%0 Journal Article
%T Computational Fluid Dynamics Analysis of Multi-Bladed Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Rotor
%A Nasim A. Mamaghani
%A Peter E. Jenkins
%J World Journal of Mechanics
%P 121-138
%@ 2160-0503
%D 2020
%I Scientific Research Publishing
%R 10.4236/wjm.2020.109009
%X The principal objective of this work was to investigate the 3D flow field around a multi-bladed horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) rotor and to investigate its performance characteristics. The aerodynamic performance of this novel rotor design was evaluated by means of a Computational Fluid Dynamics commercial package. The Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations were selected to model the physics of the incompressible Newtonian fluid around the blades. The Shear Stress Transport (SST) <em>k</em>-<em>&omega;</em> turbulence model was chosen for the assessment of the 3D flow behavior as it had widely used in other HAWT studies. The pressure-based simulation was done on a model representing one-ninth of the rotor using a 40-degree periodicity in a single moving reference frame system. Analyzing the wake flow behavior over a wide range of wind speeds provided a clear vision of this novel rotor configuration. From the analysis, it was determined that the flow becomes accelerated in outer wake region downstream of the rotor and by placing a multi-bladed rotor with a larger diameter behind the forward rotor resulted in an acceleration of this wake flow which resulted in an increase the overall power output of the wind machine.
%K Computational Fluid Dynamics
%K Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine
%K Multi-Bladed Rotor
%K Aerodynamic Torque
%U http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=102997