Flow pattern and Aerodynamic Characteristics of a VAWT consisting of Three Quarter Circular-Arc Blades Attached to a Cylindrical Core

Abstract

This study aims to investigate flow field for a drag type vertical-Axis wind turbine (VAWT) consisting of three quarter circular-arc blades attached to a cylindrical core. In this study, four values of the attachment angle of the circular-arc blades are selected as α=5o, 20o, 45o and 75o. The flow visualization around the rotor can be carried out experimentally with the particle image velcimetry (PIV) . The pressure distributions on the surface of the rotor were successfully obtained from the mesured velocity fields.