On the Aerodynamics of Multistage Co-Axial Vertical-Axis Wind Turbines

TL;DR

This paper investigates a bio-inspired multi-stage co-axial vertical-axis wind turbine, demonstrating significant power output improvements through numerical simulations and analyzing wake dynamics and geometric effects.

Contribution

It introduces a novel multi-stage co-axial VAWT design inspired by fish swimming, with performance evaluation and analysis of blade interactions and wake effects.

Findings

600% increase in power output at TSR 0-3

Significant power reduction at TSR > 3

Blade interactions reduce unsteady separation

Abstract

This study explored the aerodynamics of a new multi-stage co-axial vertical-axis wind turbine based on bio-inspiration from natural swimming habit of fish. The turbine was formed from a conventional straight-bladed vertical-axis turbine (VAWT) with a small inner rotor, also of three blades. The azimuthal and radial locations of the inner rotor were varied. Using numerical simulations, performance of the proposed new design was evaluated over a range of tip-speed ratios. The preliminary results identified a 600% increase in power output for multi-stage VAWTs at tip-speed rations TSR = 0 - 3, and a substantial drop in power coefficient at TSR > 3.0. The wake dynamics analyses revealed that the increase was due to interactions between the blades of one rotor and the other. This reduced the unsteady separation from the outer rotor which produced most of the power. A detailed parametric study was also completed, which showed the implications of geometric and kinematic details on the performance of the proposed multistage VAWT.