The Impact of Increasing the Number of Undulations in the Undulatory Shape Distributed Along the Concave Surface of a Savonius Wind Turbine Blade Inspired by the Flower of Life Concept

Abstract

In our latest research, we investigated the incorporation of an undulatory pattern along the concave surface of Savonius turbine blades. This study builds upon our previous findings, where we examined the effects of varying undulation counts across four distinct shapes (with radius of 22 mm, 30 mm, 60 mm, and 80 mm), while maintaining consistent overall blade dimensions. To analyze the aerodynamic performance, we employed the unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations in conjunction with the Shear Stress Transport (SST) k-ω turbulence model, using ANSYS Fluent software. In the current study, the number of undulations was increased by approximately 50%, resulting in a total of 60 points along the blade profile. This enhanced configuration was validated using recent numerical data to assess its impact on the moment and power coefficients of the turbine across a range of tip speed ratios (TSRs). All simulations were conducted under consistent conditions, including a 15% overlap ratio relative to the rotor diameter and an inlet wind velocity of 7 m/s. This study shows that the MODEL80 exhibited the highest power coefficient value of 0.277.