Effect of Airfoil Shape on the Aerodynamic performance of a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

Rashed, M. R.; Abdellatif, O. E.; Abd Rabbo, M. F.; Khalil, E. E.; Shahin, I.

doi:10.21608/erjsh.2020.290030

Effect of Airfoil Shape on the Aerodynamic performance of a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

Document Type : Research articles

Authors

¹ Mechanical Engineering Dept., Faculty of Engineering-MTI University, Cairo, Egypt

² Mechanical Engineering Dept., Faculty of Engineering at Shoubra-Benha University, Cairo, Egypt

³ Mechanical Power Engineering Dept., Faculty of Engineering-Cairo University, Giza, Egypt

10.21608/erjsh.2020.290030

Abstract

Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs), which are one of the most promising wind energy harvesters have started recently
to attract more and more attention due to their several advantages, especially in the small-scale wind turbines market.
This study employed ANSYS Fluent software to numerically investigate the impact of airfoil profile on the aerodynamic
forces generated on the blades of a VAWT. This research employed the NACA four-digit series in order to examine the influence of blade thickness and blade camber. 2D CFD model is employed for this study, the results showed that
increasing blade thickness is decreasing the torque and power coefficients. On the other hand, there was an improvement in terms of torque and power coefficients when symmetric airfoil used compared to non-symmetric airfoil.