Renewable Energy 54 (2013) 26e31

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Renewable Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

Study on the analysis method for the vertical-axis wind turbines having Darrieus
blades
Feng-Zhu Tai a, Ki-Weon Kang b, Mi-Hye Jang c, Young-Jin Woo a, Jang-Ho Lee b, *
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School of Kunsan National University, Gunsan 573-701, Republic of Korea
b
School of Mechanical & Automotive Engineering, Kunsan National University, Gunsan 573-701, Republic of Korea
c
Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-749, Republic of Korea

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Recent interest in Darrieus wind turbines has led to a need for proper performance prediction models. Of
Received 6 February 2012 all the existing models, multiple streamtubes model is reasonably simple and relatively precise. However,
Accepted 4 September 2012 neglecting dependency of Reynolds number (Re) leads to the failure of prediction at high tip-speed ratios
Available online 22 October 2012
(TSR). In this proposed paper, an algorithm LDWT, which applied local blade Re instead of one repre-
sentative Re, was developed and researched. In the calculation, 2-dimensional experimental data for
Keywords:
aerofoil characteristics were applied because their 3-dimensional data for different Re could not be
Wind energy
accessible. This study shows that results for high TSR from LDWT match test data better than previous
Vertical-axis wind turbine
Darrieus rotor
research instead of underestimation in other regions. In the region of low TSR, it is shown that stall delay
Multiple streamtube model model is needed to match well with test data. Therefore, it is expected to be useful in the proper design
Blade Reynolds number and optimisation of rotors at high tip-speed ratios when their test data is not available or incomplete.
Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction considers variation of streamtube velocities through the rotor, has

Wind turbines represent a developing and promising tech-
nology for power production without air pollution. And vertical-
axis wind turbine is one of them to achieve that, without any
yawing mechanism for horizontal axis wind turbines [1]. So for the
sake of being more cost-effective, it is necessary to analyse the
aerodynamic performance in order to deduce the optimum design
parameters as well as properly predict performance before
fabrication.
The existing prediction models for aerodynamic performance of
a curved-blade vertical-axis wind turbine, including single
streamtube model [2], multiple streamtube model [3], vortex
models [4] and lift-line model [5] etc., have been developed in the
last several decades. In the single streamtube model, the induced
wind velocity is assumed constant through the disk. It is easy but
not accurate enough. A more accurate prediction of the wind
velocity variations across the rotor, with respect to single stream-
tube calculation, is given by the multiple streamtube model first
developed in 1975. Then, vortex models were developed based on
the vorticity equations, where there is much more unknowns than
DART. In comparison, multiple streamtubes model DART, which
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ82 63 469 4869; fax: þ82 63 469 1965.
E-mail address: jangho@kunsan.ac.kr (J.-H. Lee).
been taken as a reasonably simple and relatively accurate acronym
for small-scale vertical Darrieus rotors [6]. However, it does not
take the effect of Reynolds number (Re) into account. Despite the
fact that the approach is somewhat elegant in its simplicity, it is not
proper to predict correct information in high TSR, which requires
a more precise Re. Therefore, the presented algorithm LDWT for
Darrieus wind turbine, which adapts accurate blade Re instead of
one representative value based on free stream wind velocity (UN),
is researched and discussed in this study in order to improve the
existing prediction code.
For research about analysis algorithm, wind turbine with
curved-bladed rotors of Darrieus type, as in Fig. 1, was chosen due
to the available experimental data for both the aerofoil and rotor.
And its geometry parameters [3] were presented in Table 1. The
performance of the selected rotor was calculated with LDWT
computer code, and the results were compared with experimental
data conducted by Sandia National Laboratory in the LTV wind
tunnel [7] and DART [3]. The results are closer with test data at high
TSR mainly due to the correspondence of Re in the calculations and
tests, and it is also shown that additional model is needed to
consider stall delay in the low TSR region. Moreover, one stall delay
model was tried as an attempt to consider its effect, and it was
demonstrated that results largely got improved for almost all TSR in
spite of slight gap.

0960-1481/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2012.09.014
 F.-Z. Tai et al. / Renewable Energy 54 (2013) 26e31 27

Nomenclature R rotor radius, m

R1 radius of circular part, m
a induction factor r radius of layers
c chord, m Re Reynolds number
CL lift coefficient U wind velocity on the blade, m/s
CD drag coefficient U0 local streamtube wind speed, m/s
Cn normal force coefficient UN freestream wind speed, m/s
Ct tangential force coefficient UR relative wind speed, m/s
Cp power coefficient Ut tangential wind speed, m/s
Fn normal force, N a angle of attack (AOA), rad
Ft tangential force, N b blade angle, rad
H height of rotor, m q azimuthal angle, rad
Dh height of streamtubes, m l tip-speed ratio (TSR)
N number of blades r air density (293.6 K), 1.225 kg/m3
Ns number of streamtubes in one layer m air viscosity (293.6 K), 1.81  105 Pa s
Nt number of layers u rotor angular speed, rad/s

2. Reynolds number influence on aerofoil characteristics
Blade Reynolds number (Re), a measurement of air flow field on
the blade, is one of the most important parameters for aerofoil
characteristics. As in Eq. (1), blade Re in this study is calculated by
relative wind velocity (UR) instead of free stream wind velocity
(UN), which keeps consistent with experiment method to obtain Re
for 2-dimensional (2-D) lift and drag coefficient (CL and CD) [8].
r UR c
Re ¼
m
Fig. 2(a) shows plots for discrete values of lift and drag coeffi-
cients (CL and CD) for NACA 0012 aerofoil with different Reynolds
numbers from Ref. [3]. For values of coefficients at random Re and
AOA, linear interpolation is utilised after each two nearby known
values are found. Consequently, results of tangential and normal
force coefficients (Ct and Cn) with different Re, as in Fig. 2(b), can be
calculated by the Eq. (2).
Ct ¼ CL sin a  CD cos a
Cn ¼ CL cos a þ CD sin a
H value of local streamtube wind velocity U as U0 , and go back to
2 the step 2.
R1
From Fig. 2(a), there is a rapid reduction in the lift coefficient
as AOA increases. It is called a stall. The influence of Re on
aerodynamic characteristics of aerofoil (a, CL and CD) is remark-
able, as we know, in the stall zone [9]. It is obvious that a higher
Re can increase stall AOA and enlarge the lift coefficient at stall
point.
3. Calculation procedure
(1) The flowchart (Fig. 3) for power coefficient calculation can be
described as the following steps:
(1) Start from the first position (q0, h0), the corresponding
azimuthal angle and height are q ¼ q0, h ¼ h0 respectively.
(2) Assign a value of the local streamtube wind velocity (U) and
the corresponding induction factor, a (Eq. (3)) at the specified
position.
(3) Calculate the values of attack angle, a (Eq. (4) in Table 2), and
relative velocity, UR (Eq. (5)), and local blade Reynolds number,
(2) Re (Eq. (1)), according to the pervious data.
(4) Find out the values of Ct and Cn (Eq. (2)) by applying the linear
interpolation method with CL and CD.
(5) Calculate the values of tangential force, Ft (Eq. (6)), and normal
force, Fn (Eq. (7)).
(6) Calculate the values of streamwise force, Fx (Eq. (8)) and the
new local streamtube wind velocity (U0 ) using the momentum
equation (Eq. (9)).
(7) Compare the values of local streamtube wind velocities U and
U0. If the deviation between is within the criterion of iteration
error, then go on to the next step. Otherwise, replace the initial
(8) Calculate the values of torque of this element for the
preparation of output power and power coefficient
calculation.
Table 1
Geometry parameters for Darrieus wind turbine [3].

Cross-section shape NACA0012

Solidity 0.27
Number of blade 3
R Height of rotor 2m
Radius of rotor 0.9798 m
Radius of arc 0.6773 m
Fig. 1. Geometry of half of the Darrieus rotor [3].
28 F.-Z. Tai et al. / Renewable Energy 54 (2013) 26e31

1.5 Start
Reynolds number
Re=700,000 Separate the swept area into
Re=360,000 many small areas (streamtubes)
1
Re=160,000
CL Assign initial values h=h0

0.5 Assign initial values θ =θ0

CD

Assign initial values U=0.95U

0
0 8 16 24 32
Angle of attack [degree] Calculate α, UR and Re
(a) Lift and drag coefficients
According to α and Re, choose
0.25 Cn and Ct by interpolation
Tangential Force Coefficient

Reynolds number
700,000
Calculate Fn, Ft and U’
0.15
360,000
Y U − U'
160,000 ≤ 0.001
0.05 U

θ=θ0 + Δθ
-0.05
Y
θ<180 deg.
-0.15
0 8 16 24 32 h=h0 +Δh
Angle of Attack [degree] N
h<H
(b) Tangential force coefficients
Fig. 2. Aerodynamic characteristics with respect to attack angle for different Reynolds Calculate the rotor power
numbers. coefficient Cp

(9) Move to a new position: firstly on the same height but End
different azimuthal angles, q ¼ q0 þ Dq until q ¼ 180 . Then
move to another height, h ¼ h0 þ Dh until h equals height H. Fig. 3. Flowchart of LDWT algorithm.

(10) Calculate the rotor output power and power coefficient, Cp (Eq.
(10)), when calculations at all positions are finished.
4.2. Validation of results

4. Results and discussion
4.1. The effect of segments
Because of performance discrepancy along the blade and
azimuthal angles, the swept area of blade needs to be vertically
divided into a few layers. Then in each layer, it is separated into
several small streamtubes according to the change of azimuthal
angles. In order to get more accurate results, more sections are
preferable. However, it is needed to know how many sections at
least can keep the accuracy in the calculation. As listed in Table 3
are 12 combinations of different numbers of layers and azimuthal
angles divided. Herein, “Number of angles” stands for the number
of azimuthal angles sampled from 0 to p. The number of layers for
each blade, which is divided equally for both linear and circular part
as in Fig. 1, is denoted as “Number of layers”. Therefore, “Number of
sections” equals the multiple of the above two parameters.
Fig. 4 shows the calculation results for each case with various
TSR. It is shown that results vary a lot before the case number of
eight and almost keep constant thereafter. As a result, it is selected
as an optimal option for this calculation.
In order to test the performance of the LDWT model, calcula-
tions are carried out for rotor configuration as in Fig. 1. The power
coefficient as a function of TSR measured by Sandia National
Laboratory [7], predicted by LDWT and DART [3], is presented in
Fig. 5. Wind tunnel tests of a 2-m-diameter rotor (Fig. 1) were
conducted by Sandia Laboratory in 1976 [7]. The scatters in Fig. 5
are calculated results with UN of 9 m/s and 11 m/s, where blade
Re varies from 10,000 to 700,000. Clearly, results of this study have
a good agreement with test data in the higher TSR region (TSR > 5)
and very low TSR area (TSR < 2). It mainly owns to the consistence
of Re used in the calculations and test. However, they are exag-
geratedly underestimated in the TSR of about 2e4.
For the reason of underestimation in this region, at first, as we
know, lift and drag coefficients, just as those applied in this
calculation, are normally derived from two-dimensional wind
tunnel test [8]. After stall, however, the flow near the rotor is
strongly influenced by three-dimensional effect, which leads to
delayed stall (dynamic-stall) with lift higher than 2-D data and
correspondingly higher drag [10]. As a result, it can be concluded
that the calculated Cp should be smaller than test results as long as
the stall delay effects are not considered, when there exists AOA in
 F.-Z. Tai et al. / Renewable Energy 54 (2013) 26e31 29

Table 2 0.3
Equations used in Fig. 3.
Tip Speed Ratio
Name Equation 0.25 2.6
Induction factor 3.8

Power coefficient
U 0.2 4.2
a ¼ 1 (3)
UN 5.3
0.15
Angle of attack

Usin qsin b
a ¼ tan1 (4) 0.1
Ucos q þ ur

Relative velocity 0.05

Usin qsin b
UR ¼ (5)

∇
sin a 0
Tangential force 1 3 5 7 9 11
1 Dhc 2 -0.05
Ft ¼ Ct r U (6)
2 sin b R Number of Cases
Normal force Fig. 4. Absolute difference of power coefficient between test data and calculation with
1 Dhc 2
Fn ¼ Cn r U (7) several different calculation segments.
2 sin b R

Resultant streamwise
Fx ¼ ðFn sinb,sinq þ Ft cosqÞ (8) 0.4
force
Test data (11m/s)
Streamwise force

NFx U U Test data (9m/s)
& velocities ratio ¼ 1 (9)
2prr DhsinqUN
2 UN UN 0.3 DART [3]

Power coefficient LDWT (11m/s)


 
PNt PNs Nc Ut UR 2 Power Coefficient LDWT (9m/s)
Ct
1 1 2Rsin b UN UN 0.2
Cp ¼ PNs r (10)
Nt 1
R

0.1

the stall area. The ratio of AOA in stall region for TSR from 1 to 7, 0
with a wind speed of 9 m/s, is figured as the solid line in Fig. 6. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
When TSR is small (less than about 2), AOA is small as well because Tip speed ratio
of corresponding small UR and Re. Therefore, most AOA are not -0.1
large enough to enter stall region. When TSR is higher than 4, AOA
Fig. 5. Comparison of LDWT and DART [3] with test data [7].
in most positions is under stall point. Thus, a high ratio of AOA in
stall region only exists when TSR is between 2 and 4, which exactly
matches the difference of Cp between test data and calculation, as main reasons are the difference of aerofoil data in the stall region
the dashed line in Fig. 6. As shown in Fig. 7 is another example to and Re applied in both models. According to the aerofoil data of
illustrate the correlation between these two factors. Obviously, normal and tangential force coefficients from Ref. [6], the lift and
when ratio of AOA in the stall increases, so does the difference of Cp drag coefficients can be calculated by the inverse of Eq. (2). And the
between test data and calculation. In conclusion, stall delay igno- results are presented as the solid curves in Fig. 8. Under the
rance in the calculation as well as a high ratio of AOA in stall region condition of the same Re, another set of lift and drag coefficients,
are the dominant reasons for large underestimation when TSR is used in LDWT prediction from Ref. [8], are figured as the dashed
between 2 and 4.
As also shown in Fig. 5 is a comparison of Cp predicted by the 0.6
LDWT and DART [3] models. It is obvious that results from LDWT
(with 2-D aerofoil data) are smaller than those from DART. The 0.5
Ratio of AOA in the stall region
Difference between test data and calculation
0.4
Table 3
Cases of different number of sections with various layers and azimuth.
0.3
Number of angles Number of layers Number of sections Number of cases
9 4 36 1
8 72 2 0.2
16 144 4
32 288 7 0.1
18 4 72 3
8 144 5
16 288 8 0
32 576 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
36 4 144 6
8 288 9
Tip Speed Ratio
16 576 11
Fig. 6. Ratio of AOA in stall region and absolute difference of Cp between test data and
32 1152 12
calculation.
30 F.-Z. Tai et al. / Renewable Energy 54 (2013) 26e31

0.4 100

90 Wind speed (U ¥)
0.3
11 m/s

Percentage (%)
80
9 m/s
0.2
ΔCp

70

0.1
60

0 50
-0.05 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Ratio of attack angle in stall
Tip Speed Ratio
Fig. 7. Ratio of AOA in stall region and absolute difference of Cp between test data and
Fig. 10. Percentage of Reynolds number below 300,000 for different TSRs.
calculation.

Fig. 10, when UR equals 9 m/s and 11 m/s. Apparently, Re in almost

3 all the positions are smaller than 300,000, the representative value
From reference [6] in DART. As have already been explained, increasing Re can delay
From reference [8] stall AOA and then raise Cp.
For the difference of Cp between UN of 9 m/s and 11 m/s,
1.5 distribution of AOA is researched for it at TSR ¼ 4. From Fig. 11(a),
on the layer of 0.49 m above the equator, the AOA are all lower than
CD
9 when UN ¼ 11 m/s, while stall arises when azimuth is between
CL 105 and 145 for 9 m/s wind velocity. Similarly from Fig. 11(b), on
0
the layer of 0.73 m above the equator, the azimuthal angle, for the
0 30 60 90 120 150 180 AOA starting to enter stall region, is 75 instead of a lower value of

Angle of Attack [degree]

16
-1.5
Angle of Attack [degree]

Fig. 8. Aerofoil characteristics from Refs. [3,8] for aerofoil of NACA 0012 Wind speed (U )
12
(Re ¼ 300,000). 9m/s
11 m/s
8
curves. By comparison in the stall regions, it can be found out that
CL (in Fig. 8) and Ct (in Fig. 9) used in LDWT is largely smaller than
those applied in DART. And seen from Fig. 6, there are many AOA in 4
this region under the calculation conditions. On the other hand, for
9 m/s wind speed, blade Re on the rotor tip ranges from 10,000 to
3,600,000 [3], while the representative Re of 300,000 is applied in 0
DART. For comparison, the number of segments, whose Re is below 0 30 60 90 120 150 180
300,000, was counted and divided by the overall number sampled. Azimuthal Angle [degree]
And the calculated results for TSR from 2 to 7 are presented in
(a) On the layer of 0.49 m above the equator

16
0.2
Wind speed (U )
Angle of Attack [degree]

0.15 12 9m/s
From reference [6]
Tangential Coefficient

11 m/s
0.1 From reference [8]
8
0.05

0 4
0 6 12 18 24 30 36
-0.05
0
-0.1 0 30 60 90 120 150 180
Angle of Attack [degree] Azimuthal Angle [degree]
-0.15
(b) On the layer of 0.73 m above the equator
Fig. 9. Comparison of the distribution of tangential force coefficient from Refs. [6,8] for
aerofoil of NACA 0012 (Re ¼ 300,000). Fig. 11. Distribution of AOA for wind speeds of 9 m/s and 11 m/s (TSR ¼ 4).

B C
A submitted LDWT code, has been developed by consideration of the
astall
Fig. 12. PROPID model [11].
65 for 9 m/s wind velocity. Therefore, compared with 11 m/s
prediction, there is more area under stall because of the relatively
low Re in the 9 m/s LDWT performance prediction. Apparently,
DWT performance prediction can be affected more by stall effects
when the local Re is smaller with wind velocity of 9 m/s.
4.3. Results with one stall delay model
In order to consider stall delay effects which is the main problem
for LDWT prediction model as previously explained, PROPID stall
delay model is adapted as preliminary attempts. Fig. 12 shows the
basic approach taken in defining the CLea curve [11]. The data input
to PROPID is AeBeCeD. The stall angle at point B is specified by
user. The stall delay angle is also user-defined. If no post stall
models are on, PROPID adds the stall delay angle to stall angle and
holds the CL constant over that range (taking the value at point B).
The flat-plate model starts at point C, and then lift curve proceeds
to point D and beyond. The location of point C on BeD depends on
the magnitude of the stall delay angle. Calculation results, with
PROPID model (stall delay angle: 4 ) as in Fig. 13, get largely
improved for overall TSR but still slightly underestimated
compared with test data when in the region of low TSR between 2
and 3. Maybe the value of stall delay angle should be increased to
predict the Cp better.
There are several other stall delay models, such as Corrigane
Schilling stall delay model [12], Boeing-Vertol dynamic-stall
Test data (11m/s)
0.4 Test data (9m/s)
DART [3]
Without stall delay model (11m/s)
0.3
Without stall delay model (9m/s)
Power Coefficient
With PROPID model (11m/s)
With PROPID model (9m/s)
0.2
0.1
0 12 Tangler JL, Selig MS. An evaluation of an empirical model for stall delay due to
0 1 2 3
-0.1
Fig. 13. Comparison of results with and without stall delay model (PROPID: 4 ) from
LDWT, DART [3] and test data [7].
F.-Z. Tai et al. / Renewable Energy 54 (2013) 26e31 31
model [13], Du and Selig stall delay model [14], and so on. Those
stall delay models are worth to be tried in the calculation perfor-
mance prediction later. If possible, some new stall delay models can
be developed for the better prediction of performance.
5. Conclusion
D
Algorithm for 2-m Darrieus vertical-axis wind turbine, the
local Reynolds number using real wind speed on the Darrieus blade.
Firstly, the optimum number of streamtubes was obtained by
calculating and comparing results from 12 different streamtube
combinations. Secondly, calculations with LDWT codes for 2-m-
diameter Darrieus rotor were carried out, and results were
compared with previous study and experimental data. Conclusions
astall+ astall delay can be drawn as followings.
1. The present results from LDWT codes show better match with
test data in the higher TSR region than DART code, previously
researched by Sandia National Laboratory. The main reason is
the accurate Reynolds number using real speed of air on the
blade.
2. It is shown that the main reason of the big gap in the calcula-
tion of the lower tip-speed ratio is much related with stall, and
the need for employing stall delay model in this region is
verified with adopting simple PROPID stall delay model.
3. For the future work, proper stall delay model is needed in order
to improve the present result.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the New & Renewable Energy (No.
20123021020010) and the Human Resources Development
program (No. 20124010203240) of the Korea Institute of Energy
Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) grant funded by the
Korea government Ministry of Knowledge Economy.
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