The Design of a Savonius Wind Turbine with Guide Vanes - A Computational Approach

Abstract

In this study, a Savonius vertical axis wind turbine (SVAWT) has been developed with omnidirectional guide vanes to increase the performance of the wind turbine. SVAWT is a promising wind turbine for stand-alone power generation to cater the energy demand in rural settings. However, Savonius rotors typically possess low wind energy extraction characteristics compared with other wind turbine types. Therefore, this study is focused to design and develop an SVAWT using more suitable/optimized blade configurations and compatible omnidirectional guide vanes to enhance their power performance characteristics. First, a modelling framework was developed based on a numerical approach to predict the performance of an SVAWT. Then the proposed design framework was validated using the data reported in the literature to identify the performance and key characteristics parameters of SVAWT through research data, to develop a semi-empirical relation for the performance evaluation of the wind turbine, and to evaluate the effect of integrating omnidirectional guide vanes to SVAWT. The results demonstrate that up to 80% gain of average power could be achieved at TSR = 0.8 with the integration of the proposed blade configuration with guide vanes.