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Effect of Transitional Turbulence Modelling on a Straight Blade Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

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Alternative Energies

Part of the book series: Advanced Structured Materials ((STRUCTMAT,volume 34))

Abstract

The flow around straight blade vertical axis wind turbines is typically complex at low tip speed ratios (TSR < 2). In this paper, the turbulence models which are based on the assumption of fully developed turbulent flow, such as S-A, RNG κ-ε and SST κ-ω have been investigated in comparison to the SST transitional model (both with and without curvature correction) to account for the laminar-turbulence transition. The investigation is based on the 2D unsteady Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes (URANS) equations using a sliding mesh technique. It has been found that applying turbulence models based on the assumption of fully developed flow shows significant differences in velocity magnitude if the flow is under stall condition or wake effect compared to the transitional model. Also, the predicted flow structure in the vicinity of the stalled airfoils using different types of turbulence models is found to be different compared to the un-stalled airfoils where no significant differences in the flow field have been observed. In the wake region, the flow varies less significantly compared to the stalled airfoils.

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Acknowledgments

Khaled M. Almohammadi would like to express his gratitude to Taibah University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for supporting him to perform his PhD study in the University of Leeds.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CFD Centre, ETII, Faculty of Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

    K. M. Almohammadi

  2. Mechanical Engineering, Taibah University, Madinah, Saudi Arabia

    K. M. Almohammadi

  3. CFD Centre, ETII, Faculty of Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

    D. B. Ingham, L. Ma & M. Pourkashanian

Authors
  1. K. M. Almohammadi
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  2. D. B. Ingham
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  3. L. Ma
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  4. M. Pourkashanian
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to K. M. Almohammadi .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Circe / Centre of Research for Energy Resources and Consumption, Zaragoza, Spain

    Germán Ferreira

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Almohammadi, K.M., Ingham, D.B., Ma, L., Pourkashanian, M. (2013). Effect of Transitional Turbulence Modelling on a Straight Blade Vertical Axis Wind Turbine. In: Ferreira, G. (eds) Alternative Energies. Advanced Structured Materials, vol 34. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40680-5_5

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