Login | Register

Mesh Requirement Investigation for 2D and 3D Aerodynamic Simulation of Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

Title:

Mesh Requirement Investigation for 2D and 3D Aerodynamic Simulation of Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

Naghib Zadeh, Saman (2013) Mesh Requirement Investigation for 2D and 3D Aerodynamic Simulation of Vertical Axis Wind Turbines. Masters thesis, Concordia University.

[thumbnail of Naghib_Zadeh_MASc_F2013.pdf]
Preview
Text (application/pdf)
Naghib_Zadeh_MASc_F2013.pdf - Accepted Version
Available under License Spectrum Terms of Access.
7MB

Abstract

The accuracy of a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model to capture the complex flow around a small vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) on 2D and 3D grids is investigated. The aerodynamic complexity of the flow is mostly due to rapid variation of the angle of attack of the rotating blades. The resulting flow includes large separation flows over the blades, dynamic stall, and wake-blade interaction. These features are sensitive to the grid resolution and turbulence models. In the present research, a grid convergence study is conducted on 2D grids to examine the CFD model sensitivity to mesh resolution and to identify when grid convergence is obtained. An averaged-grid size of y^+>30 is employed along the wall to capture the near-wall region flow structures. Moreover, a parallel OpenFOAM solver is used to investigate the numerical solution of Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) equations coupled with Spalart-Allmaras (SA) turbulence model. As a result, it is seen that the Power Coefficient (C_p), in 2D investigations, increases with the mesh size until it achieves grid convergence. For a 3D simulation, only a coarse mesh can be used due to large computational requirements. It is found that the 3D coarse mesh significantly under-predicts the Power Coefficient but is able to predict tip vortices.

Divisions:Concordia University > Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science > Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Item Type:Thesis (Masters)
Authors:Naghib Zadeh, Saman
Institution:Concordia University
Degree Name:M.A. Sc.
Program:Mechanical Engineering
Date:1 June 2013
Thesis Supervisor(s):Paraschivoiu, Marius
ID Code:977489
Deposited By: SAMAN NAGHIB ZADEH
Deposited On:25 Nov 2013 19:46
Last Modified:18 Jan 2018 17:44
All items in Spectrum are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved. The use of items is governed by Spectrum's terms of access.

Repository Staff Only: item control page

Downloads per month over past year

Research related to the current document (at the CORE website)
- Research related to the current document (at the CORE website)
Back to top Back to top