Modeling aerodynamics of a wind turbine with cylindrical blades in a turbulent air flow

Abstract

The article discusses some of the possibilities of computer simulation of aerodynamics flow past a three-bladed wind turbine using the ANSYS FLUENT software package. The peculiarity of the object of study is that the wind wheel consists of three blades rotating around its axis. The system of equations, boundary conditions and made during modeling assumptions are presented. The system of equations in approximating the k- model of turbulence is solved by the finite volume method and applying the approach of multiple (nested) coordinate systems using the Ansys-Fluent package. The computational domain was divided into three types of subregions nested within each other. As a result of modeling the velocity field near the wind wheel surface vortex zones were visualized. It is showed that in the vicinity of the wind wheel central disk, the air flow unfolds in the opposite direction to the main flow. The dependences of aerodynamic coefficients on speed are obtained while the cylinders rotation speed varies in the range from 300rpm to 700 rpm.