Optimization of Small Scale Wind Turbine in Urban Areas

Wind turbine technology is instrumental in developing renewable and sustainable energy. At present, most wind energy is extracted by large scale wind turbines in wind farms. Large scale wind turbine cannot be applied in urban areas due to the space limitation. On the other hand, small scale wind turbines designed for urban areas are still facing some challenges: turbulence, low average wind speed, noise and vibration. Vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT) offer some advantages compared to the horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) for application in urban areas. VAWT has lower noise and vibration compared to the HAWT because it has lower solidity. Solidity is the ratio of the total blades’ cross section area to the swept area of the rotor. VAWT has the ability to capture wind energy from any direction without the need of yaw mechanism, unlike HAWT. Some studies in the literature analyze the effect of turbulence on VAWT, but additional research is needed. The purpose of this study is to analyze and test the response of VAWT to the change of wind speed and direction with periods typical of turbulent behavior. We will build 3 VAWTs with the same solidity, tip speed ratio, and swept area. We will vary the shape of the swept area and test the turbines’ response to small time scale turbulence.