Influencia del tipo de alabe en el desempeño hidrodinámico de una turbina tipo Darrieus

Abstract

The study of vertical axis turbines has gained great interest in recent years for its great potential. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is an alternative analysis tool that is being used for the understanding of the problem. This paper presents and discusses the results of the computational parametric study of the airfoil of the blades in a turbine Darrieus type H. We assessed the influence of two parameters: thickness and curvature on the hydrodynamic performance estimated by CFD. We designed a factorial experiment 32 in which each factor had 3 levels, thickness (6, 12 and 15) and symmetry / asymmetry (00XX, 24XX and 44XX). The 9 final simulations were performed in the commercial software Fluent, while the mesh was parameterized in the commercial software Gridgen. The hydrodynamic performance of the turbine was evaluated by analyzing three nondimensional coefficients: Coefficient of moment (Cm), tangential force coefficient (Ct) and radial force coefficient (Cn). Numerical results show a strong influence of the thickness on Cm and Ct, while the asymmetry of the profile influences on Cn, which can be relevant from the point of view of design fatigue of the turbine