Hanghang Yang

Numerical simulation of the two-dimensional flow-field for three-hastate vertical axis wind wheel

Three-hastate vertical axis wind wheel (THVAWW), with higher wind energy utilization, is a new wind power installation. An airflow-collecting cavity is introduced to improve the efficiency of the wheel further based on the invention patent technology of THVAWW. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) theories and some modeling tools such as Solid works, ICEM and Fluent are used to grasp the dynamic flow-field of the wind wheel accurately. Solid works is used to draw the two-dimensional simulation model for the wind wheel and ICEM is used to draw grids. The standard k-ε two-equation turbulence model in Fluent is selected as a computational model to analyze the flow-field distribution of the wind wheel in different locations. These distribution maps show that the wind velocity vector changes largely at the blade tip, low velocity zone appears at the back of the wind wheel, and the airflow enters into the cavity of the wind wheel and flows out from two channels, achieving reutilization of wind energy. All of these are consistent with the theoretical analysis and the experimental results.