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Recommendation for strut designs of vertical axis wind turbines: Effects of strut profiles and connecting configurations on the aerodynamic performance

Miao, W, Liu, Q, Zhang, Q, Xu, Z, Li, C, Yue, M, Zhang, W and Ye, Z (2022) Recommendation for strut designs of vertical axis wind turbines: Effects of strut profiles and connecting configurations on the aerodynamic performance. Energy Conversion and Management, 276. ISSN 0196-8904

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Abstract

The strut is a necessary support structure that connects the vertical axis wind turbine blade to the rotating shaft and transfers the torque, and is one of the key factors affecting the aerodynamic performance of the wind turbine. However, research on struts is limited and the appropriate strut design remain uncertain. Therefore, in this paper, the struts of a straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine are investigated by a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics approach, to find the appropriate strut design parameters that minimize the impact on the aerodynamic performance. Thirty strut profiles with different chord lengths, thicknesses, areas, and streamlined shapes were parametrically created and analyzed, including a novel strut-specific profile proposed in this paper. Furthermore, all strut connecting parameters, such as spanwise and chordwise positions, connecting angle and fairing were investigated. The results show that the power loss of a vertical axis wind turbine has a relatively linear relationship with the dimensionless absolute thickness of the strut within a certain range. The strut chord length is another important influencing factor. Equal chord lengths of the strut and the blade should be avoided as much as possible. The proposed novel olivary strut profile has lower drag characteristics and more favorable geometrical structural properties compared to the most used NACA airfoil. The influence of the spanwise connecting position (within the range around the blade quarter span) is minor. But the chordwise position has a significant effect, and special attention should be paid to avoid the strut maximum thickness position connecting with the blade aerodynamic center, which will result in the greatest performance degradation. Analysis of the connecting angles shows that inclined struts are suitable for small wind turbines. The fairing is effective when the strut chord length is equal to or longer than the blade chord length. With these results, a set of recommended design parameters for vertical axis wind turbine struts is presented.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: 0906 Electrical and Electronic Engineering; 0913 Mechanical Engineering; Energy
Subjects: T Technology > TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)
T Technology > TD Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering
T Technology > TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
Divisions: Engineering
Publisher: Elsevier
SWORD Depositor: A Symplectic
Date Deposited: 07 Jul 2023 08:55
Last Modified: 30 Nov 2023 00:50
DOI or ID number: 10.1016/j.enconman.2022.116436
URI: https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/20241
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