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10th International Conference on Applied Energy (ICAE2018), 22-25 August 2018, Hong Kong,
10th International Conference on Applied Energy
China(ICAE2018), 22-25 August 2018, Hong Kong,
China
Positive interactions of two Savonius-type vertical-axis wind
PositiveThe interactions
15th International of two Savonius-type
Symposium on District Heating vertical-axis
and Cooling wind
turbines for performance improvement
turbines for performance improvement
Assessing the feasibility of using the heat demand-outdoor
Honglei Baiaa*, Chun-man Chanaa
a
temperature functionHonglei for a Bai long-term
*, Chun-man district
Chan heat demand forecast
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Scence and echnology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong
a Kong
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong SAR,
Kong China of Scence and echnology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong
University
a,b,c a a b c c
I. Andrić *, A. Pina , P. Ferrão , J. Fournier ., B. Lacarrière , O. Le Corre
Kong SAR, China

a
Abstract IN+ Center for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research - Instituto Superior Técnico, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal
b
Abstract Veolia Recherche & Innovation, 291 Avenue Dreyfous Daniel, 78520 Limay, France
c
Département Systèmes
The performance of multiple vertical-axis Énergétiques
windetturbines
Environnement
(VAWTs) - IMTcan
Atlantique, 4 rue
be greatly Alfred Kastler,
enhanced when44300 Nantes,
they are France
placed close in some
The performance
configurations of multiple
where positivevertical-axis
interaction or wind turbines
coupling (VAWTs)
occurs. Basedcan onbe greatly enhanced
a systematic when computational
study using they are placedfluidclosedynamics
in some
configurations
(CFD) simulations, wherewepositive interaction
investigate or coupling
the positive couplingoccurs. Based on aSavonius-type
of two co-rotating systematic study using Acomputational
VAWTs. wide range offluid dynamics
configurations
(CFD) simulations,
are covered, i.e., P/Dwe = investigate
1.23.0 andthe  =positive
-90o90coupling
o, where of
P is two
theco-rotating Savonius-type
distance between VAWTs.
the turbines’ A wide
centres, D isrange of configurations
the diameter of turbine
Abstract
are covered,
rotation,  isP/D
andi.e., the =incident and between
1.23.0angle = -90 90
o
theo, where P is the distance between the turbines’ centres, D is the diameter of turbine
line connecting the turbines’ centres and incoming wind’s direction. It is found
rotation, and  is the incident
that the time-averaged angle between
power coefficient theupstream
of the line connecting
turbine the
can turbines’ centresimproved
be significantly and incoming
by upwind’s
to 60% at (P/D, It)is=found
direction. (2.2,
District heating networks are commonly addressed in the literature as one of the most effective solutions for decreasing the
that
80o),the time-averaged
compared to that ofpower coefficient
a single, isolatedofturbine.
the upstream
For theturbine can besystem,
two-turbine significantly improved
the overall powerbycoefficient
up to 60%can at (P/D, ) = (2.2,
be increased by
greenhouse gas emissions from the building sector. These systems require high investments which are returned through the heat
80
40% o), compared
over that oftoa that of aisolated
single, single, turbine.
isolatedTypical
turbine.configurations
For the two-turbine system, the
corresponding overall power
to different positivecoefficient
couplingscan be increased
of the by
two turbines
sales. Due to the changed climate conditions and building renovation policies, heat demand in the future could decrease,
40% over that The
are identified. of a single,
behaviourisolated turbine.
of torque Typical
on the configurations
individual turbines andcorresponding to different
the associated positiveare
flow structures couplings of the two turbines
discussed.
prolonging the investment return period.
are identified. The behaviour of torque on the individual turbines and the associated flow structures are discussed.
The main scope of this paper is to assess the feasibility of using the heat demand – outdoor temperature function for heat demand
Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
©forecast.
2019 TheThe districtPublished
Authors. of Alvalade, locatedLtd.
by Elsevier in Lisbon (Portugal), was used as ath case study. The district is consisted of 665
Copyright
Selection and © 2018 Elsevierunder
peer-review Ltd. All rights reserved.
responsibility of the scientific committee of the 10 International Conference on Applied Energy
This is an open
buildings that access
vary inarticle
both under the CC period
construction BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
and typology. Three weather scenarios (low, medium, high) and three district
Selection
(ICAE2018).
Peer-review and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee –ofThe the10th International Conference
10th International Conference on on Applied
Applied Energy.
Energy
renovation under responsibility
scenarios of the scientific
were developed (shallow,committee of ICAE2018
intermediate, deep). To estimate the error, obtained heat demand values were
(ICAE2018).
compared with results from a dynamic heat demand model, previously developed and validated by the authors.
Keywords: Wind energy; Vertical-axis wind turbine; Savonius turbine
The results showed that when only weather change is considered, the margin of error could be acceptable for some applications
Keywords: Wind energy; Vertical-axis wind turbine; Savonius turbine
(the error in annual demand was lower than 20% for all weather scenarios considered). However, after introducing renovation
scenarios, the error value increased up to 59.5% (depending on the weather and renovation scenarios combination considered).
1.The
Introduction
value of slope coefficient increased on average within the range of 3.8% up to 8% per decade, that corresponds to the
1. Introduction
decrease in the number of heating hours of 22-139h during the heating season (depending on the combination of weather and
Electricity
renovation is an essential
scenarios considered). of Oneveryone’s
the other daily life, andintercept
hand, function the need for green
increased sources ofper
for 7.8-12.7% electricity has now on
decade (depending beenthe
Electricity
recognized
coupled is an The
as urgent,
scenarios). essential
valuesof
particularly everyone’s
in cities.
suggested could daily
Wind life,toand
be energy
used is thesuch
one
modify need for green
source.
the function It is sources forofthe
abundant,
parameters electricity
clean has now been
and sustainable,
scenarios considered, and
and
recognized
improve theasaccuracy
urgent,ofparticularly
heat demandinestimations.
cities. Wind energy is one such source. It is abundant, clean and sustainable, and

© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of The 15th International Symposium on District Heating and
Cooling.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +852 9064 7133
E-mail address:author.
* Corresponding hongleibai@ust.hk
Tel.: +852 9064 7133
Keywords: Heat demand;
E-mail address: Forecast; Climate change
hongleibai@ust.hk
1876-6102 Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection
1876-6102and peer-review
Copyright under
© 2018 responsibility
Elsevier Ltd. All of the scientific
rights reserved. committee of the 10th International Conference on Applied Energy (ICAE2018).
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 10th International Conference on Applied Energy (ICAE2018).
1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of The 15th International Symposium on District Heating and Cooling.
1876-6102 © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of ICAE2018 – The 10th International Conference on Applied Energy.
10.1016/j.egypro.2019.01.165
626 Honglei Bai et al. / Energy Procedia 158 (2019) 625–630
2 Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000

can greatly reduce the economic, social and environmental impacts of energy consumption. Most countries now
encourage utilizing wind power to generate electricity in urban areas.
A wind turbine is the mechanical device to convert wind power into electricity. Aerodynamic interference arises
among multiple wind turbines when they are arranged in the form of a wind farm. When two turbines are deployed
closely, the blades of the downstream turbine interact with the wake of the upstream turbine, and their wakes interfere
with each other. Aerodynamic interactions influence not only turbine performance but also aerodynamic loading and
the fatigue lifetime of turbine structures. Unlike in horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWTs), it has been observed that
the power output from multiple vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) can be significantly improved when they are
placed near each other, due to positive coupling effects [1]. The Savonius-type vertical-axis wind turbine (S-VAWT),
one representative type of VAWTs, has distinguished itself with unique features such as compactness, simple assembly,
low noise level, self-starting ability at low wind speed, omni-directionality, and low cost, etc., making it not only
suitable but favorable for massive integration (in terms of small-scale wind farm) into high-rise urban environments
[2].
The performance of two S-VAWTs in a close arrangement (cf. Fig 1), which is the basic configuration of multiple
turbines, has been investigated in the literature [3-4]. For two side-by-side inward counter-rotating turbines, their
overall performance was improved when they were placed at P/D < 5. The largest improvement, by up to 37%, in
time-averaged power coefficient was achieved at P/D = 1.21.4 and phase shift  = 90o for two inward counter-rotating
S-VAWTs (/d = 0.15 and S = 0,  = 0.81.1, Re = 2.0  106) [3]. Positive coupling effects were also observed between
two S-VAWTs when they are placed in staggered or oblique arrangements (i.e.,   90o or 0o), where the downstream
turbine is partially submerged in the wake of the upstream turbine. Two configurations, i.e., (P/D, ) = (1.8, 30o) and
(1.8, -30o), with co-rotation and counter-rotation, and different phase-shifts ( = 0o, 45o, 90o and 135o) are considered
in [3]. A large improvement, about 20%, in the time-averaged power coefficient was obtained when the two turbines
were in co-ration with  = 0o or in counter-rotation with  = 90o, which was ascribed to the Magnus effect that induces
accelerated flow toward the advancing blade of the downstream turbine [3]. The dependence of the performance on
the distance P/D between two co-rotating S-VAWTs arranged at  = 60o was examined in [4], with the best
performance (about 30%) achieved at (P/D, ) = (1.2, 60o) and (2, -60o).
Nevertheless, data on the overall performance of the two-turbine system in the literature are quite scattered. A
systematic study is needed to search for the optimal configuration(s) for two coupled S-VAWTs that can produce
maximum overall power output. This paper focuses on the performance of two co-rotating S-VAWTs.

2. Numerical simulations

2.1. Two co-rotating Savonius wind turbines

Fig. 1. Two co-rotating Savonius wind turbines in a staggered arrangement

Figure 1 presents a sketch illustrating two co-rotating S-VAWTs in a staggered arrangement, together with
designations of main parameters. The two turbines have an identical diameter of D. While the upstream wind turbine
 Honglei Bai et al. / Energy Procedia 158 (2019) 625–630 627
Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000 3

1 is located at the origin of the coordinate system, the downstream wind turbine 2 is placed at the location (P, ), 1
and 2 are the rotation angles of turbines 1 and 2, respectively. The free-stream velocity of the incoming wind is U.
In the present work, 1.2  P/D  3 and -90o    90o, and 1 = 2 (i.e., without phase shift).

2.2. Turbulence model, computational domain, mesh generation and boundary conditions

A two-dimensional shear stress transport (SST) k-  turbulence model is used to model the flow around the two
turbines. This turbulence model is a two-equation, eddy-viscosity model that effectively combines the robust and
accurate formulation of the k- model in the near wall region with the free-stream independence of the k- model in
the far field. The SST k- model has proved to be the best candidate for modeling the flow around S-VWATs [5].

Fig. 2. (a) Computational domain; (b and c) mesh details around the wind turbines

As shown in Fig 2, a rectangular computational domain with a size of 40D  30D (length  width) is used. The
inlet and outlet of the computational domain are 15D upstream and 25D downstream the middle of the line connecting
the turbines’ centers, respectively. A rotational zone around individual turbine is used. Unstructured triangular cells
are used in the region around the turbines (i.e., the circular region with a diameter of P + D) while structured
quadrangular cells are used outside the circular region (Fig 2a). The mesh around the turbines is refined (Fig 2b). In
particular, a boundary layer type of mesh is adopted in the proximity of the blade surface (Fig 2c). The total number
of mesh cells used in the present work is between 0.1-0.2 million, depending on the configuration of the two turbines.
In the present work, U = 3.75 m/s with a turbulent intensity of 5%, corresponding to a Reynolds number Re = 1
 105. A pressure outlet boundary condition is imposed on the outlet, with a specified static gauge pressure. A ‘no-
slip’ boundary condition is applied to the blade surface. The lateral sides of the computation domain are treated as slip
surfaces using the symmetric boundary conditions.
For the spatial discretization of the transport equations, a second-order upwind scheme is applied for the
discretization of momentum, turbulent kinetic energy and specific dissipation rate, and the PRESTO! scheme for the
pressure discretization. Meanwhile, a second-order implicit scheme is used for the temporal discretization. The
pressure-velocity coupling is based on the pressure implicit splitting of operators (PISO) algorithm. The size of the
time step used is t = 0.001164s, corresponding to an increment  = 0.5o of the rotational angle.

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Overview

The dependence on the configuration (P, ) of the time-averaged power coefficient ( C P ) of individual turbines is
presented in Fig 3. While the upstream turbine is located at the origin of the polar coordinate system, the location of
the downstream turbine is indicated by markers on the grid in the plot. The size and colour of the markers indicate C P
628 Honglei Bai et al. / Energy Procedia 158 (2019) 625–630
4 Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000

of the upstream (Fig 3a) and downstream turbines (Fig 3b). Clearly, there is a strong dependence of C P on the
configuration (P, ). For the upstream turbine 1, its performance can be improved in the presence of the downstream
turbine at some configurations. Maximum C P is observed at (P/D, ) = (2.2, 80o), with a large increase of up to 60%
over that of an isolated turbine. Meanwhile, the performance of the downstream turbine can also be improved in
certain configurations. Maximum improvement in C P of the downstream turbine is observed at (P/D, ) = (1.4, 60o),
with an increase of up to 50% over that of an isolated turbine. When the two turbines are placed at (P/D, ) = (1.3,
80o), the overall performance of the two-turbine system can achieve up to 40% increase in C P , compared to that of an
isolated turbine.

Fig. 3. Dependence on the configuration (P/D, ) of the time-averaged power coefficient ( C P ) of the upstream wind turbine 1 (a) and the
downstream wind turbine 2 (b). C Po is the time-averaged power coefficient for an isolated Savonius wind turbine

(a) (b)
Fig. 4. Variations of the torque coefficient (CT) (a) and distributions of mean velocity (b) at (P/D, ) = (2.2, 80o)
 Honglei Bai et al. / Energy Procedia 158 (2019) 625–630 629
Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000 5

3.2. Typical configurations

There are four typical configurations for two turbines, i.e., (P/D, ) = (2.2, 80o) (Fig 4), (1.4, 65o) (Fig 5), (1.9,
35^o) (Fig 6) and (1.8, -25^o) (Fig 7), corresponding to different performance and distinct characteristics of flow
structures.
At (P/D, ) = (2.2, 80o), the upstream turbine has the largest C P (Fig 3a). As shown in Fig 4(a), torque on the
upstream turbine is significantly higher than that of the downstream turbine as well as that of an isolated single turbine
with one entire period of rotation. Based on the distributions of the time-average velocity (Fig 4b), it can be seen that
the upstream turbine generates a relatively narrow and short wake, while the downstream turbine generates a relatively
wide and long wake.
At (P/D, ) = (1.4, 65o), the downstream turbine achieves the best performance (Fig 3b). As shown in Fig 5(a),
torque on the downstream turbine is significantly increased when 10o <  < 110o and 190o <  < 280o. The wake
generated by the upstream turbine overwhelms that by the downstream turbine and extends longitudinally, as shown
in Fig 5(b).

(a) (b)

Fig. 5. Variations of the torque coefficient (CT) (a) and distributions of mean velocity (b) at (P/D, ) = (1.4, 65o)

(a) (b)

Fig. 6. Variations of the torque coefficient (CT) (a) and distributions of mean velocity (b) at (P/D, ) = (1.9, 35o)
630 Honglei Bai et al. / Energy Procedia 158 (2019) 625–630
6 Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000

At (P/D, ) = (1.9, 35o), the downstream turbine performs better than the upstream turbine (Fig 3b). As shown in
Fig 6(a), torque on the downstream turbine is significantly increased at 150 o <  < 285o. Different from those at (P/D,
) = (1.4, 65o), the wake generated by the upstream turbine is suppressed by the gap flow, while the downstream
turbine generates a wide and long wake, as shown in Fig 6(b).
At (P/D, ) = (1.8, -25o), again the downstream turbine performs better than the upstream turbine (Fig 3b). As
shown in Fig 7(a), torque on the downstream turbine is significantly increased at 0o <  < 120o and 180o <  < 290o.
The upstream turbine generates a narrow and short wake while the downstream turbine produces a wide and long
wake (Fig 7b).

(a) (b)

Fig. 7. Variations of the torque coefficient (CT) (a) and distributions of mean velocity (b) at (P/D, ) = (1.8, -25o)

4. Conclusions

A systematic numerical study was conducted to investigate the performance of two S-VAWTs that are arranged
close to each other. Focus is also on their aerodynamic interactions. It was found that the overall performance of the
two-turbine system can be significantly improved due to positive coupling effects. The upstream turbine can achieve
the largest power coefficient at (P/D, ) = (2.2, 80o), with up to 60% increase over that of an isolated turbine. The
downstream turbine can achieve better performance than the upstream turbine as well as an isolated turbine. Maximum
power coefficient of the downstream turbine was observed at (P/D, ) = (2.2, 80o). The torque behaviour and mean
flow velocity associated with the typical configurations show distinct characteristics.

Acknowledgements

The work was partially supported by the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region,
China (project no. 16200714) and partially by the HKUST Initiation Grant IGN17EG03.

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