Numerical study of Savonius wind turbine with additional fin blade using computational fluid dynamic

Abstract

Savonius wind turbine is the wind energy conversion systems which has good potential for small-scale electrical energy source. However, standard design savonius rotor has a relatively low efficiency and rotation speed. The aim of this research is to study modification of wind turbine design of savonius type S by adding variation of fin in its turbine blades. It utilized computational fluid dynamic (CFD) using a commercial Finite Element (FEA) software. Savonius rotor employed in this research has a 1.1 m rotor diameter in 1.4 m height. The 3D model of savonius rotor was developed by a CAD Software, SolidWorks®. The wind speed utilized for simulation purpose were 3 to 5 m/s with k-epsilon turbulent model. Simulation was performed using ANSYS to generate mesh of the flow domain all of blade variant. Dynamic mesh model was used in this simulation, which then exported to FLUENT in evaluating the fluid flow for determining the aerodynamic coefficient such as drag, torque and power coefficient. This model simulated a fluid flow striking the blade and wind condition around the rotate blade. Results from this study is expected to provide an alternative evaluation of Savonius wind turbine performance in various conditions with different design parameters.