The effect of urban buildings on the implementation of small wind turbines

Abstract

The paper presents the main factors that can influence the location of a wind turbine (building shape, construction height, direction and wind speed) aiming to increase its performance. Thus, three types of buildings with various shapes and heights, which can be found in the urban environment (houses, offices and hotels) are presented in a case study, numerical simulations being carried out using the ANSYS software. The aerodynamic tunnel is customized for each building while maintaining a proportion of the building and the space needed to analyse it. All buildings are rotated to the wind direction and not to the theoretical North. The objective of this paper is to identify the area of the building in which an increase of the airflow is obtained, which allows to increase the performances of the wind turbine. The results allow formulating recommendations for the implementation location and types of units that should be installed.