Modelling of the performance of a building-mounted ducted wind turbine

Abstract

This paper presents computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling of the performance of a building-mounted ducted wind turbine. A resistive volume within the duct is used to represent a cross-flow turbine and different diffuser geometries have been investigated. A comparison is made between the power performance ratio of such a building-mounted ducted wind turbine rotor predicted by CFD calculations and those predicted on the basis of one-dimensional (1D) theory. Good agreement is seen between the two approaches for a freestanding duct but deviations are seen for the building-mounted case for the calculated power performance ratio apparently due to asymmetry in the flow profile entering the duct and the flow geometry around the combination of building and duct. © 2007 IOP Publishing Ltd.