Procee

edings of the
e 1st Global P
Power and Propulsion
P Fo
orum
GPPF 2017
Jan 16-118, 2014, Zu
urich, Switzerrland
www.pps.global

GPPF
F-2017--51

A CO
OMBINED EXPERIM
MENTAL A
AND NUME ERICAL AN
NALYSIS OF THE WAKE
W
STRUCCTURE AN
ND PERFO
ORMANCEE OF A H-S
SHAPED DARRIEUS
D S WIND TU
URBINE

Alesssandro Bianchini Franncesco Bald duzzi G iovanni Ferrara

ndustrial Engineering
Dept. of In Dept. of In
ndustrial En ngineering Dept. of IIndustrial Engineering
Universit degli Studi di Firenze Universit
degli Studii di Firenze Universit degli Studdi di Firenze
e
bianchini@vega.de.unifi.it balduzzzi@vega.de e.unifi.it giovaanni.ferrara@@unifi.it
F
Firenze, Italyy Firenze, Italy
y Firenze, Italy

Lorenzo Fe errari Giacoomo Persico o Vincenzo

V Doossena Lore
enzo Battistii
DESTEC C Dipartime ento di Enerrgia Dippartimento di
d Energia Dept. off Civil, Envirron.
Univ versit deglli Studi di Politecn
nico di Milan
no Politecnico di
d Milano and Mecch. Engineering
Pisa giacomo.ppersico@poliimi.it vince
enzo.dossenna@polimi.it Univerrsit di Trennto
lorrenzo.ferrari@
@unipi.it Milano, Italy Milano, Italy lorenzo..battisti@unitn.it
Pisa, Ita
aly Trrento, Italy

ABS STRACT INT TRODUCTIO ON

The Darrieuss concept is increasingly
i welcome
w by bboth Vertical Ax xis Wind Turrbines (VAW WTs), especiallly in
reseaarchers and mmanufacturers of wind turbin nes, especiallyy in thee Darrieus con nfiguration, hhave been reccently identifieed as
view
w of small-sizze installationns in the builtt environmentt or suiitable for new w types of appplications su uch as small--scale
largee-scale offshoore rotors mouunted on floatiing platforms.. To insstallations in complex
c terraiins (e.g. the urban
u environm ment,
achieve a more efficient, structurally
s sound and coost- seee Balduzzi et al [1]) or offfshore large floating platfforms
effecctive design oof Darrieus Vertical
V Axis Wind Turbinnes, (e.g. Borg et al [2]). The reas asons for this increasing success
nummerical techniqques making use of Com mputational Flluid aree mainly conn nected to the superior mechanical simpllicity,
Dynnamics are connsidered as thhe most prom mising tool, siince easse of installlation and m maintenance, afforded byy the
they
y provide a deetailed and com mprehensive representationn of positioning of generation equipment at ground level
the flow,
f which is instrumentaal for the undeerstanding off the (Paaraschivoiu [3 3]). Moreover,, Darrieus VA AWTs present good
unsteady aerodynaamics of the rotor.
r han ndling of turbulent and co complex flows, with low noise n
In this study, a two-dimenssional U-RAN NS computatioonal em
missions and high reliabbility (A. Bh hutta et al [4]).
moddel was applieed to analyze both the oveerall performaance Un t efficiencyy of Darrieus turbines still lacks
nfortunately, the
and, especially, thhe wake charaacteristics on the mid planee of fro
om that of con nventional hoorizontal axis wind turbines. To
a H-shaped
H Darrrieus VAWT T for micro ogeneration. T The im
mprove efficien ncies further, a more in deepth understannding
turbiine was studieed experimenntally in a largge-scale, openn-jet of the physicall phenomena that govern n Darrieus tuurbine
windd tunnel, inncluding botth performan nce and w wake beh havior is needded. Some of these phenom mena, e.g. dynnamic
measurements, inn the frame of a compreehensive activvity staall (Simao-Ferreira et al [5]) or flow curvature efffects
oriennted to the coonstruction of an experim mental benchm mark (Raainbird et al [6]), are indeeed not comp pletely undersstood
for VAWT
V simulations. Thankks to the availlability of succh a and d so limited corrections, orr no correction n at all, are appplied
uniq
que set of exxperimental data,d systemaatic comparissons forr them when designing
d the rrotors.
betw
ween simulatiions and expperiments weere carried oout, Within this context, thanks to the increasing
high
hlighting the main aerodyynamic pheno omena and fl flow com mputational reesources, CFD D can play a fundamental
fu roole in
macrro-structures aand discussingg the predictioon capabilitiess of enh hancing the comprehensioon of the flu uid structures past
the numerical
n moddel. theese rotating bllades, since itt represents thhe only modell able
On these baases, the preesent study is consideredd of to provide
p a detaailed and comp
mprehensive reepresentation of o the
interrest for the sccientific com
mmunity workiing in this fiield, flo
ow. Due to th he complexity ty of this typ pe of simulattions,
espeecially as a ffirst support to future an nalyses aimedd at how wever, the possibility
p off having reliaable and dettailed
imprroving the unnderstanding of o the unstead dy aerodynam mics exp perimental daata to be ussed as validaation test cases is
takin
ng place past D Darrieus windd turbine bladees. pivvotal to tune the numericall tools. Withiin this framew work,

T work is licen
This nsed under a Creaative Commons Attribution
A 4.0 Intternational Licensse
an extended experimental reseaarch program on VAWTs w was
carriied out in colllaboration witth the Universsity of Trentoo, in
the frame
f of a N
National foundded project, whose
w results are
partiially documennted in Dosseena et al [7] anda Persico eet a.
[8]. Throughout tthis project, tw wo rotor archiitectures (clossed-
tropooskien-blade and open-H-bblade) were tested in seveeral
w conditions, with the aim to give insights into the
flow
diffeerent aerodynnamics of thee two config gurations andd to
makke results avaailable as an experimentall benchmark for
futurre projects onn similar maachines. In th he present stuudy,
than
nks to the availlability of succh a unique set of experimenntal
data, a systematicc cross-compaarison was carrried out betw ween
the experimental results of thhe H-shaped rotor r at the mmid
plan
ne and the numerical ones o comingg from a tw wo-
dimeensional U-R RANS computtational modeel developed by
some of the authoors in the last few years (e..g. Balduzzi eet al
[9]). The main aeerodynamic phhenomena aree highlighted and
the prediction
p cappability of the numerical moodel is discusssed.
One may nootice that thee use of two-dimensional U-
RAN NS simulationns is probabbly not the most m approprriate
apprroach to this kind of analyyses since 2D D simulations are
deemmed to producce vortices thhat are more coherent
c and lless
pronne to breakdow wns than real 3D ones. Thee present reseaarch
on Darrieus
D VAW WTs is indeed trying to move the C CFD
simuulations towarrds fully threee-dimensionall analyses, whhich
are however stilll hampered by b the enorm mous calculattion
resouurces needed.. On the otherr hand, recent studies (e.g. [6])
showwed that the appproach here proposed can n give an accurrate
mation of the aerodynamiccs of these machines,
estim m evenn in
term
ms of instantanneous torque profile. On theset bases, iit is
heree thought to bbe also exploiitable to assesss the main fl flow
strucctures attendedd in the wake of a H-Darrieeus rotor.
VAW WT TEST MO ODEL
The turbine pprototype conssidered in thiss study is a thrree-
bladde, H-shaped D Darrieus VAW WT. The blad des are conneccted
to th
he support steeel pole by twoo aluminium spokes,
s as shoown
in Fiig. 1.
h a swept arrea of 1.5 m2 (H x D, 1.55 m x
The rotor has
1.0
028 m), and itt is equipped with dihedrall blades compposed
by un-staggered d NACA00211 profiles (c = 0.086 m). Full
dettails on the lab
boratory modeel are reported
d in [7].
EXXPERIMENT TAL CAMPAIIGN
In this papeer, CFD simullations are thooroughly comppared
agaainst wind tu unnel measureements perforrmed some of o the
autthors in a previous, but reccent, experimeental campaiggn. In
thee frame of this experimentaal activity, aerodynamic ass well
as performance measurementss were carried d out to investtigate
thee turbine wak ke and perforrmance. A brrief review of o the
expperimental laayout is repoorted in the following secction,
whhile full detailss on the test caampaign can be
b found in [77].
Wiind Tunnel
The measu urements repported in this t paper were
perrformed in thee large-scale w wind tunnel off the Politecniico di
Miilano (Italy). It consists of a closed-loop facility, whose test
secction (4.00 m wide, 3.84 m high and 6.00m long) alllows
thee aerodynamicc characterizaation of real-scale wind turb rbines
forr micro-generration, up too a maximum m wind speeed of
55 m/s. A comb bination of ho
honeycombs and a anti-turbulence
scrreens providess high flow qu quality, resultiing in a freesttream
turrbulence intensity at the inleet lower than 1%.
Since the soolid blockage of the rotor amounts
a to 100% of
thee wind tunnel chamber, a relevant blo ockage effectt was
observed in conventional w wind tunnel teests performeed in
con nfined (or cllosed chambeer) configuraation. To limiit the
bloockage, furtheer tests were ccarried out using a ''free jett'' (or
op pen chamber) configuratio ion, by remov ving the test room
upstream of the diffuser leadin ing to the fanss, and installinng the
rottor directly facing
f the uppstream tunneel. Applicatioon of
claassical correlaations for freee-jet blockagee suggests thaat the
bloockage is neg gligible in thee present casee (below a few w %)
tunnel results are believed to be
[7]]; therefore, frree-jet wind tu
reppresentative of the open fie ield configuraation, and are here
con nsidered for comparison wiith CFD simullations.

Insstrumentatio on and Dataa Processing g

The experimmental turbinee performancee was obtaineed by
com mbining an absolute en encoder for rotational speed s
meeasurements and a preciision torque meter, mouunted
bettween elastic joints, to m measure the torque
t transm
mitted
thrrough the shafft.
Data were registered ussing a Compact-RIO (Nattional
Insstruments) daata acquisitioon board, seetting a sam mpling
freequency of 2 kHz. Recordeed time seriess lasted 3 minnutes
forr each working g condition, inn order to guaarantee a suffiicient
am
mount of data forf time-averaaging. Measurrement uncerttainty
waas computed byb resorting too the classicall error propaggation
theeory; the read
der is referredd to [7] for the quantificatioon of
thee uncertainty as a function of the TSR. To investigatte the
vellocity magnituude and the tuurbulence field in the wakee, two
(a) (b)) sin
ngle-sensor hoot wire probess were traverssed downstreaam of
thee rotors. Uncertainty in the velocity measurements ressulted
Design (a) and picture (b) of the
Figure 1. D abo out 2% after calibration inn a low-speed d jet. The firsst hot
H-shapedd VAWT und der consideeration. wirre probe waas mounted aaligned with the wind speed s

2
direction, thus exposing the wire normal to the wind to
measure directly the velocity magnitude. The second probe
was mounted in the vertical direction and was rotated during
operation around its own axis to measure the transversal
velocity components, by exploiting the angular sensitivity of
wire. The so-called triple decomposition was performed on
hot wire data, by extracting the time-averaged, phase-
resolved, and turbulent components of the velocity, as
discussed by Persico et al [8]. The phase-resolved component
was obtained by ensemble averaging the velocity signals,
using the encoder as a key-phasor. The streamwise
turbulence intensity was determined by extracting the
unresolved unsteady fluctuations of the velocity signal. A
pneumatic five-hole probe was also applied throughout the
tests to measure the pressure level and the 3D flow direction.
Measured pressure values confirmed the absence of
blockage-induced over-speeds outside the wake region; flow
angle measurements with the vertical hot wire and the
pneumatic probe also indicated negligible transversal and
vertical velocity components in the wake at midspan.
NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS
The two-dimensional simulations presented in this paper
were carried out using the commercial code ANSYS
FLUENT [10]. The time-dependent unsteady Reynolds-
averaged NavierStokes (U-RANS) approach was adopted in
a pressure-based formulation. The fluid was air, which was
modeled as an ideal compressible fluid following the
suggestion of Balduzzi et al [9]. Inlet air conditions were the
same monitored during the experimental tests, i.e. a pressure
of 1.01105 Pa, a temperature of 293 K and an inlet
turbulence level of 1%. Some of the authors have recently
presented (Balduzzi et al [9]) the assessment and validation
of the main settings for a proper CFD simulation of Darrieus
wind turbines using the FLUENT code, whose accuracy has
been also successfully verified by means of experimental
data (Balduzzi et al [11]). Moreover, in recent works
(Balduzzi et al [12] and Bianchini et al [13]) the accuracy of
the proposed numerical approach has been verified exactly
on the same case study considered here. For the sake of
completeness, the main numerical settings are briefly
summarized below. The turbulence closure was achieved by
means of the k- shear stress transport (SST) model (Menter
[14]), coupled with the Enhanced Wall Treatment embedded
in the FLUENT code for the computation of the boundary
layer in the near-wall regions; since the y+ was constantly
kept < 1 in the boundary layer, the linear law of the wall is
actually used.
The Coupled algorithm was employed to handle the
pressure-velocity coupling. The second order upwind scheme
was used for the spatial discretization of the whole set of
RANS and turbulence equations, as well as the bounded
second order for time differencing to obtain a good
resolution (Amet et al [15]). The global convergence of each
simulation was monitored by considering the difference
between the mean values of the torque coefficient over two
subsequent revolutions: according to Balduzzi et al [11], the
periodicity error threshold was set to 0.1%.
3
To simulate the rotation of the turbine, the sliding mesh
technique was employed, i.e. the computed domain was split
into a circular zone containing the turbine, rotating with the
same angular velocity of the rotor, and an outer rectangular
fixed zone, determining the overall domain extent. The final
dimensions of both domains were defined, according to the
sensitivity analysis reported by Balduzzi et al [9], so to allow
a full and unconstrained development of the turbine wake. In
this way, CFD results can be properly compared to
experiments obtained in unconfined configuration. A
velocity-inlet boundary condition was imposed at the inlet
section (40D upwind from the revolution axis). The ambient
pressure condition was imposed at the outlet boundary (100D
downwind), while a symmetry condition was defined on
lateral boundaries (30D).
In the present study, the finest mesh defined during the
sensitivity analyses reported by Balduzzi et al [12] was used
for all the three considered tip-speed ratios. Even if
redundant at TSR=3.3, this refinement level indeed ensured a
very accurate discretization of the whole area around the
rotor, greatly limiting any bias error due to the numerical
discretization. The mesh is of unstructured and hybrid type,
with triangular elements in the core flow region, and an O-
grid made of quads in the boundary layer. As discussed, the
first element height was chosen to guarantee that the
dimensionless wall distance at the grid nodes of the first
layer above the blade wall does not exceed y+ ~ 1. The
expansion ratio for the growth of elements starting from the
surface was kept below 1.1 to achieve good mesh quality.
The airfoil surface was discretized with 1400 nodes, resulting
in 1.2106 elements for the rotating region, while the
stationary region was discretized with 2.0105 elements. The
mesh characteristics fully accomplish the criteria based on
dimensionless thresholds proposed by Balduzzi et al [16].
Based on the same criteria, in order to limit the Courant
Number in proximity of the blades, an angular timestep of
0.21 was used, i.e. the finest one identified by Bianchini et
al in [13]. With the described settings, the calculation time to
achieve a complete revolution of the rotor is around 24 hours
in a 16 CPUs (2.8 MHz each) calculation center. The
required number of revolutions to achieve a periodic solution
is dependent on the TSR, varying from 10 to 20 revolutions.
Figure 2 finally shows some visual details of the mesh in
the rotating region (a) and near the leading edge (b).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
To assess the prediction capability of the CFD approach,
Fig. 3 compares the curve of experimental power coefficient
cP, defined according to Eq. 1 and measured by Dossena et al
[7], with the one obtained with present simulations.
P
cP = . (1)
1 3
AV0
2
It is worth remarking that numerical results were
corrected to account for the parasitic torque of the supporting
struts of the rotor, which were of course not simulated in the
two-dimensional approach.
 Daarrieus VAWT Ts, can be nooted at low tip-speed ratioos; in
this region of the curve, the airfoils work in sttalled
connditions for a considerable fraction of th he revolution, with
sevvere flow sep paration phenoomena and laarge-scale vorrtices
dettaching even from the leaading edges of the airfoills. In
theese condition ns, additionaal elements like the suurface
rouughness, the trailing-edge
t refinement in
n the experimmental
moodel, etc. can n play a funndamental ro ole in settingg the
chaaracteristics of such sepparations, wh hich are how wever
piv
votal for the final
f torque prroduction. Ovverall, by virtuue of
theese results, th
he CFD approoach can be considered
c relliable
forr the purposes of the presennt study.
To analyse the wake charracteristics, th hree relevant TSRs
T
weere selected for analysiis, for whicch detailed flow
meeasurements werew availablee. Based on the indicationns of
[7]], the tip-speeed ratios of 1..5, 2.4 and 3.3 were considdered
forr comparison n, correspondding to a wind w speed V0 of
14.2 m/s, 9.0 m/s and 6.5 m//s, respectively y, having assiigned
a constant
c angular speed of thhe turbine equal to 400 rpm..
Figure 4 compares the CFD-based torque coeffiicient
Figu
ure 2 - Mesh
h refinement in the rota
ating region (a) pro hree investigated conditions.
ofiles, cT (Eq.. 2), for the thr
and near the lea
ading edge (b).
T
cT = . (2)
D 2
A V 0
4

By looking at the torque profiles, one can readily notice

n
thaat the TSR=1 1.5 conditionn represents a highly unsstable
operating point, with an abruppt stall onset ini the upwind zone
(arround approxiimately =60 ), followed by intense rippples
due to the onset and the subbsequent prop pagation of macro-
m
vorrtices detachinng from the bllades (see Rainbird et al [66]). In
t study, the deep
parrticular, as will be discusseed later on in the
staall in the seconnd quadrant ooriginates stro
ong macro-vorrtices
thaat are convected downstream am by the flow w and interactt with
thee downstream blades, resultting in the inteense ripples shhown
Fig
gure 3 - Commparison be etween expe eriments froom in the
t torque pro ofile.
[7]] and presen
nt CFD simu ulations corrrected for th
he The TSR=2 2.4 condition still lies in th
he unstable paart of
s
struts paras
sitic torque. thee operating curve, but thee upwind peaak is now shhifted
towwards =90, i.e. where itt is commonlly located forr this
The correctiion was intrroduced by resorting
r to the kinnd of airfoil during
d convenntional turbinne operation. After
origiinal one-dimeensional modeel developed by b Bianchini eet al staall occurs, thee trend is agaain quite steepp, with a neggative
[17], assuming a rrectangular shhape of the strruts section. A As a torrque region beetween =1200 and =180 and large rippples
mattter of fact, thee model considders a constan
nt equivalent ddrag dow wnwind.
coeffficient for thhe section annd assumes that t the induuced
aerodynamic dragg during thee revolution is given by the
projeection of the rrelative speedd (variable with the radius and
calcuulated with a multitubes BEM app proach for eeach
azim
muthal positioon) on the tanngential direction. For furtther
detail on the moddel, the readerr is referred too the analysess of
the same
s authors in [17] and [118], where thee reliability off the
moddel was assesssed by meanss of experimeental tests in the
windd tunnel.
Upon examiination of thhe figure, so ound agreem ment
betw
ween experim ments and simulations
s i apparent. In
is
partiicular, numerical results arre able to repproduce propeerly
the power
p curve over the entiire range of TSRs
T of interrest,
both
h in terms off qualitative trendt and cP values. A liittle Figure
F 4 - CF
FD torque p
profiles commparison at the
t
discrrepancy, quitte common in all CFD simulations of three investtigated TSR
Rs.

4
 Finally, TSR R=3.3 repreesents a staable functionning Upon exammination of thee figure, one can c notice thaat the
conddition, with noo evidence of abrupt stall, even
e if the torrque firsst two ripples correspond to the onset an nd the propaggation
extraaction is stronngly unbalancced towards the upwind zoone, of strong maccro vortices connected to o the deep stall
as ty
ypically foundd for three-blaade rotors of similar
s solidityy. exp perienced by the
t airfoils, allready discusssed in Fig. 4.
To understannd the physicss underlying these trends, the The third ripple (locatted approxim mately behindd the
posssibility of having experimenntal measurem ments of the fl flow tow
wer) is insteaad connected to another seet of vorticess that
field
d becomes ccrucial In particular,
p forr all the thhree oriiginate from the airfoil ttrailing edgee as soon ass the
funcctioning pointts comparisoons were maade between the inccidence angle is decreasinng again towaards values which w
nummerical resultts and the experimentss in terms of alloow the flow to reattach tto the bladess. Both thesee two
dimeensionless vellocity (V/V0) and turbulencce intensity (IITU). phenomena havee a major imppact on the ov verall perform
mance
CFD D data have bbeen acquiredd in correspon ndence of virt rtual of the rotor. Fully comparablee trends were also found foor the
rakees positioned eexactly at thee same distancce from the shhaft farr traverse (Fiig. 7), with the main flo ow structures still
of th
he experimenttal traverses, i.e. near 0.7 75D downstreeam notticeable, even n though witth a general reduction of the
and far 1.5D ddownstream thhe shaft. At each e section, 100 flu
uctuations intensity.
equaally spaced pooints were acqquired at a freqquency of 10 kkHz Consideringg the conditioon corresponding to TSR R=2.4,
for at least 3 revolutions. Baased on thesee data, averaaged Figg. 8 reports thee results againn for the near traverse.
proffiles were alsoo calculated annd added to the comparisonss.
Figure 5 repports the resuults at TSR=1.5 for the nnear
traveerse, in the foorm of measurred and compu uted velocity and
turbuulence profilees. Super-impoosed to the com mputed averaaged
proffiles, the unssteady dispersion is also reported. Goood
agreeement is geenerally founnd between simulations and
expeeriments, in teerms of wake width and defficit as well aas in
ms of flow and turbulence morphology inside the waake.
term
Fromm an in-depth analysis of thhe trends, it is worth remarkking
that CFD data present a high dispersion, esspecially in thhree
posittions, i.e. arouund Y/D=-0.44, Y/D=-0.2 an nd 0.1 <Y/D<00.4.
In th
hese positions, both the velocity and the turbulence fieelds
present wide ripples, whose naature can be comprehended
c d by
lookking at the com ose distributionn is
mputed velociity field, who Figure
F 6 - Ins
stantaneouss velocity fie
eld at TSR=1
1.5.
repoorted in Fig. 6 for a given innstant.

Figure
F 7 - Far traverse: d
dimensionle ess velocity
y (a)
Figure 5 - Nearr traverse: dimensionle
d ss velocity (a) and turbbulence inteensity (b) att TSR=1.5.
and turbu ulence intennsity (b) at TSR=1.5.
T

5
 In this case, tthe velocity prrofile is smooother and the ddata
dispersion is low wer. In furtheer detail, as testified by the
snappshot of the innstantaneous velocity field d reported in F Fig.
9, a more uniforrm wake struccture was preedicted by CF FD.
Even n if the overaall accuracy of o simulationss is still goodd in
term
ms of wake widdth, a discrepaancy can be heere noticed inn the
regioon behind thhe rotor, whhere experim ments revealedd a
velocity deficit hiigher than thaat predicted nu umerically. S uch
deviiation might be connectedd to a higheer impact of the
interraction betweeen the flow annd the tower. This evidencce is
in aggreement withh the slightlyy lower value of the prediccted
powwer coefficient previously diiscussed in Fig g. 3.
A general deecrease of thee turbulence level can be aalso Figure
F 9 - Ins
stantaneouss velocity fie
eld at TSR=2
2.4.
noticced in Fig.8((b). With resspect to the lower TSR, the
turbuulence intensiity profile preedicted by CF FD is almost flat
and of low magnnitude in the center c of the wake, with twtwo,
clearrly marked, peaks at the tw wo sides of thee wake itself; the
posittion and relaative intensityy of these peeaks is againn in
remaarkable agreeement withh experimen nts. In tunnnel
measurements, a further peak is however distinguishable
d e at
the center
c of the wwake, again suggesting a sttronger influeence
of th
he tower.
To better undderstand the nature
n of the tw
wo lateral peaaks,
Fig. 10 reports thhe instantaneoous distributio on of turbuleence
inten
nsity in the sam me instant in time of Fig. 9.
9

Figure 10 - Instantaneouss turbulence intensity field

f
at TS
SR=2.4.

Figure 10 clearly suggestts that the twoo local increasses of

turrbulence intennsity are relateed to the prop
pagation of thee two
diffferent vorticees, already nooticed at TSR= =1.5, that aree now
eveen more evideent thanks to tthe vorticity analysis.
a The more
inttense one, loccated approxiimately at Y//D=-0.5, is inndeed
mo ore precisely related
r to the m
macro vorticees generated byb the
deeep stall condiitions experieenced by the airfoil in thee last
reggion of the up pwind part off the revolutiion; once theyy are
dettached from the airfoil ssurface, the vortices are then
con nvected down nstream by tthe main flow w, with the same
meechanism disccussed in Figg. 6. The otheer peak is innstead
related to the flow reattachhment in thee last part off the
dow wnwind regio on as soon ass the incidencce angle decrreases
bellow the stall one.
o
The main phenomena desscribed for th he near traversse are
agaain clearly diistinguishablee also in the far one (Fig.. 11),
witth an even more pronouncced discrepanccy for the vellocity
defficit in the wake in correspoondence to thee central toweer.
Finally, Fig. 12 and Figurre 13 report thhe results for the
t at
TSSR=3.3 for thee near and far ttraverse, respectively.
As discusseed, in this hiigh-loaded TS SR conditionns the
airrfoils do not exhibit
e the onnset of deep stall and the flow
Figure 8 - Nearr traverse: dimensionle
d ss velocity (a) nds to remain attached to thhe airfoil walls during the whole
ten w
and turbu ulence intennsity (b) at TSR=2.4.
T revvolution, with no formationn of vortical sttructures similar to
thoose described for lower TSR Rs. The data dispersion annd the
turrbulence levels are accordinngly lower.

6
Fig
gure 11 - Farr traverse: dimensionles
d ss velocity ((a) Fiigure 13 - Fa
ar traverse: dimensionless velocity y (a)
and turbu ulence intennsity (b) at TSR=2.4.
T and turbbulence inteensity (b) att TSR=3.3.

Experiments again show owed a sligh htly more inntense

vellocity deficit in the wake, even if the overall
o compaarison
bettween data is satisfying.. As mentioned for the two
preevious TSR conditions, the velocity y profiles reemain
subbstantially cooherent with those measured at the near
traverse, with evven smoother ttrends and low
wer dispersionn.

CO ONCLUSION NS
In the present study, a comprehen nsive set of flow
meeasurements inside
i the waake of a Darrrieus verticall-axis
win nd turbine have
h been coompared with h two-dimenssional
CFFD simulations of the same rotor in the midm plane.
Overall, ann interesting aagreement was found bettween
meeasurements and a simulatioons, even iff a 2D U-R RANS
app proach is usuaally thought to be not fullyy suitable for these
anaalyses. In parrticular, the CCFD data weree able to corrrectly
preedict the perfoormance of thhe turbine and d also to highhlight
som me main flo ow structurees whose efffects were fully
com mpatible with experimentall trends.
In particulaar, it has beenn shown thatt at low TSR Rs the
waake is charactterized by veery intense riipples, due too the
passsage of macro vortices dettaching from thet blades eithher in
thee upwind regiion after the sstall angle is reached, or in the
dow wnwind regio on as soon as tthe flow tendss to re-attach to
t the
blaade. For an inttermediate TSSR, intense turrbulence and some
Fig
gure 12 - Neear traverse: dimension nless velocitty rip
pples are still clearly distingguishable in reason
r of the wide
(a) and turrbulence inte
ensity (b) att TSR=3.3. rannge of inciden nce angles expperienced by the airfoils, which
w
maay lead to stall onset. Finallly, for high TSRs, typical ofo the
staable part of thee functioning curve, the waake is more reegular
and d smoother wiith less intensse ripples and turbulence, evven if

7
the velocity deficit is now increased due to the higher load validation with particle image velocimetry data, Wind
experienced by the turbine. Energy, 13, 2010, pp. 1-17
[6] Rainbird. J, Bianchini, A, Balduzzi, F, Peiro, J,
NOMENCLATURE Graham, JMR, Ferrara, G, and Ferrari, L, On the Influence
A turbine swept area [m2] of Virtual Camber Effect on Airfoil Polars for Use in
cP power coefficient [-] Simulations of Darrieus Wind Turbines, Energy Conversion
cT torque coefficient [-] and Management, 106(December 2015), 2015, pp. 373-384
CFD Computational Fluid Dynamics [7] Dossena, V, Persico, G, Paradiso, B, Battisti, L,
D, R turbine diameter, radius [m] DellAnna, S, Brighenti, A and Benini, E, An Experimental
ITU turbulence intensity [m] Study of the Aerodynamics and Performance of a Vertical
k turbulent kinetic energy [m2s-2] Axis Wind Turbine in a Confined and Unconfined
P power [W] Environment, 2015, ASME Journal of Energy Resources
RANS Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes Technology, 137(5) 2015, paper code 051207 (12 pages)
SST Shear Stress Transport [8] Persico, G, Dossena, V, Paradiso, B, Battisti, L,
T torque [Nm] Brighenti, A and Benini, E, Three-Dimensional Character of
TSR Tip-Speed Ratio VAWT Wakes: an Experimental Investigation for H-Shaped
V wind speed [m/s] and Troposkien Architectures, Proc. of the ASME Turbo
VAWT Vertical Axis Wind Turbines Expo 2016, Seoul, South Korea, June 13-17, 2016.
y+ dimensionless wall distance [-] [9] Balduzzi, F, Bianchini, A, Maleci, R, Ferrara, G and
Ferrari, L, Critical issues in the CFD simulation of Darrieus
Greek letters
wind turbines, Renewable Energy, 85(01), 2016, pp. 419-
azimuthal angle [deg]
435
air density [kg/m3]
[10] ANSYS, Inc., 2015, FLUENT Theory Guide,
Specific turbulence dissipation rate [s-1]
release 16.0
revolution speed [rpm]
[11] Balduzzi, F, Bianchini, A, Maleci, R, Ferrara, G, and
Subscripts Ferrari, L, Blade Design Criteria to Compensate the Flow
0 value at inlet Curvature Effects in H-Darrieus Wind Turbines, J. of
Turbomachinery, 137(1), 201, pp. 011006-011006-10
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS [12] Balduzzi, F, Bianchini, A, Gigante, FA, Ferrara, G,
Thanks are due to Prof. Ennio Antonio Carnevale of the Campobasso, MS, and Ferrari, L, Parametric and
University of Florence for supporting this study, and to Dr. Comparative Assessment of Navier-Stokes CFD
Andrea Tanganelli for his support in the CFD simulations. Methodologies for Darrieus Wind Turbine Performance
The authors would like also to acknowledge the Analysis, Proc. of the ASME Turbo Expo 2015, Montreal,
Company Tozzi-Nord Wind Turbines for the rotor model and Canada, June 15-19, 2015
the technicians and collaborators of Universit di Trento and [13] Bianchini, A, Balduzzi, F, Ferrara, G, and Ferrari, L,
Politecnico di Milano for their precious support before and Aerodynamics of Darrieus wind turbines airfoils: the impact
during the tests. of pitching moment, J. of Engineering for Gas Turbines and
Power, 2016, paper in press
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