Low-Speed Aerodynamic Analysis Using Four Different Turbulent Models of Solver of a Wind Turbine Shroud

Abstract

This study presents the effect of four different turbulent models of solver on the aerodynamic analysis of a shroud at wind speed below 6 m/s. The converting shroud uses a combination of a cylindrical case and an inverted circular wing base which captures the wind from a 360° direction. The CFD models used are: the SST (Menter) k-ω model, the Reynolds Stress Transport (RST) model, the Improved Delay Detached Eddies Simulation model (IDDES) SST k-ω model and the Large Eddies Simulation Wall Adaptive model. It was found that all models have predicted a convergent surface pressure. The RST, the IDDES and the WALE LES are the only models which have well described regions of pressure gradient. They have all predicted a pressure difference between the planes (1–5) which shows a movement of the air from the lower plane 1 (inlet) to the higher plane 5 (outlet). The RST and IDDES have predicted better vorticities on the plane 1 (inlet). It was also found that the model RST, IDDES, and WALE LES have captured properly the area of turbulences across the internal region of the case. All models have predicted the point of flow separation. They have also revealed that the IDDES and the WALE LES can capture and model the wake eddies at different planes. Thus, they are the most appropriate for such simulation although demanding in computational power. The movement of air predicted by almost all models could be used to drive a turbine.