Effect of Blade Thickness on Darrieus Vertical-Axis

Wind Turbine Performance

Marco Raciti Castelli1, Ernesto Benini2
1

Department of Mechanical Engineering University of Padua

Via Venezia, 1 35131 Padova, Italy

Department of Mechanical Engineering University of Padua

Via Venezia, 1 35131 Padova, Italy

marco.raciticastelli@unipd.it

ernesto.benini@unipd.it

Abstract. This paper presents a two-dimensional CFD analysis of the influence

of blade thickness on the operation of a straight-bladed Darrieus-type verticalaxis wind turbine (VAWT). After describing the computational model and the
relative validation procedure, a complete campaign of simulations based on full
RANS unsteady calculations is proposed for a three-bladed rotor architecture.
Two blade profiles are analyzed: a NACA 0012 and a NACA 0021 airfoil. For
each proposed blade configuration, flow field characteristics in the
neighborhood of the rotor are investigated at several values of tip speed ratio,
allowing a quantification of the influence of blade thickness on flow geometric
features, such as blade angles of attack, and dynamic quantities, such as rotor
torque and blade tangential and normal forces. Finally, the rotor torque and
power curves are compared for the two analyzed architectures, achieving a
quantification of the effect of the blade thickness on overall rotor performance.
Keywords: CFD, vertical-axis wind turbine, NACA 0012, NACA 0021.

1 Introduction
The urgent need to reduce dependence on fossil fuels is being met, at least in part, by
the development of wind turbines, both onshore and offshore: the awareness of the
limited resources of fossil fuels and the rising concern for the effects of the increased
amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have given the wind turbine industry a
considerable push forward. As pointed out by the First International Conference on
Wind Turbine Noise [1], the development of onshore wind power results in wind
turbines closer to habitations, leading to the possibility of noise problems, such that
frequent objections raised in planning procedures concern noise and vibration.
In this scenario, the continuous quest for clean energy is now focusing on the local
production of electric power, spread in a wide area, so as to cooperate with the big
electric power plants located in just few specific strategic locations of the countries.
One of the most promising resources is wind power associated with local
production of clean electric power inside the built environment such industrial and
residential areas, which has lead to the development of the so called Computational

Wind Engineering. This new discipline has also renewed the interest in vertical-axis
wind turbines (VAWTs).
As observed by Raciti Castelli [2], the vertical axis wind turbine has an inherently
non-stationary aerodynamic behavior, mainly due to the continuous variation of the
blade angle of attack during the rotation of the machine: this peculiarity involves the
continuous variation both of the relative velocity with respect to the blade profile and
- although to a lesser extent - of the corresponding Reynolds number. This
phenomenon, typical of slow rotating machines, has a significant effect both on the
dynamic loads acting on the rotor and on the generated power and, therefore, on
performance.
Until now wind tunnel tests, involving considerable time and financial resources,
have been the only way to fully characterize the behavior of a rotor, in order to obtain
the operating torque curves for the implementation of the control system.
Nevertheless, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) can nowadays be considered as a
powerful design tool, whose integration into industrial development and production
life-cycles is continuously rising. As observed by Caridi [3], this was made possible
because of two main factors:
the increase in computer performance and network facilities;
the progress made in general purpose CFD software between modeling complexity
and practicability within the industrial environment.
Performing CFD calculations provide knowledge about the flow in all its details,
such as velocities, pressure, temperature, etc. Further, all types of useful graphical
presentations, such as flow lines, contour lines and iso-lines are readily available. This
stage can be compared to having completed a wind-tunnel study or an elaborate fullscale measurement campaign [4].
Recently, Kumar et al. [5] proposed a low Reynolds number VAWT design and
optimization procedure based on both CFD simulations and BE-M calculations, while
Raciti Castelli and Benini [6] presented a model for the evaluation of energy
performance and aerodynamic forces acting on a helical single-bladed VAWT
depending on blade inclination angle. Also Raciti Castelli et al. [7] performed a
numerical analysis validation campaign for a Darrieus micro-VAWT through a
systematic comparison with wind tunnel experimental data. This work proved that it
is possible to determine the best near-blade grid element dimension through statistical
analysis of some indicators, such as the y+ parameter, in order to maximize the
accuracy of the numerical prediction of rotor performance while maintaining a
reasonable computational effort.
In the present work, two-dimensional, time-accurate, parallel CFD simulations of
the flow field around a three-bladed Darrieus rotor, are performed with the aim of
determining the influence of blade thickness on the operation of a straight-bladed
Darrieus-type VAWT. The commercial finite volume flow solver ANSYS FLUENT
is used for the simulations. The solutions are obtained using unstructured moving
grids rotating with the turbine blades. Two different flow cases are investigated:
a three-bladed configuration characterized by a NACA 0012 blade profile, named
Model_0012;
a three-bladed configuration characterized by a NACA 0021 blade profile, named
Model_0021.

For each proposed blade configuration, flow field characteristics in the

neighborhood of the rotor are investigated at several values of tip speed ratio,
allowing a quantification of the influence of blade thickness on flow geometric
features, such as blade angles of attack, and dynamic quantities, such as rotor torque
and blade tangential and normal forces. Finally, the rotor torque and power curves are
compared for the two analyzed architectures, achieving a quantification of the effect
of the blade thickness on overall rotor performance.

2 Model Geometry
The numerical analysis proposed in the present work is based upon the 2D verticalaxis Darrieus wind turbine geometry analyzed by Raciti Castelli et al. [7], [8]. Rotor's
main geometrical features are summarized in Table 1. The solidity parameter is
defined as Nc/Rrotor, as suggested by Strickland [9].
Table 1. Main geometrical features of the tested rotors.
Description
Rotor diameter
Rotor height
Blade number
Blade chord
Rotor solidity
Rotor swept area
Rotor angular velocity
Air density
Wind velocity

Drotor [mm]
Hrotor [mm]
N [-]
c [mm]
[-]
A [mm2]
[rad/s]
[kg/m3]
V [m/s]

Value
1030
1 (2D simulation)
3
85.8
0.5
1030
from 25.1 to 57.6
1.225
9

Rotor azimuthal position was identified by the angular coordinate of the pressure
centre of blade No. 1 midsection (set at 0.25c for NACA 0012 and 0021 airfoils),
starting between the 2nd and 3rd Cartesian plane octants, as can be seen in Fig. 1,
while Fig. 2 shows a comparison between NACA 0012 and 0021 airfoil sections.

3 Spatial Domain Discretization

The use of moving sub-grids was necessary, due to the movement of the rotor
elements. In particular, the discretization of the computational domain into macroareas has led to two distinct sub-grids:

a rectangular outer zone, determining the overall calculation domain, with a

circular opening centered on the turbine rotational axis, which was identified as
Wind Tunnel sub-grid, fixed;

a circular inner zone, which was identified as Rotor sub-grid, rotating with rotor
angular velocity .

Fig. 3 shows the main dimensions and the boundary conditions of the Wind Tunnel
sub-grid area.

Fig. 1. Azimuthal coordinate of blade midsections centre of pressure (from: [8]).

Fig. 2. Comparison between Model_0012 and Model_0021 airfoil sections.

Two symmetry boundary conditions were used for the two side walls. The
circumference around the circular opening centered on the turbine rotational axis was
set as an Interface, thus ensuring the continuity in the flow field. An unstructured
mesh was chosen for the Wind Tunnel sub-grid, in order to reduce engineering time to
prepare the CFD simulations.
The Rotor sub-grid was the fluid area simulating the revolution of the wind turbine
and was therefore characterized by a moving mesh, rotating at the same angular
velocity of the turbine. Its location coincided exactly with the circular opening inside
the Wind Tunnel sub-grid area and was centered on the turbine rotational axis. Fig. 4
shows the main dimensions and the boundary conditions of the Rotor sub-grid area.
An isotropic unstructured mesh was chosen for the Rotor sub-grid, in order to test
the prediction capability of a very simple grid. All blade profiles inside the Rotor subgrid area were enclosed in a control circle of 400 mm diameter. Unlike the Interface,
it had no physical significance: its aim was to allow a precise dimensional control of
the grid elements in the area close to rotor blades by adopting a first size function

operating from the blade profile to the control circle itself and a second size function
operating from the control circle to the whole Rotor sub-grid area, ending with grid
elements of the same size of the corresponding Wind tunnel sub-grid elements. An
Interior boundary condition was used for control circle borders, thus ensuring the
continuity of the cells on both sides of the mesh. Some details of the grid are visible
in Fig. 5: grid independent solutions were found using an unstructured mesh topology
with approximately 106 cells. For more information about mesh generation and code
validation, see also [7] and [8].

Fig. 3. Main dimensions [mm] of the Wind Tunnel sub-grid area (from: [8]).

Fig. 4. Main dimensions [mm] of the Rotor sub-grid area (from: [8]).

4 Temporal Discretization and Convergence Criteria

The commercial CFD package used was ANSYS FLUENT 12.1 , that implements
2-D Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations using a finite volume-finite element
based solver. The fluid has been assumed to be incompressible, being the maximum
fluid velocity in the order of 60 m/s. The temporal discretization has been achieved by
imposing a physical time step equal to the lapse of time the rotor takes to make a 1
rotation. An improved temporal-discretization simulation did not show any significant
variation [7]. As a global convergence criterion, each simulation has been run until
instantaneous torque coefficient values showed a deviation of less than 1% compared
with the corresponding values of the previous period, corresponding to a rotation of
120 due to rotor three-bladed geometry. Residual convergence criterion for each
physical time step has been set to 10-5.
The present simulations required about 16 CPU seconds per physical time step. An
average of about 30 sub-iterations have been necessary to converge the solution at
each physical time step. The simulations, performed on an 8 processor, 2.33 GHz
clock frequency computer, have required a total CPU time of about 4 days for each
simulation.

Fig. 5. Control circle for NACA 0012 blade section.

5 Results and Discussion

Fig. 6 represents the evolution of the rotor power coefficient, defined as:
Cp = P / [0.5 A V3] .

(1)

for the two analyzed models as a function of the tip speed ratio, defined as:
T.S.R. = Rrotor / V .

(2)

Fig. 6. Evolution of rotor power coefficient for the two analyzed models.

Fig. 7. Contours of absolute velocity [m/s] for Model_0012 (left) and Model_0021 (right)
blades at 92 azimuthal position.

As can be clearly seen, Model_0021 maximum power coefficient (0.416) is 4.5%

higher than Model_0012 corresponding value (0.398). The described phenomenon is
probably to be connected with NACA 0021 higher stall characteristics with respect to
NACA 0012 airfoil, due to its almost-doubled thickness. In fact, as observed by Raciti

Castelli et al. [10], during the operation of a VAWT, rotor blades experiment a wide
range of angles of attack and, as reported in [8], the higher values of power generation
correspond to those azimuthal blade coordinates (between the 4th and 5th Cartesian
plane octants) were the angles of attack are quite higher with respect to the stall limit.
Fig. 7 represents a comparison between Model_0012 and Model_0021 blades at 92
azimuthal coordinate (peak value of power generation) for T.S.R. = 2.33 (optimal
angular velocity for Model_0021): a larger recirculation zone (evidenced by the red
arrows) can be seen in correspondence of Model_0012, suggesting a more dramatic
effect of blade separation. Further work should be done, in order to better correlate
the physics of airfoil stall characteristics and rotor power output.
From Fig. 6 it can also be noticed that the optimal T.S.R. value for Model_0021
(2.33) is some 15% lower with respect to the corresponding value of Model_0012
(2.76), thus reducing the structural loads on the blades due to centrifugal forces. This
phenomenon is connected with the higher blockage induced by the NACA 0021 blade
profile on the incoming flow-field, due to its almost-doubled thickness with respect to
the NACA 0012 airfoil: an increased blockage can be compared to an increased rotor
solidity, thus determining a leftward shift of the optimal value of T.S.R.

References
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Applications, submitted for publication to: International Journal of Energy and
Environmental Engineering