is one with horizontal axis of
rotation (HAWT). The output power from HAWT varies in
wide range from 1 kW to units of MW. Although the type of
construction of these kinds of wind power plants is various
there can be found several factors that are common for proper
functionality of HAWT [1, 2]. Typical is higher wind velocity
for optimal operation of HAWT with that is related necessity of
the equipment for adjusting turbine blades against direction of
wind. Accordingly to [3, 4] HAWT have low efficiency for low
wind velocity so the wind power plant is not fully utilized.
In the areas with lower wind velocities is more appropriate
to use vertical axis wind turbines. Generally vertical axis wind
turbine (VAWT) have lower power output in ranges from
hundreds of W to units of kW, some experimental turbines
have bigger output power, and for example Sandia 34-M rated
at 500 kW [5] or ole Cap-Chat rated at 4 MW [6]. Main
advantage of VAWT is its independence of wind direction and
operation at low wind velocities. In 1931 Darrieus [7] revealed
his concept of VAWT what is area of research to this day. One
example is Gorlov [8] and his patent of improved Darrieus
This paper is supported by the following projects: LO1404: Sustainable
development of ENET Centre; CZ.1.05/2.1.00/19.0389 Development of the
ENET centre research infrastructure; SP2017/159 Students Grant Competition
and TACR TH01020426, Czech Republic.
978-1-5090-6406-9/17/$31.00 2017 IEEE
turbine, Gorlov turbine had blades twisted in angle of 180
degrees because it had only 2 blades. Angle of twist is given by
dividing the full angle by number of blades. It is also called
Gorlov helical turbine. This blade curvature has the effect of
evenly distributing the airfoil surface over rotation cycle. So
there are no abrupt changes of lift and drag forces and therefore
smoother torque curve and less vibrations and noise. Thanks to
increasing computing power there is growing number of three-
dimensional (3D) simulations. Kacor et al.[9][10] used
computational fluid dynamic (CFD) to analyse VAWT and
compare results with speed characteristic provided by
manufacturer and then modified its construction to achieve
better results. Howell et al. [11] compared two-dimensional
(2D) and 3D simulations with manufactured model and
conclusion was the 3D simulations show to be in reasonably
good agreement with wind tunnel measurements and 2D
simulations show greater performance because it does not
count with tip vortices. The aim of this paper is compare static
torque characteristics of Darrieus and Gorlov turbine in 3D
CFD simulations. In simulations we use turbulence
model, its strength is given by the reduced calculation times
required to perform a simulation with good levels of
convergence [12].
II. THREE-DIMENSIONAL MODEL OF STRAIGHT BLADE TURBINE
At first we describe characteristic dimensions of analysed
Darrieus turbine, then we briefly mention boundary settings.
The solid geometry was created with AutoCAD and imported
into ANSYS DesignModeler, there we created volumes in
which will be mesh generated. Modelled turbine with diameter
D = 1,5 m and height H = 2,2 m is composed of three
Wortmann FX 60-126 airfoils with chord length 0,4 m and a
shaft of diameter Dshaft = 0,15 m. We created three
computational domains, the reason was to achieve sufficiently
dense mesh only in areas close to rotor blades so we dont
waste computing power. Largest domain (DOk) have square
plane with side L_DOk = 15 m one of its face is set as inlet
with air velocity 10 m/s. Velocity is uniformly distributed and
directed along the x-axis. Remaining outer faces are set as
opening with direction and relative pressure 0 Pa. Second
domain (BOk) also have square plane with side L_Bok = 2,5 m
its purpose is to avoid big difference in mesh element sizes of TABLE I. PARAMETERS OF ROK MESH AND ITS EFFECT ON NUMBER OF
ELEMENTS AND COMPUTATIONAL TIME
DOk and last domain (ROk) that have circle plane with
diameter of DROk = 1,7 m. Front and back faces of BOk and Name Body Nodes Elements Computational
ROk are set to opening, turbine blades walls have no slip sizing time
boundary condition. (m)

Mesh1 0,025 281625 268050

Mesh2 0,015 659175 633600 1,175
Mesh3 0,010 1520726 1460760 ~3

Fig. 3. Mesh 1

Fig. 1. Turbine and computational domains Plan

Fig. 4. Mesh 2

Fig. 2. Definition of angle of rotation

III. MESH CONFIGURATIONS Fig. 5. Mesh 3

Mesh is composed of elements with various size, this
elements are predominantly hexahedrons and a few are
wedges. Size vary by domains, for DOk is set to 0,2 m, in BOk
to 0,05 m and in ROK we have three different settings are
given in table 1. Mesh is created with sweep method. This
method creates mesh on the source face and then copy it to the
target face. It then generates either hexahedral or wedge
elements connecting the two faces and following the exterior
topology of the body [13]. On top of that we use inflation
method on turbine wall blades, this creates 5 layers with
growth ratio 1, 2 see fig. 2.
By looking at fig. 3, 4 and 5 we see that at certain angles of
rotation are torques quite different. Assuming that the more
dense mesh is, the more accurate results. We can conclude that
the Mesh1 is insufficient and Mesh 2 is applicable only for
cases where we want average torque, because discrepancy of
average values between Mesh 3 and Mesh 2 is equal to 5 %.
We need torque values at different angles of rotation so we
have to use Mesh 3, for this reason we will use its simulation
results in further comparison.
Fig. 6. Static torque characteristics of straight blade turbine for three
different meshes
IV. THREE-DIMENSIONAL MODEL OF HELICAL BLADE TURBINE
Twist angle of each blade is 120 so the end of one blade is
just right above the starting point of next one as we can see at
fig. 8. Because of more complex turbine shape we couldnt use
sweep method on ROk, instead, we used automatic method set
to patch conforming with body sizing set to 0,025 m. Resulting
mesh in ROk has 669 000 nodes and 3 411 000 elements, this
increased computational time approximately threefold.
Fig. 7. Darrieus turbine
Fig. 8. Gorlov turbine
Fig. 9 shows static torque characteristics of both compared
turbines and we can see previously mentioned advantage of
Gorlov turbine which is smoother torque curve compared to
Darrieus turbine. Another conclusion is the Gorlov turbine
should not have problem to start up from any position because
torque doesnt drop to values close to zero what is case of
Darrieus turbine.
Fig. 9. Static torque characteristics of Darrieus turbine and Gorlov turbine.
 V. CONCLUSION
We performed analysis of two vertical axis wind turbines,
Darrieus and Gorlov turbine. Firstly we did simulations of
Darrieus turbine with different mesh settings for finding out its
effect on computational time, in our case 5,4x increase of mesh
elements caused 3x increase of computational time. We
selected most appropriate results which are simulations with
most dense mesh and then compared it with Gorlov turbine
simulation results. From comparison we found out the average
torque of Darrieus turbine is 2,8 Nm and of Gorlov turbine is
3,9 Nm that is about 38 % greater than the one of Darrieus
turbine and also that the torque is distributed more evenly over
whole rotation, this means Gorlov turbine will not have
problem to start up and will have higher number of operational
hours.
Future research lies in carrying out steady and transient
simulations for rotating turbine.
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