The actuator cell model for the Darrieus wind turbine

Abstract

Development of existing and innovative aerodynamic models for the Darrieus wind turbine has become very popular in recent years. Since research in the field of aerodynamics of the Darrieus concept is very limited, the development of simplified aerodynamic methods is very difficult. Therefore, the major objective of the present study is to present the concept of a new aerodynamic model for the Darrieus wind turbine - the actuator cell model (ACM). Aerodynamic loads are added to the unsteady incompressible Navier-Stokes equations as momentum source terms. The source terms are computed basing on instantaneous aerodynamic forces taken from the literature. The numerical results of wake structure computed by ACM are compared with the experimental data. Agreement between the numerical results of velocity profiles and the experimental data is reasonably good.