Influence of internal entity on aerodynamic performance of H-type vertical axis wind turbine

Taking H-type Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) and its internal cylindrical entity as the research object, the aerodynamic performance of five blade H-type VAWT with NACA 0018 airfoil is studied by numerical simulation and experiment. Eight different diameters of internal cylindrical entity are investigated. It is shown that the peak power coefficient of VAWT decreases by 8.04%, 20.7% and 74.3% when the ratio of the internal cylindrical entity cross-sectional area to the sweep area of the VAWT is 21.2%, 50.0% and 76.9% respectively. The peak value of power coefficient of wind turbine gradually decreases with the increase of the internal entity diameter. It starts slowly, but drops rapidly when the diameter reaches a certain value. It is found that the internal entity with small diameter mainly affects the torque of the blade in the downwind area, and it has little impact on the total power coefficient, while the internal entity with large diameter will also affects the torque of the blade in the upwind area, and the total power coefficient decreases rapidly. For the internal entity with fixed diameter, such as the wind turbine installed outside the existing buildings, the selection of the wind turbine radius should take into account both the factors of power coefficient and construction cost. The research results can provide reference for the effective combination of buildings and VAWT to improve the utilization of wind energy. © 2022, Solar Energy Periodical Office Co., Ltd. All right reserved.