3D CFD model for the analysis of the flow field through a horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT)

Abstract

With the world’s growing demand for energy, renewable energy production has become important in providing alternative sources of energy and in reducing the greenhouse effect. This study investigates the aerodynamics and performance of the WG/EV100 micro–Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT) using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The complexity of VAWT aerodynamics, which is inherently unsteady and three-dimensional, makes high-fidelity flow models extremely demanding in terms of computational cost, limiting the analysis to mainly 2D Computational Fluid-Dynamics (CFD) approaches. This article explains how to perform a full 3D unsteady CFD simulation of HAWT. All main parts of the WG/EV100 HAWT were designed in SOLIDWORKS. Only the blade design was reverse engineered due to the unavailability of the CAD model and the complexity of its geometric characteristics. The impeller blade is scanned using a Coordi-nate Measuring Machine (CMM), and the obtained 3D scan data are exported from the PC-DMIS software to GEOMAGIC design X to obtain a CAD model of the blade.