Recent Progress in Design and Performance Analysis of Vertical-Axis Wind Turbines-A Comprehensive Review

Vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) are receiving more and more attention as they involve simple design, cope better with turbulence, and are insensitive to wind direction, which has a huge impact on their cost since a yaw mechanism is not needed. However, VAWTs still suffer from low conversion efficiency. As a result, tremendous efforts are being exerted to improve their efficiency, which mainly focus on two methods, regardless of whether the study is a CFD simulation, a field test, or a lab test experiment. An active approach involves modification of the rotor itself, such as the blade design, the angle, the trailing and leading edges, the inner blades, the chord thickness, the contra-rotating rotor, etc., while the second approach involves passive techniques where the flow is directed to optimally face the downwind rotor by mounting guiding vanes such as a diffuser or other shapes at the upwind position of the rotor. Among all the techniques undertaken, the counter-rotating wind turbine (CRWT) rotor technique seems to be the most effective, with an output comparable to that of horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWTs), while the Savonius rotor has received more attention compared to other VAWT designs. Apart from technological issues, it has also been suggested that geographical issues, such as proper site siting of a wind turbine rotor at a particular location where a uniform flow can be guaranteed, are of paramount importance to ensure an effective conversion capacity of wind turbines. Thus, this study has successfully highlighted the latest improvements in augmentation methods and has established a solid foundation for future research aimed at improving the efficiency of VAWTs.