Abstract
Many vertical axis wind turbines(VAWTs)have been recently studied and developed by virtue of the non-directionality of wind. For the design and performance prediction of wind turbines, the blade element momentum(BEM)theory is useful because of its much less computational time than CFD approach. However, when using BEM theory, accurate aerodynamic characteristics of the blade airfoils are needed in order to predict wind turbine performance with high accuracy. In
this study, two-dimensional RANS was carried out for NACA 0018 airfoil, which aerodynamic data has been published over broad ranges of angle of attack and Reynolds number, in order to validate the present CFD. Moreover, by using the present CFD results, performance predictions of VAWTs by the BEM theory were carried out, and were confirmed to be improved with respect to small VAWT compared with the aerodynamic data given by other researchers.
