Numerical Investigation of Radius Dependent Solidity Effect on H-Type Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

In this study, radius-dependent solidity effect to the aerodynamic characteristic of a three bladed H-rotor Darrieus wind turbine consisting of NACA 0021 profile blades was investigated numerically in Ansys Fluent 14.1 software. After achieving independence from the mesh, the numerical method was validated with the experimental data and then numerical analyses were performed for different solidity values. Results show that the higher efficiency can be obtained both in low Type Speed Ratio (TSR) values with the increase of solidity and in high TSR values with the decrease in solidity. Power coefficient (Cp) has been enhanced as 4.25% with 0.75 m (M1) and Cp has been reduced as 0.57% with 1.25 m (M3) rotor radius according to 1 m rotor radius (M2), respectively.