J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn.

99 (2011) 523538

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jweia

Wind tunnel blockage corrections: Review and application to Savonius vertical-axis wind turbines
Ian Ross n, Aaron Altman
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Dayton, 300 College Park, Dayton, OH 45469-0238, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history: Received 28 July 2010 Received in revised form 31 December 2010 Accepted 26 February 2011 Available online 1 April 2011 Keywords: Low speed wind tunnel Wind tunnel blockage corrections Vertical-axis wind turbine Aerodynamics Bluff-body aerodynamics Savonius

abstract
An investigation into wake and solid blockage effects of vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) in closed test-section wind tunnel testing is described. Static wall pressures have been used to derive velocity increments along wind tunnel test section which in turn are applied to provide evidence of wake interference characteristics of rotating bodies interacting within this spatially restricted domain. Vertical-axis wind turbines present a unique aerodynamic obstruction in wind tunnel testing, whose blockage effects have not yet extensively investigated. The oweld surrounding these wind turbines is asymmetric, periodic, unsteady, separated and highly turbulent. Static pressure measurements are taken along a test-section sidewall to provide a pressure signature of the test models under varying rotor tip-speed ratios (freestream conditions and model RPMs). Wake characteristics and VAWT performance produced by the same vertical-axis wind turbine concept tested at different physical scales and in two different wind tunnels are investigated in an attempt to provide some guidance on the scaling of the combined effects on blockage. This investigation provides evidence of the effects of large wall interactions and wake propagation caused by these models at well below generally accepted standard blockage gures. & 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Aerodynamics is an active and inuential science, contributing to major aspects of wind turbine design. For an aerodynamicist the art of manipulating and adapting a moving uid to optimize energy extraction can be challenging to achieve. Wind turbines have been researched since the earliest known ancient humans attempted to harness wind energy through diversied means. One of the manners to achieve this goal was through vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWT). The present research details the evolutionary steps in improving the efciency of wind tunnel testing vertical-axis wind turbines. Fig. 1 (CAD models based on the designs of TFC energy), displays two such VAWT models similar in concept to designs devised by the Finnish engineer Sigurd J. Savonius (Savonius, 1931). Recently there has been a resurgence of interest regarding sources of renewable energy, with numerous universities, companies and research institutions carrying out extensive research activities. These activities have led to a plethora of designs of

Abbreviations: HAWT, Horizontal-axis wind turbine; TSR, Tip speed ratio; LSWT, Low-speed wind tunnel; TFCE, Twenty rst century energy; RPM, Revolutions per minute; VAWT, Vertical-axis wind turbine n Corresponding author. Tel.: 1 734 478 1734. E-mail addresses: ianross121@hotmail.com (I. Ross), aaron.altman@notes.udayton.edu (A. Altman). 0167-6105/$ - see front matter & 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jweia.2011.02.002

wind turbines based mostly on computational aerodynamic models. Still largely restricted to an experimental subject, vertical-axis wind turbines are appearing more frequently in the civilian and military market as research into their cost-effectiveness and simplicity progresses. At present, there are two primary categories of modern wind turbines, namely horizontal-axis (HAWTs) and vertical-axis (VAWTs) wind turbines. The main advantages of the VAWT is its single moving part (rotor), where no yaw mechanisms are required, its low-wind speed operation and the elimination of the need for extensive supporting tower structures, thus signicantly simplifying the design and installation. Blades of straight-bladed VAWTs can be of uniform airfoil section and untwisted, making them relatively easy to fabricate or extrude, unlike the blades of HAWTs, which are commonly twisted and tapered airfoils for optimum performance. The motivation for the current research stems from an investigation into the ow blockage inuence on performance of relatively inefcient VAWTs. In order to improve the conceptual approach, previous knowledge of bluff body aerodynamics has been applied to a rotational frame-of-reference for VAWT concepts. Savonius stated in his 1931 paper published by the Journal of Mechanical Engineering, The S-Rotor and its application, that the maximum efciency possible was only 31%. Following Savonius, numerous others investigated the effect of geometric parameters such as blade numbers, blade gap-size and overlap ratio upon ow

524

I. Ross, A. Altman / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 99 (2011) 523538

Nomenclature a AR Aswept C Cp Dr blade overlap aspect ratio swept area of a turbine rotor blade chord pressure coefcient turbine (rotor) diameter

D0 H r Re T UN qN

end plate diameter height of turbine turbine radius reynolds number torque freestream velocity freestream dynamic pressure tip speed ratio

behavior. Due to the complex nature of oweld around Savonius turbine produced by its geometrical shape, Fig. 2 (Fujisawa and Gotoh, 1992), theoretical work in modeling the aerodynamics around these wind turbines is indeed quite scarce. There are several developed theories to analyze the Darrieus and propeller type turbines, where lift is the dominant force. The blade element momentum theory (BEM) predicts the performance of a Darrieus turbine well, following the Wind Energy Handbook (Burton et al., 2001). In order to perform an aerodynamic analysis of owelds around VAWTs and their interaction with closed test-section wind tunnels, a sample batch of wind turbines/bluff body geometrical shapes have been constructed in the present study for wind tunnel testing, involving: (1) a qualitative comparison of tip-speed ratio as a function of Reynolds number using ow visualization of the wake and ow regions around VAWTs and (2) an investigation into the relationships that exist between tipspeed ratio, wind tunnel velocity, the coefcient of power, the

coefcient of torque and static pressures inside a wind tunnel test-section with the inuence of blockage ratio.

Fig. 1. Savonius vertical-axis wind turbine concepts TFC energy: (left) 3-bladed and (right) 2-bladed conventional Savonius(CAD models based on the designs of TFC energy).

A solid blockage effect is commonly observed in wind tunnel testing that in turn produces an increase in the local wind velocity in the working section. This increase is ideally accounted for by a theoretical wind tunnel blockage factor or ratio of which several developed techniques will be discussed later. Numerous accounts of questionable accuracy have been debated throughout the literature concerning low-speed wind tunnel testing of rotating bluff bodies, especially of VAWT types. The possibility of previously undocumented variable deleterious effects of wind tunnel blockage in VAWT testing is observed in tests performed for this paper and are subsequently presented and discussed. Severe effects will be documented when models occupy a percentage of the tunnel cross-sectional area signicantly less than the presently accepted heuristics. The present research details evolutionary steps in improving the practicality in testing sub-scale VAWTs as well as an investigation into the methodology behind correcting for the ow constraining effect. Ideology has been studied from the Wall pressure signature method originally proposed by Hackett et al. (1979). The goal is to advance existing solid/wake blockage correction methodologies in order to appropriately or knowledgeably apply them to rotating test models and VAWT concepts, which exhibit unique viscous and unsteady turbulent ow conditions. The question remains: Do the wind tunnel wall surfaces interact with the model ow to the extent of impacting the efciency of the rotor, therefore calling into question accurate comparison to real-scale prototypes? Solid blockage is created by a reduction in the test-section area for ow to pass compared to an undisturbed freestream. By continuity, Bernoullis equation and all of the associated assumptions, velocity increases in the vicinity of a model, Fig. 3 (upper) (ow sketches based on the observations of Fujisawa and Gotoh (1992) and descriptions detailed in ESDU 80024, 1998).

Fig. 2. Savonius rotor conguration and geometrical parameters (Fujisawa and Gotoh, 1992).

Fig. 3. VAWT inuence upon streamlines (top) solid blockage, (bottom) wake blockage (ow sketches based on the observations of Fujisawa and Gotoh, 1992 and descriptions detailed in ESDU 80024, 1980).

I. Ross, A. Altman / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 99 (2011) 523538

525

Wake blockage is difcult to model blockage for a stationary body, but when the test concerns a dynamic rotating bluff body producing large wake disturbances the modeling becomes increasingly more difcult to predict the degradable effect on the ow. The wake generated has a lower mean velocity than the freestream. By continuity, velocity outside this wake has a higher speed than the ow inside the wake region for a constant mass ow and higher velocity in the freestream yields lower pressure assuming conditions that satisfy Bernoullis equation, Fig. 3 (lower) The following is a summation of formulae adopted by numerous authors in their wind tunnel experimental campaigns of VAWTs, which appears to be the de facto standard in wind turbine data reduction. The formulae given below were adapted from those originally given by Blackwell et al. (1997) and modied for unit conversions from RPM to radians per second: freestream dynamic pressure tip-speed ratio q1 1 r U2 2 air 1 1

where Aswept DR HR and epsilon (blockage correction factor) shall be discussed in a later section.

2. Review of literature Previous means have been proposed to analyze performance optimization of HAWTs. Progress has also been curved towards VAWT applications concerning aerodynamic efciency and performance regarding ow separation and alleviating adverse effects on energy production. There remains no extensive readily available literature concerning specic Savonius aerodynamic model applications to wind tunnel blockage corrections, but rather there is literature concerning the generalities of the Savonius rotor concept. A representative selection relevant to the present research will be rst reviewed. Fujisawa and Gotoh (1992) experimented with ow visualization for static and rotating Savonius two bladed rotors. The rotation effect is discussed in comparison with the measured pressure distribution on the blade surfaces. It was suggested that the ow separation region observed on the blade surface was reduced due to rotation and ow through the overlap. Fujisawa and Gotoh explain how ow separation regions contribute to torque production of the rotating rotor and weakened ow through the overlap acts as a resistance, which together with the stagnation effect on the front side contributes to the rotors power production capability. Finally it was shown that the attached ow region on the convex side of the rotor grows with TSR, contributing to improved torque performance at low TSR. In addition, deterioration of the torque performance at large tip-speed ratios is caused by the decrease in stagnation torque and in the pressure recovery effect by ow through the overlap. The main ow was visualized by smoke-wire and the wake ow by injecting smoke just upstream of the rotor. The static and rotating observations were concentrated on

RO rad=s O U1 60pDR =U1 

2  T

power extracted power available

Pextracted OT

602prad=s

3 4
Pextracted Pavailable

Pavailable q1 U1 Aswept

power coefficient measure of efficiency CP efficiency

O=60 2p rad=s T
q1 U1 Aswept

l CT

(Blackwell et al., 1997) Modication of a blockage corrected freestream velocity and dynamic pressure V1 V1 q1 q1
uncorrected 1

e
7

2 uncorrected 1 e

Fig. 4. Savonius ow patterns: (a) free stream ow, (b) internal ow, (c) ow model and (d) Cp distribution (coefcient of pressureow visualization used to compare wake as a function of rotor angle and wind speed; (left) static rotor and (right) rotating) (Fujisawa and Gotoh, 1992).

526

I. Ross, A. Altman / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 99 (2011) 523538

smoke patterns inside the rotor; measured pressure coefcients on blade surfaces and points of separation and stagnation can be seen in Fig. 4 (Fujisawa and Gotoh, 1992), and are used as a baseline for comparison to the ow visualization efforts in the present study. Undertaking a United States Energy Research and Development Contract, Blackwell et al. (199)7 carried out an in depth investigation of low-speed wind tunnel testing of Savonius type rotors of two/three stages and two/three blades at different Reynolds numbers whilst measuring variables: torque, RPM and tunnel conditions, whereby for the rst time a wind tunnel blockage correction factor has been employed in VAWT testing. Blackwell presents the data in the form of power and torque coefcients and as a function of speed ratio (or angular position for static starting torques); it was concluded that increasing Reynolds number and/or aspect ratio improves the performance. Rotary positioning of the turbine to obtain the static or nonrotating torque as a function of blade position relative to the freestream ow was also performed. At the time there was no universally accepted length scale to Blackwells knowledge with which to calculate a Re for a Savonius rotor and suggests that the angular position at which stall occurs is a function of Reynolds number. It was proposed that increasing the test Re number generally improved aerodynamic performance across the range of Re being tested. The work of Biswas et al. (2007) proposed an in-depth review of wind tunnel testing on three bladed Savonius designs, with experiments conducted on blade overlap conditions in the range 1635%. Power coefcients have been calculated with and without a wind tunnel blockage correction factor for tunnel interference, which is cited from Blackwells earlier efforts. It has been stated that tunnel blockage effect is an important parameter for wind tunnel performance analysis of VAWTs, whose effect is much more severe in low-speed wind tunnel applications. This study provided results on the performance of rotor evaluated from variation of Cp with TSR at various overlaps. Allowing for the blockage correction, maximum coefcient of power was reduced on average by 5% from its initial value, which is a signicant reduction when dealing with initial Cp values no larger than 30%.

allowed to exhibit higher blockage percentage in open type testing. Sandia laboratories initiated the resurgence of vertical-axis wind turbines in the United States. They also set the standard for blockage corrections for VAWTs, this being a blockage correction factor stated by Pope and Harper as a generic correction for the testing of any unusual shape. The following section discusses this original blockage method and focuses on the wall pressure method (Hackett and Wilsden, 1975) modied for this study with the aim of providing a more detailed assessment of partitioning solid and wake blockage when the ow behavior increasingly becomes more three-dimensional, highly separated, unsteady and turbulent. A review of recent developments in the calculation of lowspeed solid-wall wind tunnel interference conducted by Hackett (2003) detailed an extensive interpretation of wall pressures by Ashill and Weeks (1982), where it is shown by assuming x be the distance in the streamwise direction and y the distance along the wall in the direction normal to x (For vertical surfaces, z replaces y and w replaces v). Here, Hackett assumes the pressure p is at the wall using Prandtls classical assumption for boundary layers and u and v are velocities in the x and y directions, respectively. 3.1. Pope and Harper blockage correction factor Correcting velocity readings Pope and Harper (1966) and subsequent data modications to allow for these changes are shown: velocity correction V Vu 1 et dynamic pressure correction q qu 1 2et reynolds number correction R Ru 1 et 8 9 10

Drag coefcient correction: (From the dynamic pressure effect plus the wake gradient term): CD0 CD0u 13esb 2ewb 11 12

et solid blockage wake blockage esb ewb

3. Review of existing wind tunnel blockage methodologies It is dened that the total blockage correction factor is the sum of the velocity increment (blockage factor) caused by wake blockage and solid blockage; however these are incredibly difcult factors to assess for unusual geometries such as the Savonius rotor and the associated owelds around them. It has long been a standard for low-speed wind tunnel testing to operate within an area-ratio of (tunnel cross-section to swept area of a model) 110%, proposed by Pope and Harper, (1966) in their text Low-Speed Wind Tunnel Testing and earlier by Pankhurst and Holder (1952) in their text Wind-Tunnel Technique: An Account of Experimental Methods in Low- and High-Speed Wind Tunnels, both provided various solid/wake blockage correction techniques. Two types of test-section commonly used when testing in wind tunnels, namely the closed test-section and the open testsection (or blockage tolerant test-section) provide large variations when referring to blockage allowances. The open test-section or open jet type of wind tunnel has the capability to allow the conditions inside the test section to be largely unaffected by larger blockage percentage static models because of the ability to leak ow and expand the ow around objects within the testsection as opposed to a ow constriction problem occurring with the closed test-section type as shown in this study. Because of the ability to allow the ow to expand, models can generally be

Pope explains: for nding the blockage corrections for wind tunnel models of unusual shapes the following is suggested:

et

1 model frontal area 4 test section area

13

3.2. Maskell correction Maskell (1965) was the rst to address the problems with nonstreamline ow bodies, such as bluff-body testing in closed wind tunnel sections and that of partially stalled shapes such as wings. When the high-lift characteristics of particular delta wing aircraft models of small aspect ratio were tested in different wind tunnels at the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE), marked differences were observed at the onset of stall beginning at the wing tips and spreading inboard with increasing incidence. The different results could be reconciled only through a wall interference factor, which is equivalent to the increase in velocity of an undisturbed stream much larger than previous standard estimations. Maskells research goal was to establish a more convincing existence of this interference factor and the need for corrections, by relating effective increase in the dynamic pressure q of the stream due to a solid blockage constraint. Maskells theory holds true for nearly all two-dimensional bluff-body ows and for situations of close axis symmetric wake downstream for three-dimensional ows

I. Ross, A. Altman / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 99 (2011) 523538

527

with the equation for corrected wind velocity given below. Alexander (1978) provided an adaption to Maskells method by comparing the drag of at plates normal to the freestream and that of the drag of Savonius rotors normal to the freestream, applying the term m, an extrapolated value from Fig. 5. For small values of blockage ratio, S=C r 0:045 Maskell gives m 3.15 (constant value). Alexander suggests that due to restriction on the wake by the tunnel walls at high S/C values the value of m

falls, reaching a value close to 2.0 for S/C 0.3 (30% blockage).
2 Vc 1 V2 1m S=C

14

where: Vc is the corrected wind velocity, V the undisturbed wind velocity, S the at plate or wind tunnel maximum frontal area, C the wind tunnel working section cross sectional area, V the undisturbed wind velocity, m(B/S) the extrapolated value from Fig. 5 and B the wake area normal to wind. 3.3. Hackett, Lilley and Wilsden method Lockheed scientists Hackett, Lilley and Wilsden produced an updated blockage correction methodology (Hensel, 1951), by adopting sources and sinks to represent an equivalent body surface in a stream, and static pressures measured at the sidewalls are used to construct a relatively simple singularity set to represent the test article and then calculate the wall effects based on that singularity set (Hackett et al., 1979). They showed that tunnel wall static pressures may be used to infer wake geometry and hence wake blockage using a row of pressures along the center of the tunnel sidewall, giving the axial distributions of both solid and wake blockages with a velocity peak just aft the model. Through a wind tunnel testing campaign involving models of varying size and blockages up to 10%, wall pressure signatures were used to determine source, sink and strengths with wind tunnel span and locations. Essentially the concept resolves pressure signatures into their solid and wake counterparts signifying the symmetric and

Fig. 5. Flat plates and rotors relationship of m vs. S/C (Alexander, 1978).

Fig. 6. Effects at a wind tunnel wall of solid/bubble and viscous wake blockage (Hackett and Wilsden, 1975).

528

I. Ross, A. Altman / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 99 (2011) 523538

anti-symmetric regions with the parameters formulated from these parts a velocity increment expression is obtained. Hackett and Wilsden, (1975) provide a theoretical method in determining wind tunnel solid/bubble and viscous blockage from wall and roof pressure measurements (Fig. 6) involving lifting and non-lifting, powered and non-powered models. In order to calculate corrected pressure coefcients
Cpc x " Cpu x1 1 Dux=U1 2 # 1 rearranged for velocity increment :

Du
U

q 1CPempty CPmodel 1

15

4. Experimental set-up A high precision VAWT test bed facility has been installed at the University of Dayton low-speed wind tunnel laboratory, housing an Eiffel-type tunnel with a contraction ratio of 16:1 and a working section 76 cm (30 in.) 76 cm (30 in.) 244 cm (96 in.) length. The inlet freestream turbulence intensity is less than 0.1% and tunnel maximum velocity is 40 m/s. Four VAWT models have been considered in this study, with the aim to obtain a data base of pressure signatures at varying xed and dynamic RPM operating conditions. Fig. 1 represents a rapid-prototype model created for TFCEs prototype being tested for area-ratio

effects on wind tunnel experiments, whereby three identical models of varying size, 1/20th, 1/30th and 1/40th to a full-scale prototype; blade height 3 m (100 ) rotor diameter 6 m (200 ) providing swept areas; 15.2 cm (6 in.) 30.5 cm (12 in.), 10.2 cm (4 in.) 20.3 cm (8 in.) and 7.6 cm (3 in.) 15.2 cm (6 in.), respectively, This produces solid blockage values in the University of Dayton wind tunnel ranging from 2%, 3.5% and 8%. The 1/40th scale model, 7.6 cm (3 in.) 15.2 cm (6 in.) has been tested in two wind tunnels, the University of Dayton facility (producing a blockage of 3.5%) and in a smaller tunnel at TFCE laboratories an open circuit, closed-test section wind tunnel having a working section 45.7 cm (18 in.) height 45.7 cm (18 in.) width and tunnel maximum velocity of 45 m/s, producing a blockage of 5.5%. The larger 2-bladed Savonius model has been compared for extreme blockage testing conditions, occupying 10% of the wind tunnel cross-sectional area. The test system can be seen in Fig. 7, situated below the wind tunnel test-section; a spindle driven by the turbine passes through an air bearing producing a theoretically non-friction system, continues into an Interface T11 bearingless rotary torque transducer with a 2 Nm torque capacity and a magtrol hysteresis braking system with a 3.15 Nm (450 oz-in) loading capability. Load is electronically applied upon the hysteresis brake by the use of a function generator, applying negative torque on the turbine accurate to 0.01 V increments. Rotors are tested at constant RPM conditions with varying freestream velocities and are tested under dynamic

Fig. 7. Turbine torque and RPM wind tunnel testing facility.

Fig. 8. Static pressure wall tap locations.

I. Ross, A. Altman / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 99 (2011) 523538

529

loading and unloading conditions using a dataq acquisition system interfaced with a PC for real-time analysis of the system. Eighteen static pressure taps run along the center-line of the test-section sidewall, with increased spatial frequency in close proximity to the model, Fig. 8. Differential pressure readings are digitally displayed accurate to 0.1 N/m2 using an AEROLAB pressure transducer array system with 300 kN/m2 (3 bar) rated transducers. These have been compared to an installed pitotstatic tube output display on a U-tube manometer reading of the undisturbed freestream conditions forward of the model. The traditional denitions of differential pressure and pressure coefcient were used following Anderson (2007)for the wall pressure measurement analysis.

model is also used to determine the inuence of blockage ratio on the power curves. 5.1. Power and torque coefcient Fig. 9 displays normalized coefcient of power and velocity ratio (TSR). As expected with normalizing data the curves coalesce for the 2% blockage test, giving a peak performance value as 4.5% efcient at extracting energy from the freestream and curves for freestreams from 22 to 40 m/s (5090 mph) lie closely together with xed RPM testing. At this low test Reynolds number, such numbers are typical. However, running tests on the same model in a smaller wind tunnel with a reduction of tunnel crosssectional area by almost half and operating at 5.5% blockage produces marked differences both in trend and absolute values. It can be argued that this is beyond the critical blockage size, exhibiting a shift in efciency peak as wind speed increases and displays curves collapsing only at the lower tip-speed ratio region. There is a clear jump in turbine efciency when the blockage ratio is increased. Power coefcient increases if the true velocity experienced by the model surface is above what is expected or programmed by the wind tunnel operator. Fig. 10 displays raw torque loading data as a function of turbine RPM. As expected, reducing the rotational speeds of the turbines through increased loading translates to a torque loading capability

5. Results, analysis and discussion The formulae presented in this paper have been applied to the measured torque and RPM data from preliminary testing of four concept models, in order to assess VAWT efciencies and power production capability. Power curves are plotted for comparison. Testing of a 1/40th scale model in both TFCE and the UD LSWT has provided marked differences in efciency characteristics and torque readings. This is the rst instance of a possible inuence of blockage factor on the efciency of a VAWT model. The same

Fig. 9. Comparison of two wind tunnel results for 1/40th scale modeldetails power coefcients increasing as function of blockage ratio increase 25.5%.

Fig. 10. Variation of torque and free-spin with turbine RPMdetails torque trends at varying wind speeds and resonance regions. (For interpretation of the references to color in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

530

I. Ross, A. Altman / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 99 (2011) 523538

detailing the peak positive torque producing region increasing as a function of increasing freestream speeds. Resonance frequencies exist between the wind tunnel fan and the turbine models (highlighted by the red shaded region in the gure). Power coefcient varied dramatically between the 2 and 3 bladed designs in this study. The 2 bladed classical two-bucket or scoop design commonly observed as the popular Savonius design in the literature produces power coefcients in the range 00.17, operating at tip-speed ratios between 0.2 and 1.1. The 3 bladed rotor in this study produced power coefcients in the range 0.020.08, operating at tip-speed ratios between 0.1 and 0.6. The variation in power coefcient between 3 bladed rotor (0.020.08) used extensively in this research compared to the 2 bladed rotor (0.150.2) is primarily an inuence of the design of the Savonius rotor itself. It is common in the literature to nd that testing has been completed using the classical 2 bladed rotors. A logical reason for the 2 bladed concept achieving higher tipspeed ratio and higher power coefcients is due to its more successful design, in this study the blades have been fabricated as pure semi-circular shapes, producing much higher torque values and subsequently much higher power coefcients. The 3 bladed rotors in this study have a blade design with little of the classical

scoop shape as seen in the literature. The disadvantage of this design is most likely a major factor in the poor torque production and subsequent poor power coefcient achieved during testing. 5.2. Blockage area-ratio Assessing solid and/or wake effect on induced velocity distributions Fig. 11, provides evidence of a rightward shift in the efciency peak when a body surface-area normal to the free stream is placed in the tunnel is increased. That is, the freestream velocity increases due to higher levels of ow constriction because of a larger body in the ow. This is a positive step in comparing the inuence of blockage on articially increasing efciency of VAWTs due to increased velocity and pressure differences as a function of an equivalent body within the tunnel represented by a pressure signature. Again, with relation to power coefcient and tip-speed ratio, with an actual ow speed higher than what is used in calculation produces higher Cp values. 5.3. Wall pressure signature The shift of VAWT efciencies in wind tunnel testing indicated by changes in pressure signature is also investigated. The next stage in assessing a realistically accurate blockage correction

Fig. 11. Comparison of power coefcient vs. tip-speed ratioincreasing power curves at 80 mph freestream with varying blockage ratios.

Fig. 12. Comparison of wall static pressures for a 10% 2-bladed Savonius model at 30 mph freestream.

I. Ross, A. Altman / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 99 (2011) 523538

531

factor is to record wall pressures along the center-line of a wind tunnel closed test-section wall. The goal is to represent the coefcient of differential pressures and relate these to a velocity increment, closely resembling the work of Hackett and Wilsden (1975). Because of the gross asymmetry of the ow created from this unique type of model, pressure readings from both wind tunnel sidewalls were incorporated into the study. Comparing static pressure readings upstream of the model reveals that the values are lower than those of an empty test section. This provides evidence for the possibility of wake propagation far upstream of the model reaching into the wind tunnel contraction. Static pressure readings reveal a large pressure decrease just aft of the models. This relates to an increased local freestream velocity, which is a product of both ow constriction due to solid body interaction and the propagating wake from a rapidly spinning model inuencing the freestream.

5.4. Nondimensionalized pressure coefcient as a function of location Fig. 15 shows a sample analysis of one model, the 10% [largest solid blockage] geometry model. The plots describe ow behavior as a function of wind tunnel velocity (70 mph freestream velocity), model RPMs (20002530 rpm) and wind tunnel test-section sidewall location (X/B). Comparing static pressure readings upstream of the model reveals that the values are lower than those of an empty test section, which provides possible evidence of upstream wake propagation far upstream of the model reaching the tunnel contraction. At slow speeds, 1322 m/s (3050 mph) the normalized curves of pressure coefcient do not coalesce neatly, Figs. 1214, which could be a factor of instrument range; however with increasing freestream velocity there is a functional relationship with a larger pressure decrease and increased RPM.

Fig. 13. Comparison of wall static pressures for a 10% 2-bladed Savonius model at 40 mph freestream.

Fig. 14. Comparison of wall static pressures for a 10% 2-bladed Savonius model at 50 mph freestream.

532

I. Ross, A. Altman / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 99 (2011) 523538

Fig. 15. Comparison of wall static pressuresshows possible contributions to reduced pressures from solid/bubble and by wake blockage for a 10% 2-bladed Savonius model at 70 mph freestream.

Fig. 16. Comparison of wall pressure coefcients at 60 mph freestream velocity and 1000 rpmfour models.

Negative pressure coefcient is likely due to higher freestream velocities with a model present. This aerodynamic characteristic has been observed with all the models; the close trend between 8% and 10% blockage is shown in Fig. 15. A pressure coefcient of zero would indicate that the pressures along the tunnel sidewall are equivalent to those of the empty test section, providing the conclusion that the model would have no aerodynamic inuence at all on the freestream velocity. These plots reveal large pressure decreases just aft the models. Following incompressible ow assumptions, this would relate to increased local freestream velocity, which is a product of both constriction of the ow due to solid body interaction and the wake propagating from a rapidly spinning model. 5.5. Comparison of Cp as a function of blockage area-ratio Fig. 16 compares pressure differential when a model is spinning at 1000 rpm in the test section with a 27 m/s (60 mph) freestream. Analysis of this pressure distribution reveals that the 10% and 8% solid blockage models have a profound inuence on the freestream pressure, and that the smaller models 3.5% and 2% have a lesser inuence, as logically expected. Using this evidence and normalizing the values with a dynamic pressure lead to a formulation of a pressure coefcient signature inside the tunnel for each model at the 27 m/s freestream condition. Fig. 16 details high negative pressure coefcients displaying increased freestream velocity in the tunnel. The static tap position just aft of the model center-line was

eliminated with some degree of condence from the analysis being a spurious data point due to the transducers limited transient capability demanded by the high RPM turbine. The results recorded for the 3.5% and 2% model show that the pressure readings approach sensor sensitivity. Thus absolute values are likely questionable; however the overall trend should still be identiable as considerably less than those for the larger model. 5.6. Pressure coefcient vs. TSR as a function of longitudinal location Plotting Cp with TSR shows the inuence of rate of rotation upon the ow conditions within the wind tunnel test-section. This inuence has been shown as a function of increased TSR and compared along the longitudinal static pressure port positions upstream and downstream of the model center-line. Fig. 17 shows the relationship for a 10% area blockage model at a freestream of 22 m/s (50 mph). It can be shown that as TSR increases over the range 0.31.1 the pressure coefcient reduces in absolute value, therefore providing the conclusion that faster spinning models have a reduced inuence upon the freestream (at least on the side of the pressure taps). This is the evidence that the wake propagation from the turbine is better contained at higher RPMs. Results show lower Cp values obtained at higher TSR, which shows that an articially higher freestream velocity is present at higher TSR. Results from the remaining wind tunnel models support this theory, displaying similar trends. A wide range of freestream wind

I. Ross, A. Altman / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 99 (2011) 523538

533

Fig. 17. 10% blockage model, TSR vs. Cpshown is a selection of wind tunnel locations that display the overall trend well, comparing at x-location along wind tunnel at freestream 50 mph.

Fig. 18. Correlated TSR vs. Cp relations compared at x-location along wind tunnel at freestream 60, 70 and 80 mphcompares upper, lower and mid-range data for the 3 bladed 8% model across x-location along wind tunnel, showing one relationship that with increasing TSR, Cp decreases and as wind speed increases, slope angle decreases.

speeds has been studied and reveals strong homogeneity in the ow irrespective of the freestream conditions. Thus the inuence of model rotation is consistent over a wide range of wind speeds, however; it is also important to observe that the rate of change of pressure coefcient is much faster down to a TSR of 0.55 than it is from 0.55 upwards. 5.7. Linear regression model As a step towards quantifying the effects of blockage ratio upon the efciency of VAWT models, model RPM has been studied for its effects on the freestream pressure distributions. Using the results from the previous phase of the data analysis, correlations were created from a linear regression as a function of longitudinal location. Slopes were created from the previous plots of Cp vs. TSR. Fig. 18 shows the upper, lower and mid-range data using the slope equations as a function of TSR for the 8% area blockage model from 27 to 36 m/s (6080 mph). The data provides similarity between the slope equations obtained by the linear regression. 5.8. CpTSR slope as a function of wind speed Using the individual slope equations obtained at each longitudinal location and across wind speeds, the absolute value of the CpTSR slope has been analyzed as a function of wind speed for 8%

area blockage model. From the extrapolation of the functional relationship between pressure coefcient and tip-speed-ratio from 8% blockage model a relationship independent of wind tunnel wind speed conditions indicated by horizontal lines is clear. Similar results were obtained for the 3.5% and 10% blockage models (Fig. 19). 5.9. Application of velocity corrections To assess the effectiveness of the correction methods selected in this paper, the formulae for velocity corrections for each method have been applied to the wind tunnel test data. In order to fully integrate the velocity increments into the data reduction process, the tip-speed ratio, torque coefcient and power coefcient have been modied to accept updated wind tunnel freestream conditions based on each method. Figs. 20 and 21 display the overall results covering all correction methods and details their effectiveness at coalescing the maximum power coefcient regions across percentage blockage values. Fig. 20 provides a comparison of the decrease in peak power coefcient from applying a correction method for the 10 and 8% rotor model, upper and lower plots, respectively. Fig. 21 displays similar plots for the 3.5 and 2% rotor models (upper and lower). Clear trends can be observed with the data in this form, the absolute wall pressure method reduces the power coefcient with more severity at lower wind speeds and this trend is also observed with

534

I. Ross, A. Altman / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 99 (2011) 523538

Fig. 19. Plots of Cp vs. TSR slopescomparison of Cp vs. TSR slopes across freestream at 10%, 8%, 3.5% and 2%.

Fig. 20. Comparison of percentage decrease in coefcient of power on applying correction methods(upper) comparing the methods for correcting the 10% rotor model across wind speeds 3070 mph and (lower) a similar comparison for the 8% rotor model.

Fig. 21. Comparison of percentage decrease in coefcient of power from applying correction methods(upper) comparing the methods for correcting the 3.5% rotor model across wind speeds 6090 mph and (lower) a similar comparison for the 2% rotor model.

the delta wall pressure method, although the reductions are much smaller in the range 010% with no reduction needed for the 3.5% and 2% rotors. The Pope method produced no correlating trend with wind speed and presumably provided inadequately small

corrections. The Maskell method similarly shows no variation with wind speed but provided larger reductions in power coefcient. Fig. 22 displays the effectiveness of two methods, Pope and Maskell, rstly by showing uncorrected power curves on the left

I. Ross, A. Altman / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 99 (2011) 523538

535

Fig. 22. Power curves for 3-blade Savonius rotors at 60 mph freestream(left) uncorrected data, (middle) Pope correction and (right) Maskell method correction.

Table 1 Results of correcting performance of Savonius rotors operating in a restricted ow closed-test-section wind tunnel using the Maskell method. Blockage (S/B (%)) Wind speed (ft/s (mph)) TSR Initial peak power coefcient 0.1316 0.1356 0.1521 0.1588 0.1657 0.0674 0.0726 0.0606 0.0624 0.0533 0.0524 0.0507 0.0532 0.0448 0.0437 0.0449 0.044 0.0431 Maskell D power (%) 59.37 59.37 59.37 59.37 59.37 41.88 41.88 41.88 41.88 19.50 19.50 19.50 19.50 10.25 10.25 10.25 10.25 10.25 Maskell updated peak power coefcient 0.0826 0.0851 0.0903 0.0943 0.0983 0.0475 0.0512 0.0427 0.044 0.0446 0.0439 0.0424 0.0445 0.0406 0.0396 0.0407 0.0399 0.0391

5.10. Flow visualization A laser sheet was produced using a New Wave Solo-PIV Nd:YAG laser with an energy output 15200 mJ and a single cylindrical concave optic. The laser sheet was pulsed at 10 Hz using a DG535 four channel digital delay/pulse generator coupled with a 1600 PCO charge-coupled device (CCD) camera tted with a 25 mm wide angle lens at a distance of approximately 142 cm vertically from the test-section oor. Smoke was seeded at 34 kN/m2 (5 psi) using an oil-based uid vi-count smoke generator charged with a nitrogen supply. Figs. 2325 provide a selection of images. Images were captured to compare model RPM at xed freestream conditions and observations made about the ow region between the rotor and the wind tunnel sidewalls. The 2-bladed model (Fig. 23) exhibited high degrees of streamline bending around the reverse of the blades. In most instances this ow is turned fully into the opposing freestream direction. At high model RPM this ow phenomenon produces an adverse pressure gradient that could explain a smaller wake inuence when compared to the low RPM conditions. In Fig. 23, when RPMs are decreased the rotor acts increasingly like a static bluff body in the ow, producing a Von Karman type bluff body alternating vortex street downstream. This scales well with the smaller rotor models, Fig. 24. Interestingly, the ow visualizations reveal similarities to the results of , there is a common occurrence of strong asymmetry of the wake; however Fujisawas published images have a restricted FOV, so it is unclear if the results supported a sidewall interaction and subsequently does not provide an analysis of rotation as an inuence on wake propagation. The results in the gure conrm that the initial choice of wind tunnel sidewall used for pressure tapping was perhaps in error (Fig. 25). The images show a much wider wake on the opposing (right) side, indicating the right sidewall pressures need to be obtained before reaching any conclusions.

10 10 10 10 10 8 8 8 8 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 2 2 2 2 2

103.15 89.33 74.58 59.26 44.21 117.30 103.15 89.33 73.30 132.00 117.30 103.15 89.33 132.00 117.30 103.15 89.33 73.30

(70) (60) (50) (40) (30) (80) (70) (60) (50) (90) (80) (70) (60) (90) (80) (70) (60) (50)

0.74 0.56 0.63 0.67 0.67 0.263 0.311 0.251 0.298 0.313 0.295 0.269 0.318 0.319 0.273 0.305 0.301 0.287

alongside corrected power curves, middle and right. The power curves are calculated for the three-bladed rotor results for a wind tunnel velocity xed at 60 mph and loading the rotors to achieve the range of tip-speed ratios plotted. Table 1 displays the Maskell results covering all the rotor cases, it details the effectiveness and inuence of blockage percentage as the major inuencing factor for Maskell corrections. The coalescing trend shown in Fig. 22 (right) is produced by applying Alexanders adaption of Maskells method, in which they have shown a close analogy between corrections for a at plate normal to the freestream can be applied to correcting Savonius rotors that have an equivalent frontal area as the atplate. For the current study, Fig. 22 (right) displays correction results using m values extrapolated from Fig. 5. This provides a very effective end result, reducing the performance of the 8% blockage model successfully into the region of a much smaller blockage-ratio model.

6. Conclusions and recommendations A good foundation to base further testing and implementation of modied and improved existing blockage methodologies for static

536

I. Ross, A. Altman / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 99 (2011) 523538

Fig. 23. CCD camera images across laser sheet, 10% model at 20 mph with yellow dotted line denoting boundaries of the wakeInuence of RPM, left: free-spinning model at 800 rpm, middle: 500 rpm and right: 100 rpm. (For interpretation of the references to color in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

Fig. 24. CCD camera images across laser sheet (a)(c) compares free spinning rotors at high RPMs to relatively static/very low RPM loaded rotor: (a) 8% rotor at 50 mph: (left) free spin 880 RPM, (right) 100 RPM; (b) 3.5% rotor at 60 mph: (left) free spin 1400 RPM, (right) 100 RPM; (c) 29% rotor at 80 mph: (left) free spin 2150 RPM, (right) 100 RPM.

testing has been provided for application to dynamic wind tunnel models with a possible further application to dynamic apping wing and rotating bluff-bodies being tested in restricted ow domains in

closed test sections. The ever-present research goal remains in quantifying a blockage correction to apply to rotating bluff-body models in closed test-section, low-speed wind tunnel testing.

I. Ross, A. Altman / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 99 (2011) 523538

537

Fig. 25. 10% rotor 50 mph: (left) static and (right) left wall interaction at 1000 rpm (TSR 0.53), compares sidewall interaction, white strips marking 1 and 2 in. from sidewall surface.

Firstly, the performance characteristics of the sample VAWT concepts were obtained through a campaign of dynamic and static loadings of the rotors under varying wind tunnel freestream conditions. The next phase involved static wall pressure measurements taken along the test-section sidewalls to provide a comprehensive pressure signature database of test models under varying freestream conditions and rotor RPMs. Wake characteristics produced by the same vertical-axis wind turbine concept have been investigated at different physical scales in an attempt to provide some guidance on the scaling of the combined effects on blockage with supporting ow visualizations. The results suggest that the precise critical point at which blockage causes a departure from the expected results has not been absolutely identied. For operating models of 2% and 3.5% solid blockage there are no evident issues due strictly to blockage. Results from this investigation give evidence that at 8% and 10% the blockage area-ratio would cause some difference in results due to large pressure drops and increases in freestream velocity which is not observed at smaller area-ratio testing, and below a certain wind speed the curves would no longer coalesce. Plots present a visual verication providing evidence of an adequate upstream test section but inadequate length downstream for the asymptotic condition when testing larger models. This has not been validated with ow visualization due to restricted FOV downstream. Correlations of pressure coefcient as a function of tip-speed ratio have been provided and their susceptibility to wind speed and longitudinal location along the wind tunnel has been observed forward and aft the rotor models. It is the ultimate aim of this study to quantify the shift in efciency curves and to dene a trend behind shifting efciencies based upon a functional dependency of solid-body ow interaction, wind tunnel speed and wake constriction due to wind tunnel wall interference. It was found that wake constriction for a bluffbody has a stronger inuence from model rotation than from freestream conditions. In reference Table1, the following conclusions can be made:

increasing RPM. This supports the earlier pressure signature results. Corrections have been assessed based on an adapted Maskell (1966) method for correcting large bluff-body shapes. Special attention has been focused on the analogy supplied by Alexander (1978)of comparing the correction of a at-plate normal to the freestream to that of a Savonius rotor occupying an equivalent frontal area. The derivation of a corrected velocity based on this method produces data revealing strong coalescing trends, a result that begins to show characteristics of plotted normalized coefcients.

For future testing of the VAWT concept it would be logical, following results of this study, that for closed test-section wind tunnels one should be aware of the deleterious effect caused by wake interaction and model rotation effects, and in order to precisely recommend a maximum area-ratio to adopt with closed test-section experiments, further work is required to assess if corrections can be achieved successfully and accurately with existing blockage techniques proposed in this study.

Acknowledgments The authors gratefully acknowledge the developmental funding and equipment support from Twenty First Century Energy (TFCE) and Innovative Scientic Solutions, Incorporated (ISSI), the continued research efforts complementary to this study carried out by the University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) and support from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Dayton. References
Ashill, P.R., Weeks, D.J., 1982. A method of determining wall interference corrections in solid-wall tunnels from measurements of static pressure at the walls. AGARD-CP-335. Alexander, A.J., 1978. Wind tunnel corrections for Savonius rotors. In: Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on Wind Energy Systems, Paper E6, October 3rd6th, 1978, pp. E6-69E6-80. Anderson, J., 2007. Fundamentals of Aerodynamics Fourth Edition McGraw-Hill, New York. Burton, T., Sharpe, D., Jenkins, N., Bossanyi, E., 2001. Wind Energy Handbook. Wiley Blackwell. Blackwell, B.F., Sheldahl, R.E., Feltz, L.V., 1997. Wind tunnel performance data for two- and three-bucket Savonius rotors. United States Energy Research and Development Administration under Contract AT (29-1)789, July 1977. Biswas, A., Gupta, R., Sharma, K.K., 2007. Experimental investigation of overlap and blockage effects on three-bucket Savonius rotors. Journal of Wind Engineering 31 (5), 363368. ESDU Data Memorandum 80024, 1998. Blockage corrections for bluff bodies in conned ows. Endorsed by the Royal Aeronautical Society, Issued November (1980) with Amendments A, March 1998.

 Initial assessment of the Pope and Harper (1966) correction

method led to the conclusion that the derived formula for velocity increments does not effectively account for wake blockage inuences; however the method reduces peak power coefcients somewhat effectively. Assessment of a wall pressure signature method (WPM) adapted from theory provided by Hackett and Wilsden (1975), provides a logical trend in severity of corrections. It is shown that corrections based on the correlated pressure coefcient techniques detailed in this paper show that correction severity decreases with increasing wind speeds and

538

I. Ross, A. Altman / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 99 (2011) 523538

Fujisawa, N., Gotoh, F., 1992. Visualization study of the ow in and around a Savonius rotor. Journal of Experiments in Fluids 12, 407412. Hackett, J.E., Lilley, D.E., Wilsden, D.J., 1979. Estimation of tunnel blockage from wall pressure signatures: a review and data correlation. NASA CR-15, 224, March 1979. Hackett, J.E., Wilsden, D.J., 1975. Determination of low speed wake blockage corrections via tunnel wall static pressure measurements. AGARD Fluid Dynamic Panel Symposium on Wind tunnel Design and Testing Techniques, London, England. Hackett, J.E., 2003. Recent developments in the calculation of low-speed solidwalled wind tunnel wall interference in tests on large models part I: evaluation of three interference assessment methods. Progress in Aerospace Sciences 39, 537583.

Hensel, R.W., 1951. Rectangular-wind-tunnel blocking corrections using the velocity ratio method. NACA TN 2372, June 1951. Maskell, E.C., 1965. A theory of the blockage effects on bluff bodies and stalled wings in a closed wind tunnel. ARC R and M 3400. Pope, A., Harper, J.J., 1966. Low Speed Wind Tunnel Testing. John Wiley and Sons, New York. Pankhurst, R.C., Holder, D.W., 1952. Wind-Tunnel Technique: an Account of Experimental Methods in Low-and High-Speed Wind Tunnels. Pitman, London. Savonius, S.J., 1931. The S-rotor and its applications. Journal of Mechanical Engineering 53 (5).