INFLUENCE OF THE OVERLAP RATIO ON THE STATIC TORQUE OF THE SAVONIUS TURBINE

Savonius rotors present several geometric parameters that influence their performance, including the overlap ratio, and several Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) researchs have been performed to evaluate the efficiency of different configurations. Thus, the main objective of this research is to analyze with the help of CFD the influence of different overlap ratios on the static torque of the Savonius turbine. For this, the overlap ratio of 0 to 0.75 was varied with a pitch of 0.075. CFD simulations were performed using the SolidWorks Flow Simulation 2016 software, which solves the conservation equations using the k-epsilon turbulence model with damping functions and the finite volume discretization method. Through the evaluation of the simulations it was possible to define that the rotor with an overlap ratio of 0.375 is the one that provides better self-performance to the Savonius turbine.