Numerical simulation of Savonius type wind turbine installed on the highway

Considering the vehicle traffic and the length of highways and freeways, the volume of air moved through the movement of cars can be used to supply the required air flow to run a wind turbine installed in the middle of highways. The Savunius-type wind turbines are good tools in such conditions. A horizontal axis, semi-circular Savunius wind turbine installed in the New Jerseys on highways is studied numerically in this research. The turbulent wind flow enters the turbine chamber through the ducts created inside the New Jersey and after transferring its energy to the turbine blades, it exits from the other side of New Jersey. Guide vanes in the inlet duct create uniform wind flow while tilted vanes in the outlet duct reduce the effects of back pressure at the outlet. Turbines with three, four, and five blades at different blade tip speeds are simulated by Ansys-Fluent both two and three-dimensionally in transient conditions. For a better comparison, the torque of each turbine in one cycle of the simulation period is recorded and the average torque of each turbine is compared with each other. The results are presented in the form of pressure and velocity contours, streamlines, torque and output power. The results reveal that for such wind turbines confined in the New Jersey the 2D model can be properly applied to the solution domain while a four-blade turbine with a tip speed ratio of 5 presents the best output power and torque.