Energy 47 (2012) 522e530

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Energy
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Performance investigation of H-rotor Darrieus turbine with new airfoil shapes

M.H. Mohamed*
Renewable Energy Lab. of Mechanical Power Engineering Dept., Faculty of Engineering, Mattaria, Helwan University, P.O. 11718, Cairo, Egypt

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Since millenaries humans have attempted to harness the wind energy through diverse means. Vertical
Received 30 May 2012 axis wind turbines (VAWTs) were originally considered as very promising, before being superseded by
Received in revised form the present, horizontal axis turbines. For various reasons, there is now a resurgence of interests for
20 August 2012
VAWTs, in particular Darrieus turbines. Using modern design tools and computational approaches, it
Accepted 29 August 2012
should be possible to increase considerably the performance of traditional VAWTs, reaching a level
Available online 30 September 2012
almost comparable to that of horizontal axis turbines. Since VAWTs show many specific advantages
(compact design, easier connection to gears/generator, easier blade control if needed, lower fatigue.), it
Keywords:
Darrieus turbine
is important to check quantitatively the efficiency of such turbines. This is the purpose of the present
Wind energy conversion work, starting from the standard, straight Darrieus turbine (H-rotor). The aerodynamic investigation will
Aerodynamic be carried out for 20 different airfoils (Symmetric and Non-symmetric) by two-dimensional Computa-
Airfoil shape tional Fluid Dynamics in order to maximize output torque coefficient and output power coefficient
CFD (efficiency). A considerable improvement of the H-rotor Darrieus turbine performance can be obtained in
this manner.
Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction and is transfered to a machine (such as a generator). The entire

wind power station thus consists of a wind energy converter
Life is nothing but a continuous process of energy conversion (rotor), a mechanical gear and a generator. It is physically impos-
and transformation. The accomplishments of civilization have sible to technically exploit the entire wind energy, as in this case
largely been achieved through the increasingly efficient and airflow would come to a standstill; air would fail to enter the swept
extensive harnessing of various forms of energy to extend human rotor area, and wind power would no longer be available. There are
capabilities and ingenuity. Energy is similarly indispensable for two different physical principles to extract power from wind. The
continued human development and economic growth. Providing airfoil drag method is based on the wind drag force incident on
adequate, affordable energy is essential for eradicating poverty, a wind-blown surface. The second principle, also referred to as
improving human welfare, and raising living standards world-wide. aerodynamic or airfoil lift principle, which is based on flow devi-
And with- out economic growth, it will be difficult to address ation inside the rotor is at present predominantly applied for wind
environmental challenges, especially those associated with energy conversion. The implementation of an innovative aero-
poverty. dynamic control technique in wind turbines is a point under
Wind energy converters harness the kinetic energy contained in extensive investigation since the conventional wind turbine blade
flowing air masses. In the following, the fundamental physical technology is reaching its limits. The main effort of the wind
principles of this type of energy conversion are explained. Most turbine industry in the field of aerodynamics related to the devel-
modern wind energy converters are equipped with rotors to extract opment of blades which offer better performance, increased reli-
wind power, and consist of one or several rotor blades. The ability and faster control of larger wind turbines [1].
extracted wind power generates rotation and is thereby converted
into mechanical power at the rotor shaft. Mechanical power is 2. Darrieus turbine
taken up at the shaft in the form of a moment at a certain rotation
Engineers succeeded in developing vertical-axis designs, which
could also effectively utilize aerodynamic lift. The design proposed
* Tel.: þ20 112 6060 364; fax: þ20 2 2633 2398.
in 1925 by the French engineer Darrieus, in particular, has been
E-mail addresses: moh75202@yahoo.de, mohamed_ibrahim07@m- considered as a promising concept for modern wind turbines. As is
eng.Helwan.eg. the case with horizontal-axis rotors, Darrieus rotors are preferably

0360-5442/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2012.08.044
 M.H. Mohamed / Energy 47 (2012) 522e530 523

built with two or three rotor blades. The specific advantages of  The possibility of housing sensitive mechanical and electrical
vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) concepts are that their basically components, gearbox and generator at ground level;
simple design includes the possibility of housing mechanical and  The absence of any yaw-control system.
electrical components, gearbox and generator at ground level, and
that there is no yaw system. This is countered by disadvantages Additionally, recent studies show that vertical-axis turbines can
such as low tip-speed ratio, inability to self-start and not being able be installed much closer to each other compared to horizontal-axis
to control power output or speed by pitching the rotor blades. A turbines, so that the power density per square meter could be at the
variation of the Darrieus rotor is the so-called H-rotor (Fig. 1). end considerably higher than for the configurations used presently.
Instead of curved rotor blades, straight blades connected to the Citing directly Prof. J. Dabiri from Caltech in the journal of
rotor shaft by struts are used. Attempts were made particularly in Mechanical Engineering (March 2011, p. 12): “Vertical-axis turbines
the UK, in the US and in Germany to develop this design to spaced four diameters apart had power densities between 10 and
commercial maturity. H-rotors of a particularly simple structure, 15 times as great as standard wind farms. These results could lead
with the permanently excited generator integrated directly into the to a reassessment of vertical-axis turbines which could revolu-
rotor structure without intermediary gear-box, were developed tionize the wind power sector”.
by a German manufacturer up until the beginning of the nineties As an alternative derived from the standard configuration,
[2e5]. Straight Darrieus wind turbines (called also in what follows
H-rotors, Fig. 1) have even more attractive characteristics. Instead of
3. Purpose of the present work curved rotor blades, straight blades are used, directly connected to
the rotor shaft by struts. The H-rotor is also able to accept wind
A lot of activities have been considerably increased in many from any direction; it is very easy to build, install and maintain,
countries recently in the field of renewable energy conversion due leading to extremely low costs. However, a quantitative prediction
to the worldwide energy crisis. Although considerable progress in of its aerodynamic performance is still very complicated, in
wind energy has already been achieved, the present technical particular due to the occurrence of dynamic stall on the blades. As
design relying exclusively on horizontal axis turbines is not yet a consequence, and even if many interesting works have already
adequate to develop reliable wind energy converters, particularly been published on this configuration, as discussed later, a thorough
for conditions corresponding to low wind speeds and/or urban optimization of this design has not been completed yet.
areas. Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWT) like the Darrieus The central drawback of a Darrieus turbine is its low efficiency
turbine appear to be particularly promising for such conditions, but like all VAWTs, especially at low speed ratio (l ¼ uR/U). Therefore,
suffer from a low efficiency compared to horizontal axis turbines. many authors have already tried to identify the best principles of
Additionally, VAWT are not always self-starting, which is a major operation and to improve the characteristics of Darrieus turbines,
drawback. As a whole, the main disadvantages are [1]: both through experiments and numerical simulations.

 A low efficiency; 3.1. Experimental investigations

 Difficulties by self-starting;
 Resonance issues and material fatigue due to oscillating power Generally, the global performance of a H-rotor Darrieus turbine,
output, since the standard design does not allow controlling identical to or derived from the conventional Darrieus rotor, has
the orientation of the rotor blades. been investigated in such studies. Sometimes, visualizations of the
 VAWT also produces a much larger shaft bending moment than flow in and around the rotor have been investigated [8,9]. Quan-
a HAWT. Due to substantially larger bearing and shaft loads, titative information in such studies is also associated to the
there is increased possibility of shaft and bearing fracture and complexity of the flow in and around Darrieus turbines, in partic-
failure. ular to the marked unsteadiness of the turbulent flow. Furthermore,
boundary layer separation is an essential aspect affecting the effi-
On the other hand, some of the major advantages of VAWT are ciency of the rotor. Detailed aerodynamic investigations are rare
[2,3,6]: and often do not allow the prediction of the energetic behavior of
the rotor. However, some studies [2e5,7,10e13] are of higher
 A greater compactness; quality and give a relatively clear description of the aerodynamics
 A simpler design, leading to relatively low costs; of the conventional Darrieus rotor. Beyond pure aerodynamic

Fig. 1. Two and three bladed H-rotor Darrieus turbine.

524 M.H. Mohamed / Energy 47 (2012) 522e530

studies of the airfoil, some attempts have already been documented Darrieus turbines using standard symmetric airfoils of type NACA
to improve the performance of the Darrieus turbine; the main ideas 00XX.
and proposed improvements are summarized and discussed in There is nevertheless no proof that NACA profiles, automatically
Table 1. lead to the best possible performance. An alternative geometry
might be much better, in particular for such very specific applica-
tions. As a consequence, the present work concentrates on five
3.2. Analytical and numerical investigations of Darrieus turbines series of symmetric and non-symmetric airfoil shapes (20 air-
foils)(NACA 00XX, NACA 63XXX, S-series, A-series and FX-series) as
The main components of the usual theoretical models used for shown in Fig. 2, leading to the best possible performance of a Dar-
the performance prediction of Darrieus-type VAWTs are: 1) rieus turbine.
calculation of local relative velocities and angle of attacks at
different tip speed ratios and azimuthal (orbital) positions; 2)
4. Principle of operation
calculation of ratio of induced to free stream velocity considering
the blade/blade-wake interaction; 3) calculation of normal and
In Fig. 3, the speed ratio (l) is defined as:
tangential forces by mathematical expressions derived from simple
models, for instance Momentum, Vortex or Cascade principles [8]; l ¼ uR=U (1)
4) additional calculation of pre-stall characteristics for the attached
regime as function of the Reynolds number, of post-stall, and of A relation between the azimuth angle q, the angle of attack a and
dynamic stall to assess unsteady effects; 5) finally, consideration of the speed ratio l has been obtained from the velocity triangle in
finite aspect ratio and of flow curvature to account for circular blade Fig. 3, this relation is as follow:
motion.  
Numerical simulations have also been carried out on Darrieus sin q
a ¼ tan1 (2)
turbines, either for static or dynamic modeling. Even in a 2D l þ cos q
approximation, VAWTs are characterized by a complex, turbulent
If the airfoil is set at an angle of incidence a in a fluid flow and
and unsteady aerodynamic flow, involving dynamic stall and
according to the standard airfoil theory, it will generate a lift force
blade-wake interaction. Adding to this complexity, the real 3D flow
FL normal to the free stream and a drag force FD in the direction of
leads to spanwise effects and to the presence of trailing and tip
the free stream. These lift and drag forces can then be resolved to
vortices. The resulting complexity is probably the reason why so
get the tangential force FT and the axial force FN as shown in Fig. 3.
few numerical studies have been able to investigate successfully
The tangential force FT has the instantaneous responsibility of the
the full 3D configuration [6]. On the other hand, the simplified 2D
torque and the power outputs from the Darrieus turbine.
unsteady flow in VAWTs and particularly in Darrieus turbines has
For a Darrieus rotor of height H, a wind of incoming velocity U,
already been computed using different softwares and for various
the mechanical power P and the mechanical torque on the axis of
tip speed ratios [14e21].
a Darrieus turbine can respectively be written as follows:
All the discussed publications have tried to understand and
improve the performance (torque and/or efficiency) of the Darrieus T
turbine, considering either the conventional geometry or slight Cm ¼ (3)
1
modifications. Due to the potential importance of VAWTs, such rARU 2
2
studies are again increasingly receiving attention. Analyzing all
these results, one may finally state that, contradictory observations and
can sometimes be found in the literature concerning the underlying
flow structure and topology, both qualitatively and quantitatively. P
Cp ¼ (4)
Therefore, high-quality works are mixed up with studies at a lower 1
rAU 3
quality level or building more on faith and personal conviction than 2
on scientific truth.
There is no clear winner at present, apart from the fact the two- where Cm and Cp are respectively the torque coefficient and the
blade and three-blade straight turbine (H-rotor) is definitely more power coefficient.
attractive for practical purposes. An accurate unsteady simulation
of the flow in the system has not been realized up to now and 5. Numerical flow simulations
would therefore be very interesting. This will be the subject
considered in this paper. As well as the best airfoil for this turbine Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) deals with the numerical
has not been obtained until now and would be very challenging analysis of complex flows. Despite impressive progress in recent
since all the theoretical and experimental investigations listed in years, CFD remains an imperfect tool in the comparatively mature
the previous section only consider the performance of H-rotor discipline of fluid dynamics, partly because electronic digital

Table 1
Proposed design modifications to improve the performance of Darrieus turbines.

Design Gain Description and comments

Comparison of different turbine 3 different wind turbines have been compared; VAWT and in particular H-rotor appear to be advantageous
concepts for wind [11] energy the horizontal axis wind turbine and two different compared to horizontal axis wind of vertical axis wind turbines
concepts (Darrieus turbine and H-rotor) turbines in several respects
Trapezoidal-bladed turbine [7] No performance improvement Reduction of mean stress and cyclic load amplitudes reduce
significantly the fatigue, improving durability
Cycloidal Darrieus turbine [5] Improvement in performance of about 25% Higher investment and running cost. The control mechanism
consumes part of the output power
Combined Savonius-Darrieus type [14] Improved self-starting More complex design
 M.H. Mohamed / Energy 47 (2012) 522e530 525

Fig. 2. Different symmetric and non-symmetric airfoils.

computers have been in widespread use for only thirty years or so. engineering purposes. Moreover, CFD will be considered for
The Navier-Stokes equations, which govern the motion of a New- performance investigation of Darrieus in this work.
tonian viscous fluid were formulated well over a century ago. The Due to the highly time-dependent nature of the flow around the
most straightforward method of attacking any fluid dynamics rotor, the CFD simulation of a Darrieus turbine is a very difficult
problem is to solve these equations for appropriate boundary task. As well as the fact that flow separation also plays an important
conditions. Analytical solutions are few and trivial and, even with role for the efficiency of the rotor. It is therefore necessary to check
today’s supercomputers, numerically exact solution of the the full numerical procedure with great care. Afterwards, the
complete equations for the three-dimensional, time-dependent resulting methodology must be validated.
motion of turbulent flow is prohibitively expensive except for basic ANSYS-Fluent has been retained in this work. Fluent is the
research studies in simple configurations at low Reynolds numbers. world’s leading commercial supplier of Computational Fluid
Therefore, the straightforward approach is still impracticable for Dynamics software and services. Fluent enables engineers to

Fig. 3. Forces and velocities distribution on Darrieus rotor airfoil.

526 M.H. Mohamed / Energy 47 (2012) 522e530

power coefficient Cp and the torque coefficient (Cm) are obtained by

averaging the results during the last three revolutions. On a stan-
dard PC, one evaluation (i.e., four revolutions for one specific
configuration) takes about 280 min of computing time.
A mesh size independence test is performed for one geomet-
rical configuration. Several different two-dimensional, unstruc-
tured grids of increasing density and quality, composed of
different mesh size ranging from 5000 up to 130,000 cells are
investigated. This test shows that more than 80,000 cells lead to
a relative variation of the output quantity below 1.1%. The inter-
mediate grid range between 85,000 and 95,000 cells has been
retained for all further results due to the computing time. The
appropriate size of the computational domain has been investi-
gated. A computational domain of increasing dimensions (square
domain of size, suitably normalized by the rotor radius R, in this
work, the ratio between the square domain length and the rotor
radius is 20 [24].

6. Turbulence model validation

Numerical turbulence model have been validated by compar-

Fig. 4. Validation of computational model, compared to published experimental and ison with published experimental results and CFD for a H-rotor
CFD results for a Darrieus turbine [22]. Darrieus turbine [22]. The effect of the turbulence model is shown
in Fig. 4. These results give a good agreement obtained between
experiments and present CFD for the target function, Cp, when
simulate fluid flow, fluid machines, heat and mass transfer, and using the realizable kε turbulence model. Same tendency has
a host of related phenomena involving turbulent, reacting, and been observed for other studies involving rotating blades [23,24]
multi-phase flows. Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes and airfoils as in [25], proving the interest of the realizable kε
equations has been solved using the SIMPLE algorithm for model for fast CFD simulations. The realizable kε model is usually
pressure-velocity coupling. Discretization has been performed recommended for rotating bodies. The realizable kε turbulence
using the Finite-Volume method with second-order upwind model developed by Shih et al. [26] has always been retained in this
scheme for all variables. study. This model contains a new transport equation for the
The unsteady flow is solved by using the Sliding Mesh Model turbulent dissipation rate. Also, a critical coefficient of the model,
(SMM). Four complete revolutions are always computed, using Cm, is expressed as a function of mean flow and turbulence prop-
a constant time-step (0.001); the first one is used to initiate the erties, rather than assumed to be constant as in the standard model.
correct flow solution, while the flow properties (in particular the This allows the model to satisfy additional mathematical

0.08
0.08

0.06
Torque coefficient

NACA 63418
0.06
Torque coefficient

NACA 6312
0.04 NACA 63415
0.04

0.02
0.02

0
0

-0.02
-0.02
2 4 6 8 10
2 4 6 8 10 Speed ratio
Speed ratio

0.4
0.4
Power coefficient

Power coefficient

0.2
0.2

0 NACA 0010
0
NACA 0015
NACA 0018
NACA 0021
-0.2
-0.2
2 4 6 8 10
Speed ratio 2 4 6 8 10
Speed ratio

Fig. 5. Performance H-rotor Darrieus turbine using the symmetric and non-symmetric NACA airfoils.
 M.H. Mohamed / Energy 47 (2012) 522e530 527

0.08 0.08

Torque coefficient
Torque coefficient
0.04 0.04

0 0

S-809 AG18
-0.04 S-9000 -0.04
AH93W174
S-1046
AH93W215
S-1014
AH94W301
-0.08 -0.08

2 4 6 8 10 2 4 6 8 10
Speed ratio Speed ratio
0.6 0.6

0.4 0.4

Power coefficient
Power coefficient

0.2 0.2

0 0

-0.2 -0.2

-0.4 -0.4

2 4 6 8 10 2 4 6 8 10
Speed ratio Speed ratio

Fig. 6. Performance H-rotor Darrieus turbine using S-series and A-series airfoils.

constraints on the normal stresses, consistent with the physics of

turbulence (realizability). The concept of a variable is also consis-
tent with experimental observations in boundary layers. The real-
izable kε model usually provides improved results for swirling
flows and flows involving separation when compared to the stan- 0.08
dard kε model. The near-wall treatment relies on standard wall
functions. The yþ values found near all walls are around 50 and fall
Torque coefficient

therefore within the recommended range for best-practice CFD

(30 < yþ < 300). 0.04

7. Results and discussions

FX66S196
The unsteady flow around the rotor is solved by using the 0
FX77W256
Sliding Mesh Model (SMM). The moment coefficient Cm and the
FX71L150
power coefficient Cp are calculated according to Eqs. (3) and (4), FXL142
respectively. FXLV152
-0.04
7.1. Airfoil shape effect 2 4 6 8
Speed ratio
It is now possible to start the study procedure. As explained
previously, symmetric and non-symmetric blades are considered in 0.6
what follows, based on five different series of the profile (NACA
00XX, NACA 63XXX, S-series, A-series and FX-series).
Power Coefficient

The present work considers a typical operating range: a speed 0.4

ratio l varying between 2 and 10. Due to an extremely small
power output, there is no practical interest for the operating
range below 2, (l < 2). Operation above speed ratio 10, (l > 10) 0.2
means working beyond stall conditions especially for high solid-
ities, where efficiency and power rapidly decrease. Many publi-
cations hence recommended the range between 2 and 10 (e.g. 0
Ref. [22]) and this range has been retained as well in the present
study.
Fig. 5 shows the characteristics performance of the rotor; -0.2
torque and power coefficients according to variables of airfoil
2 4 6 8
blade shape. Fig. 5 includes the results of two series of NACA Speed ratio
standard sectional profile. The first series is for the symmetric
sectional profile (NACA 0010, NACA 0015, NACA 0018 and NACA Fig. 7. Performance H-rotor Darrieus turbine using FX-series airfoils.
528 M.H. Mohamed / Energy 47 (2012) 522e530

Table 2
Maximum power coefficient corresponding to every airfoil.

Airfoil CPmax Airfoil CPmax Airfoil CPmax Airfoil CPmax

NACA 0010 0.2345 NACA 63415 0.1711 AH94W301 0.2130 FX66S196 0.2074
NACA 0015 0.2947 NACA 63418 0.2772 S-809 0.3428 FX77W256 0.1639
NACA 0018 0.2964 AG18 0.01233 S-9000 0.1696 FX71L150 0.2961
NACA 0021 0.2679 AH93W174 0.2469 S-1046 0.4051 FXL142 0.3311
NACA 6312 0.1290 AH93W215 0.2541 S-1014 0.2769 FXLV152 0.3576

Fig. 8. Instantaneous torque and power coefficients of H-rotor Darrieus turbine constructed by S-1046 airfoil for different speed ratio.

0021) and the second series is for the non-symmetric sectional

profile (NACA 63418, NACA 63415 and NACA 6312). It is noted
0.12
that, the turbine consisted of the symmetric airfoils has a higher
performance than the non-symmetric airfoils turbine. The 0.08
maximum power coefficient in this figure is 0.2964 correspond-
Torque coefficient

ing to NACA 0018 airfoil. 0.04

Furthermore, in Fig. 6 and Fig. 7, another three series (A-series,
S-series and FX-series) have been investigated from the point of 0
view of the performance of H-rotor Darrieus turbine. The results in S-1046
Fig. 6 are for the A-series (AG18, AH93W174, AH93W215 and -0.04
AH94W301) and S-series (S-809, S-9000, S-1046 and S-1014). Fig. 7
shows the results of FX-series (FX66S196, FX77W256, FX71L150, -0.08
FXL142 and FXLV152). The results in Fig. 6 indicated that the
maximum power coefficient is 0.4051 corresponding to the S-1046 -0.12
in the S-series. On the other hand, the A-series has a maximum 2 4 6 8 10
power coefficient equal to 0.2541 corresponding to AH93W215 Speed ratio
airfoil. By the same sequence, the maximum power coefficient of
the FX-series in Fig. 7 is equal 0.3576 corresponding to FXLV152 0.8
airfoil. It is noted also that the operating range (speed ratio range)
for the turbine consisted of the symmetric airfoils is wider than the
Power coefficient

non-symmetric one. This means the stall can be delayed by using 0.4
symmetric airfoils.
Table 2 introduces the maximum power coefficient for all the
airfoils investigated in this work. The optimal airfoil is S-1046 0
(highest power coefficient as in Table 2. It can be seen from Table 2
that this airfoil leads to a higher efficiency (power coefficient) by
-0.4
(þ0.1087) compared to the standard airfoil (NACA 0018) which is
the best airfoil in NACA series (the regular series used in the
previous work of Darrieus turbine). This means a relative increase
-0.8
in the power coefficient around 26.83% by using the new design. An
instantaneous performance (torque coefficient and power coeffi- 2 4 6 8 10
Speed ratio
cient) of the H-rotor Darrieus turbine consisting the S-1046 airfoil is
introduced in Fig. 8 for different speed ratios (2, 5 and 7) at constant Fig. 9. Solidity effect on the performance of H-rotor Darrieus turbine constructed by S-
solidity (s) equals 0.1. 1046 airfoil.
 M.H. Mohamed / Energy 47 (2012) 522e530 529

Fig. 10. Instantaneous torque and power coefficients of H-rotor Darrieus turbine constructed by S-1046 airfoil for different solidities.

7.2. Mutual interaction between blades (solidity effect) coefficient Cp. All turbines with different airfoil configurations are
evaluated by CFD. The present CFD procedure is able to get
The proximity of the rotor blades affects the performance of the considerably better airfoil than the conventional Darrieus turbine,
Turbomachines due to the aerodynamic interferences losses. leading in particular to a relative increase of the power output
Therefore, the performance of a H-rotor Darrieus turbine rotor is coefficient by 26.83% corresponding to the S-1046 airfoil compared
subjected to mutual aerodynamic interaction between the blades. to the standard symmetric NACA airfoils. This leads to an absolute
The mutual aerodynamic interaction is due to the wakes produced efficiency increase of the new design by 10.87% compared to the
by the blades. This interaction is a function of air flow incident and conventional design. A performance gain for the new design is
solidity of the blades s ¼ nc/2R. Due to this wake effect, the angle of found for the full operating range compared to the conventional
attack will be larger leading to an earlier blades stalling and design consisted NACA airfoils. At the same time, the operating
decreases the aerodynamic efficiency of these blades. range is extended up to l ¼ 10 using small solidity (s ¼ 0.1).
In this section, the interaction effect (solidity effect) of the H- Moreover, the low solidity is recommended for H-rotor Darrieus
rotor Darrieus turbine is investigated for the H-rotor Darrieus turbine to obtain wider operating range. Therefore, the optimal
turbine consists of the S-1046 airfoil. The torque coefficient and configuration of H-rotor Darrieus turbine involving S-1046 appears
power coefficients at different solidities are studied and the results to be very promising for wind energy generation, in particular in
indicated that both the power and torque coefficients have been urban areas.
shifted left with increasing the solidity (see Fig. 9). This is due to the
wake effect increases in narrow passages between blades and the Acknowledgments
chance of the earlier stalling of the blade. This means, the wider
operating is obtained at low solidities. Fig. 10 introduces the The author would like to thank Prof. Dominique Thévenin the
instantaneous torque and power coefficients during one revolution head of Laboratory of Fluid Dynamics and Technical Flows Univer-
for different solidities at constant speed ratio. It is clear form this sity of Magdeburg “Otto von Guericke” Magdeburg, Germany, for
figure, the decreasing of the values of the instantaneous torque and his help. Very interesting discussions with Prof. Aida Abdel Hafiz
power coefficients occur with increasing the solidity of the turbine. are gratefully acknowledged.

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