Performance evaluation of three cross flow vertical axis wind turbine configurations.

The performance output of three Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) configurations has been evaluated using a two-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) model. Data has been obtained using a quasi-steady Multi Reference Frame (MRF) approach in which the three variants were subjected to an inlet velocity of 4m/s and rotor blade tip speed ratios (λ) in the range of 0 to 0.6. The results obtained show a clear reduction in torque output as both the number of stator and rotor blades decrease. Furthermore, the power output of for each configuration reduces as a function of a reduction in number of stator/rotor blades.