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Power performance enhancement of vertical axis wind turbines by a novel gurney flap design

Milad Mousavi (Faculty of New Sciences and Technologies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran)
Mehran Masdari (Faculty of New Sciences and Technologies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran)
Mojtaba Tahani (Faculty of New Sciences and Technologies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran)

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology

ISSN: 0002-2667

Article publication date: 13 July 2021

Issue publication date: 23 March 2022

317

Abstract

Purpose

Nowadays flaps and winglets are one of the main mechanisms to increase airfoil efficiency. This study aims to investigate the power performance of vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT) that are equipped with diverse gurney flaps. This study could play a crucial role in the design of the VAWT in the future.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, the two-dimensional computational fluid dynamics simulation is used. The second-order finite volume method is used for the discretization of the governing equations.

Findings

The results show that the gurney flap enhances the power coefficient at the low range of tip speed ratio (TSR). When an angled and standard gurney flap case has the same aerodynamic performance, an angled gurney flap case has a lower hinge moment on the junction of airfoil and gurney flap which shows the structural excellence of this case. In all gurney flap cases, the power coefficient increases by an average of 20% at the TSR range of 0.6 to 1.8. The gurney flap cases do not perform well at the high TSR range and the results show a lower amount of power coefficient compare to the clean airfoil.

Originality/value

The angled gurney flap which has the structural advantage and is deployed to the pressure side of the airfoil improves the efficiency of VAWT at the low and medium range of TSR. This study recommends using a controllable gurney flap which could be deployed at a certain amount of TSR.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Declaration.

Availability of data and materials: All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Funding: Not applicable.

Authors’ contribution: All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Acknowledgments: Not applicable.

Citation

Mousavi, M., Masdari, M. and Tahani, M. (2022), "Power performance enhancement of vertical axis wind turbines by a novel gurney flap design", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 94 No. 4, pp. 482-491. https://doi.org/10.1108/AEAT-02-2021-0052

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

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