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Unsteady loading of a vertical-axis turbine in the interaction with an upstream deflector

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Abstract

Torque generation and flow distribution of a lift-based vertical-axis turbine with an upstream deflecting plate are investigated in water tunnel experiments. The deployment of a deflector in front of a lift-based turbine is a promising approach to increase local flow velocity and enhance energy conversion efficiency without consideration for complicated control. For the turbine with the deflector, the phase during which the blade passes near the front end of the turbine has a major contribution to torque increase from the case without the deflector. Meanwhile, the deflector can have a negative effect in torque generation at the phase when the blade moves upstream against free stream if the turbine is placed close to the deflector in a crosswise direction. The change of nearby flow distribution by the deflector is also examined to find its correlation with torque generation. When the blade rotates through the near-wake region of the deflector, the blade can collides with the vortical structure shed from the deflector. This interaction causes significant torque fluctuation.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Engineering and Applied Science, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91125, USA

    Daegyoum Kim & Morteza Gharib

Authors
  1. Daegyoum Kim
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  2. Morteza Gharib
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daegyoum Kim.

Appendix

Appendix

See Fig. 10.

Fig. 10
figure 10

Time-averaged stream-wise velocity distribution \(\bar{u}_{x}\) around a deflecting plate only. The deflector (black vertical line) is at x = 0

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Kim, D., Gharib, M. Unsteady loading of a vertical-axis turbine in the interaction with an upstream deflector. Exp Fluids 55, 1658 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-013-1658-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-013-1658-4

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