Studying the Performance of a Hybrid Configuration of Darrieus and Savonius Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

Abstract

ABSTRACT The (VAWT) has some advantage compared with (HAWT), which make it suitable for some application, in spite of low power coefficient compared to (HAWT). The main objective of the current thesis is to examine methods of Darrieus turbine performance enhancement and self-starting ability. It is suggested to use a hybrid turbine by combining Savonius turbine at the center of Darrieus turbine to achieve this goal. The flow field pattern around the Darrieus turbine is considered one of the most complex phenomena. This type of fluid flow problems cannot be solved analytically. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling is used to perform this task. The commercial finite volume solver ANSYS-FLUENT 16 is used to solve both transient Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations and turbulent flow model equations. An accurate numerical model involves a wide range of issues, from grid generation to turbulence modeling. These issues have been addressed and the obtained numerical results are compared with the available experimental data from literature reported for validation.