Comparison of Various Blade

Profiles in a Two-Blade
Rahim Hassanzadeh1
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering,
Urmia University of Technology,
Urmia 5716693187, Iran
e-mail: r.hassanzadeh@uut.ac.ir
Milad Mohammadnejad
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering,
Urmia University of Technology,
Urmia 5716693187, Iran
e-mail: milad.eng90@gmail.com
Sajad Mostafavi
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering,
Urmia University of Technology,
Urmia 5716693187, Iran
e-mail: mostafavi1982@gmail.com
Conventional Savonius Wind
Turbine
Savonius turbines are one of the old and cost-effective turbines which extract the wind
energy by the drag force. Nowadays, they use in urban areas to generate electricity due
to their simple structure, ease of maintenance, and acceptable power output under a low
wind speed. However, their efficiency is low and the improvement of their performance is
necessary to increase the total power output. This paper compares four various blade pro-
files in a two-blade conventional Savonius wind turbine. The ratios of blade diameter to the
blade depth of s/d = 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, and 1 are tested under different free-wind speeds of 3, 5,
and 7 m/s and tip speed ratios (TSRs) in the range from 0.2 to 1.2. It is found that the profile
of blades in a Savonius rotor plays a considerable role in power characteristics. Also,
regardless of blades profile and free-wind speed, the maximum power coefficient develops
in TSR = 0.8. In addition, increasing the free-wind speed enhances the rotor performance of
all cases under consideration. Finally, it is revealed that the rotor with s/d = 0.5 provides
maximum power coefficients in all free-wind speeds and TSR values among the rotors
under consideration, whereas the rotor with s/d = 1 is the worth cases.
[DOI: 10.1115/1.4047757]

Keywords: savonius rotor, power coefficient, blade profile, energy conversion/systems,

renewable energy

1 Introduction of the blade optimal design was increased especially for TSR
values larger than 0.8. A modified Savonius water rotor was pro-
Wind energy is one of the most promising renewable sources of
posed by Zhang et al. [6] and time-resolved particle image veloci-
energy to prevent the overconsumption of vanishing fossil fuels and
metry was used to measure flow characteristics. They also
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Wind power production
numerically evaluated the performance of the rotor by using compu-
market with the capacity of 51 GW continued to be fairly stable
tational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique to optimize rotor geome-
in 2018 [1] exceeding 50 GW for five consecutive years. A great
try. The results showed that the maximum power coefficient was
amount of this energy is produced in large-scale wind farms. In
strongly dependent on the long straight edge of the blade. It was
comparison with these farms, utilization of wind energy by using
also revealed that the torque coefficient of the rotor was remarkably
small-scale wind turbines is a better option for decentralized grid
affected by the high-pressure zone and blade shape factor. Four
systems [2]. Vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) are small-scale
modified Savonius rotor blades were studied by Saeed et al. [7].
wind turbines having less dependence on wind direction, capable
An enhanced performance was demonstrated for the novel blade
of handling higher turbulence and varying wind velocity, and
design compared with classical and elliptical profiles. Basumatary
lower manufacturing and maintenance costs [3] which makes
et al. [8] proposed a new Savonius water turbine combined lift-drag
them an appropriate option for use in urban environments. One
blade design consisting of a straight blade section and an airfoil
type of VAWT is the Savonius vertical axis wind turbine whose
section. They found that the maximum power coefficient was
rotation is based on the drag force. The main drawback of these tur-
0.284 at TSR = 0.6. Chan et al. [9] used a generic algorithm to opti-
bines is their low efficiency. Thus, a large number of modifications
mize the blade shape of a Savonius wind turbine to increase the
have been proposed in the open literature to improve the perfor-
power coefficient. Three variable points along the blade cross
mance of these turbines such as blade shape optimization, use of
section were used to define the blade geometry. The power coeffi-
deflectors, new blade designs, and etc.
cient was improved up to 33% at TSR = 0.8 compared with semicir-
Masdari et al. [4] proposed an airfoil type Savonius turbine and
cular blades. In a similar work, He et al. [10] used the generic
developed several codes to optimize the airfoil geometry to
algorithm to optimize the blade shape and a deflector curve
achieve maximum power coefficient. The results indicated that
placed in the upstream of the returning blade. They showed that
the modified airfoil geometry could increase the power coefficient
the average power coefficient can be significantly increased by
up to 27% in comparison with a traditional Savonius turbine. In
95% for a wind turbine with optimal deflector. Altan et al. [11]
Kerikous and Thévenin’s [5] work, the blade shape curve on the
introduced some design changes to the Savonius rotor including
concave and convex sides was independent of each other and an
longer blade end and additional straight blade and the performance
optimization procedure involving 12 geometrical parameters was
of the wind turbine studied numerically and experimentally. It was
carried out. The results indicated that the output power coefficient
confirmed that the maximum power coefficient was enhanced up to
20% for all design modifications compared with conventional blade
design. Sharma and Sharma [12] proposed a new configuration of
1
Corresponding author. Savonius wind turbine having multiple quarter blades and demon-
Contributed by the Advanced Energy Systems Division of ASME for publication in
the Journal of Energy Resources Technology. Manuscript received May 9, 2020; final
strated an improvement in coefficient of power between 8.89%
manuscript received May 31, 2020; published online August 7, 2020. Assoc. Editor: and 13.69% for various inlet velocities. Hassanzadeh and Moham-
Ryoichi S. Amano. madnejad [13] investigated the influence of inward and outward

Journal of Energy Resources Technology Copyright © 2020 by ASME FEBRUARY 2021, Vol. 143 / 021301-1
overlaps of two semicircular blades on the performance of a con-
ventional Savonius wind turbine. The results demonstrated that
the maximum power coefficient occurs at an inward overlap value
of 0.2. Alom and Saha [14] compared four types of blade designs
keeping the rotor diameter in each case constant. It was revealed
that the elliptical, modified Bach, Benesh, and semicircular blades
had the maximum power coefficients of (0.19, 0.34), (0.162,
0.304), (0.159, 0.294), and (0.158, 0.272), respectively. Here, the
first number and the second number in the parentheses are the
experimental and numerical results, respectively. Tian et al. [15]
used three-dimensional CFD to compare three types of vertical
axis wind turbines for energy recovery from the wake of moving
vehicles. They found that Banki type turbine performs better than
Darrieus and Savonius rotors. Al-Ghriybah et al. [16] investigated
the effect of an inner blade position on the performance of the Savo-
nius rotor and showed that the maximum power coefficient of
0.1885 was obtained with an inner blade angle of 120 deg placed
parallel to the rotor tip at TSR equal to 0.5. The results also demon-
strated that the maximum torque coefficient was 0.407 at TSR = 0.4
for 180 deg inner blade.
In some of the works, the effect of the deflector plate on the turbine
performance was evaluated. A Savonius wind turbine having static
vanes was analytically and experimentally investigated by
Grönman et al. [17]. The results showed that the power coefficient
of the vaned turbine can be deteriorated by over 20% due to the
change in the Reynolds number. Mosbahi et al. [18] carried out an
experimental study to examine a helical Savonius water turbine per-
formance. They also presented a new deflection system design and
numerically investigated the numerous configurations of the deflec-
tor. The results demonstrated that the maximum power coefficient
could be improved from 0.125 to 0.14 by the addition of the opti-
mized deflector at TSR = 0.7. Antar and Elkhoury [19] carried out
a numerical study to improve a Savonius wind turbine performance
by designing a suitable turbine casing and concluded higher perfor-
mance for a turbine with optimized casing, especially at lower TSR
values. Storti et al. [20] used a generic algorithm in combination with
an artificial neural network to optimize the size and shape of deflector
plates. The efficiency was improved from 0.215 to 0.279 in the
turbine with deflectors. Montelpare et al. [21] experimentally
studied the effect of external appendages on three different modified
Savonius rotors performance. It was demonstrated that the simulta-
neous application of a conveyor and deflector the maximum power
coefficient of 0.3 can be achieved.
One of the approaches to improve the turbine performance is to
place the wind rotor in a duct or channel. Mauro et al. [22] proposed
Fig. 1 A schematic of blade profiles under consideration and rotor configuration
021301-2 / Vol. 143, FEBRUARY 2021
a CFD model to investigate the fluid dynamic behavior of a ducted
Savonius turbine and validated it against experimental data which
showed excellent accuracy and reliability. Compared with the
bare Savonius turbine, a significantly higher value of almost 0.4
was obtained for the power coefficient of the ducted Savonius
turbine. Bai et al. [23] numerically investigated the performance
of a Savonius wind turbine in a confined long channel and
showed that the power output can be remarkably enhanced by
200% in the channel with a width of 2D where D is the turbine dia-
meter. In addition, comparing with open space, the wind turbine in
the channel could reach a higher optimum TSR. The performance of
a Savonius water turbine with impinging jet duct design and a
deflector was evaluated by Thakur et al. [24]. The results showed
that compared with the freestream, the maximum power generated
by the turbine with an impinging duct increased from 17 W to
31.02 W for flow velocity of 1.5 m/s.
The use of Savonius turbines in arrays and obtaining the optimum
position based on interactions of turbines have been investigated in
some of the previous studies. Bai and Chan [25] showed that the
power coefficient of the upstream turbine can be considerably
increased by up to 60% when two co-rotating Savonius wind tur-
bines are positively coupled. Mereu et al. [26] investigated Savo-
nius wind turbines interactions in a linear array and revealed that
the performance improves as the distance between the turbines
decreases, the number of turbines increases and wind incidence
angle reduces. Harvesting wind energy from gust produced by
trains using a novel Savonius wind turbine was the subject of the
work presented by Bethi et al. [27]. Parameters like as diameter
and position of the new wind turbine with respect to the train
were optimized.
In addition to the works directly focusing on the performance
enhancement, some other aspects such as theoretical modeling,
aerodynamic behavior, and new applications have been taken into
consideration in a number of previous papers. For instance, a theo-
retical study based on the concept of stagnation pressure and
impulse momentum was carried out by Patel et al. [28] to predict
the performance of a Savonius type turbine. The results obtained
by the proposed theory were compared with experimental data in
the literature and maximum variation of 6.67% was reported for
the power coefficient. Prasad et al. [29] studied the performance
of a Savonius rotor in a numerical wave tank and showed that the
power peak equal to 16.7% at the mean sea state was higher com-
pared with the maximum sea state. Alom et al. [30] studied the
drag and lift characteristics of a modified Bach and Benesh blade
profiles. A higher drag coefficient for the modified Bach blade
Transactions of the ASME
 Fig. 2 Applied computational domain in the present study

was obtained. Tahani et al. [31] studied two Savonius rotor design
modifications with direct discharge to ventilate buildings. It was
concluded that a twisted turbine with a conical shaft demonstrates
an 18% improvement in power coefficient and a 31% increase in
the discharge flowrate compared with a simple Savonius wind
turbine. A numerical-experimental study on a Savonius rotor
design based on product requirements was carried out by Mercado-
Colmenero et al. [32]. By varying the rotation angle of the bucket
sections to 45 deg, the power coefficient improved by 32% com-
pared with 0 deg angle. Al-Faruk and Sharifian [33] carried out
an experimental study to optimize the performance of a swirling
Savonius wind turbine. It was found that the power coefficient of
the optimum configuration was increased by 24.12% compared
with the conventional configuration. Driss et al. [34] studied the
influence of the incidence angle on the recirculation zone, acceler-
ation zone, total pressure, and the wake characteristics of a Savonius
wind rotor.
1.1 Objective of the Present Study. Despite the numerous
blade design modifications proposed for Savonius wind rotors to
date, traditional drag-based profiles are still popular due to its
simple manufacturing, ease of maintenance, and acceptable power
output under low wind speed. However, the efficiency of the Savo-
nius wind turbines is low and more efforts are necessary to improve
the shape of blades in order to increase the performance of such tur-
bines. In this paper, using the CFD technique, four various blade
profiles are tested to find the optimum shape of blades based on
the criterion of achieving a higher mean power coefficient. The
investigation is performed for a two-blade Savonius wind turbine
and the procedure to find the best profile among the profiles
under consideration is done under different free-wind speeds such
as 3, 5, and 7 m/s and various TSR values in the range from 0.2
to 1.2.
2 Problem Description and Numerical Method
From an engineering viewpoint, selecting an appropriate profile
for conventional drag-based blades is a great challenge. Naturally,
manufactures of Savonius turbines use various blade profiles to
reach maximum power performance. For this reason, in this numer-
ical study, four various blade profiles for a conventional Savonius
rotor are studied and compared with each other. Figure 1 illustrates
all blade profiles under consideration, schematically. As seen, four
various blade depth to the blade diameter ratios of s/d = 0.3, 0.5,
0.7, and 1 are considered and computed at several TSR values in
the range from 0.2 to 1.2 to find the best profile. Computations
are carried out two-dimensionally at different free-wind speeds of
U = 3, 5, and 7 m/s corresponding to the Reynolds numbers of
4.3 × 104, 7.1 × 104, and 105, respectively, based on the rotor dia-
meter (D = 1.8d) and free-wind speed. On the other hand, simula-
tions are performed for a constant inward overlap ratio of G/d =
0.2 based on the results of a recent study [13] which showed that

Table 1 Applied computational domain, rotor diameter, blade thickness, and turbulence model in present and previous studies

Author Dimensions of flow domain Rotor diameter Blade thickness Turbulence model

Al-Ghriybah et al. [16] 10D × 10D 0.442 m 0.002 m k–ϵ

Alom and Saha [14] 14D × 6D 0.21 m 0.0006 m SST k–ω
Ostos et al. [35] 26D × 12D 0.925 m 0.002 m SST k–ω
Basumatary et al. [8] 10D × 7D 0.26 m 0.0015 m SST k–ω
Alom et al. [30] 14D × 6D 0.21 m NA SST k-ω
Chan et al. [9] 22.5D × 15D 0.2 ma 0.002 m SST k–ω
Ferrari et al. [36] 26D × 12D 0.9023 m 0.002 m SST k–ω
Larin et al. [37] 20D × 20D 0.33 m 0.002 m SST k–ω
Roy and Ducoin [38] 14D × 6D 0.21 m 0.00063 m SST k–ω
Present study 14D × 6D 0.21 m 0.00063 m SST k–ω

Based on Re = ρUD/µ = 105 and U = 7.3 m/s.

a

Journal of Energy Resources Technology FEBRUARY 2021, Vol. 143 / 021301-3

 Fig. 3 Details of the applied grids within the computational domain

Table 2 Results of grid test study for s/d = 0.5, U = 6 m/s, and (SST) k–ω model developed by Menter [39] is used. This turbu-
TSR = 0.8 lence model was widely used by several researchers, as dedicated
in Table 1, due to providing highly accurate results with respect
Grid No. Grid number ξmin/D y+
max CM CP to experimental data. This model is a simple combination
between the standard k–ϵ model (for far-field regions) and k–ω
1 60476 0.004 1.586 0.301 0.241 model (for near-wall regions). To compute the governing equations,
2 75501 0.004 1.565 0.302 0.242
all advection terms are discretized using the second-order upwind
3 98860 0.004 1.539 0.308 0.247
4 60476 0.002 0.815 0.306 0.246 scheme while for discretizing the diffusion terms, the central differ-
5 75501 0.002 0.813 0.312 0.250 encing method is applied. In addition, the temporal terms are discre-
6 98860 0.002 0.789 0.311 0.249 tized by means of a second-order accurate method. On the other
hand, to link the velocity and pressure fields, the SIMPLE algorithm
[40] is carried out. The convergence criteria for all flow variables
are set to be less than 10−8. The discretized equations are computed
using several boundary conditions. At the incoming section, a
the maximum Savonius turbine performance occurs for this inward uniform wind speed normal to the boundary with a turbulence inten-
overlap ratio. To compute the problem under consideration in this sity of 1% is considered. At the outlet section, the zero pressure
study, a two-dimensional flow domain as shown in Fig. 2 is imple-
mented. To avoid any boundary effects on the wake flow, dimen-
sions of the computational domain are considered enough large.
For comparison purposes, Table 1 compares the applied flow
domain between the present study and previous studies. The
applied flow domain has dimensions of 14D and 6D in streamwise
and lateral directions in which “D” is the rotor diameter. The con-
structed computational domain has two different subdomains,
namely, a rotating zone consists of the rotor with a diameter of
2D and a stationary zone out of the rotating zone. It should be
stated that, in the present study, dimensions of the flow domain,
rotating, and stationary zones, and Savonius rotor size and blades
thickness are selected based on the published work by Roy and
Ducoin [38].
The governing equations for unsteady, incompressible, and two-
dimensional flow are as [13]
∂
ui
=0 (1)
∂xi


∂
ui ∂ 1 ∂
p ∂ ∂
ui
+ (ui uj ) = − + υ − u′ i u′ j (2)
∂t ∂xj ρ ∂xi ∂xj ∂xj
The last term at the right-hand side is the Reynolds stress tensor. Fig. 4 Validation of the applied computer code against the pre-
To model the turbulence characteristics, the shear stress transport vious data

021301-4 / Vol. 143, FEBRUARY 2021 Transactions of the ASME

 Table 3 Details of the validation study and RMSE values

TSR

Authors Re 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 RMSE

Roy and Saha (G/d = 0.2) 8.63 × 104 0.103 0.191 0.248 0.239 0.193 NA 8.39%
Tahani et al. (G/d = 0.2) 8.63 × 104 0.085 0.169 0.218 0.244 0.202 NA 2.84%
Alom and Saha (G/d = 0.2) 8.9 × 104 0.115 0.198 0.253 0.273 0.251 0.180 23.31%
Present study 8.63 × 104 0.095 0.171 0.220 0.238 0.205 0.121 –

gradient is applied and extrapolations have been used to obtain the In addition to above relations, the following non-dimensional
flow data at the outlet section. On horizontal boundaries, zero gra- pressure is used to illustrate pressure fields in the present study:
dients normal to the boundary (symmetry) is set for all velocity p − p∞
components. Between the rotating and stationary boundaries, the cp = (8)
interface boundary condition is defined. In the interface boundary 0.5ρU 2
condition, the sliding mesh model is assumed which was widely To show the vorticity field in non-dimensional form, the follow-
applied in previous studies. The sliding mesh model can effectively ing equation is carried out:
use when meshes near the interface did not deform. The last bound-
ary condition used in all simulations is the no-slip condition which ωD
ω∗ = (9)
is imposed on all blade surfaces. All simulations are performed with U
a constant time-step size of Δt = 7 × 10−5 s corresponding to the
Courant numbers in the range from 0.1814 to 0.9957.
The rotor power performance is naturally evaluated using the 3 Grid Test Study
power and torque coefficients which are defined as below; In the present study, to compute the discretized governing equa-
tions, a high-quality grid distribution is designed within the compu-
Protor Mω0 tational domain as demonstrated in Fig. 3. Regarding the grid
CP = = (3)
Pavailable 0.5ρAU 3 distribution within the flow domain under consideration, the non-
structured grids are adopted in the rotating zone with a sufficient
Mrotor M resolution. However, in order to model near-blade regions turbu-
CM = = (4) lence, very fine structured elements are constructed around the
Mavailable 0.5ρARU 2 blades as seen in detail of Fig. 3. On the other hand, a multiblock
The tip speed ratio (TSR) of the rotor as a dimensionless form of grid system is considered for the stationary region. For this goal,
the rotating speed is determined by combination of Eqs. (3) and (4) the stationary region is first divided into several blocks, and then,
as below: structured grids are defined in each block. In addition, to model
the wake flow around the rotor, the size of elements within each
ω0 D block is very small near the rotating zone and by getting away
TSR = (5) from the rotating zone, the size of elements grows gradually
2U
based on a specific function. However, to find the optimum grid res-
In Eq. (5), the rotor diameter (D) is defined as olution with respect to the computational facilities, a comprehensive
 grid test study is performed for s/d = 0.5, U = 6 m/s, and TSR = 0.8.
1.8d for s/d = 0.3, 0.5, 0.7 In this regard, six different grid resolutions are applied within the
D= (6)
2d for s/d = 1 computational domain and values of time-averaged mean power
and torque coefficients as well as the maximum y +, are compared.
Based on Eqs. (3)–(5), the following relation can be made Table 2 dedicates the obtained results from the grid test study. As
between power and torque coefficients: seen, in the first, second, and third grids with the minimum
element size of ξmin/D = 0.004, values of y + are more than one.
CP = CM · TSR (7) To reduce the y + values below one, in fourth, fifth, and sixth
grids, the minimum element size is reduced to ξmin/D = 0.002 and
therefore, the maximum y + on blades is obtained less than one, suc-
cessfully. Additionally, an examination of the obtained values of
time-averaged power and torque coefficients in three last grids
shows that after the fifth grid resolution with a 75501 grid
number, the obtained results do not alter with further grid resolu-
tion. Therefore, the corresponding elements are adopted in other
cases under consideration. It should be mentioned that the value
of the dimensionless wall distance is computed as
ut y
y+ = (10)
υ
In the above equation, y +, ut, y, and υ are the dimensionless wall
distance, friction velocity, first element height, and kinematic vis-
cosity, respectively. The value of the friction velocity is obtained
using the following equation:

τw
ut = (11)
ρ
Fig. 5 Time-history of the rotor torque coefficient for s/d = 0.5 where τw is the wall shear stress. To capture the value of y + below
under U = 5 m/s and TSR = 0.8 one in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grids, as seen in Fig. 3, an inflation

Journal of Energy Resources Technology FEBRUARY 2021, Vol. 143 / 021301-5

 Fig. 6 Instantaneous streamline patterns and fields of normalized velocity magnitude around the rotor with various
s/d values at different azimuth angles under U = 7 m/s and TSR = 0.8
zone consists of ten layers on the blades with the first layer thick-
ness of 5 × 10−5 m and growth rate of 1.2 is defined.
4 Validation of the Computer Code
In this section, the obtained results by SST k–ω for s/d = 0.5
under U = 6 m/s are compared with available data in open literature
in Fig. 4. Comparisons have been made for TSR range from 0.2 to
1.2 with numerical results of Roy and Saha [41], Tahani et al. [31],
and Alom and Saha [14]. Table 3 provides more information from
the validation study as well as the values of root-mean-square error
(RMSE). The examination of comparisons shows that the applied
computer code predicts results with a high level of accuracy with
respect to previous data.
5 Results and Discussion
In this section, the obtained results are presented in terms of
several qualitative and quantitative data. First, the cyclic behavior
of the rotor with the flow time is discussed. Then, the free-wind
021301-6 / Vol. 143, FEBRUARY 2021
flow and rotor interaction is discussed around the various rotors
under consideration in terms of the instantaneous velocity and pres-
sure fields. After that, variations of the torque coefficient with the
rotor azimuth angle are discussed. At the end of this section, the
mean power coefficients of all rotors under consideration are pre-
sented as a function of the TSR, s/d, and free-wind speed. This
section is finished by the identification of an optimum s/d value.
5.1 Rotor Cyclic Behavior. Figure 5 illustrates the instanta-
neous torque coefficient of the rotor with s/d = 0.5 along the flow
time under U = 5 m/s and TSR = 0.8. In accordance with the previ-
ous studies [38], after initial fluctuations of the rotor torque coeffi-
cient, the cyclic behavior of the rotor onsets and continues with the
rotor rotation. This quasi-steady behavior of the rotor occurs for the
other rotors with various s/d values. On the other hand, the complete
cyclic behavior of each rotor allows computing the time-averaged
power characteristics independent of the cycle number in the
quasi-steady behavior of the rotor.
5.2 Instantaneous Wind–Rotor Interactions. The instanta-
neous behavior of a rotor in various azimuth angles is quite
Transactions of the ASME
 Fig. 7 Non-dimensional vorticity fields around the rotor with various s/d values at different azimuth angles under
U = 7 m/s and TSR = 0.8
important from an engineering viewpoint. Any decision for
improvement of a specific rotor depends on the wind–rotor interac-
tions in various azimuth angles. In other words, a high efficient rotor
should capture the wind force in all azimuth angles, successfully. To
discuss this issue, Fig. 6 is prepared which demonstrates the instan-
taneous streamline patterns colored by velocity magnitude field in
different rotor azimuth angles for various blade profiles such as
s/d = 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, and 1 under U = 7 m/s and TSR = 0.8. Here,
the velocity magnitudes are normalized with respect to the free-
wind speed. Generally, a Savonius wind turbine rotates for three
reasons; (i) interaction between the wind flow and the advancing
blade which provides the positive drag force and torque, (ii) par-
tially injecting the flow from the gap space between blades into
the returning blade which develops the positive drag by returning
blade, and (iii) partially approaching the separated flow from the
outer edge of the advancing blade toward the concave side of the
returning blade which also establishes the positive drag force by
the returning blade. However, depending on the blade profile and
the rotor azimuth angle, one or some of the above contributions
may be more effective than the others. Referring to Fig. 6, in zero
azimuth angle of rotors, as the minimum interactive case between
the rotor and wind flow, the flow injection into the returning
Journal of Energy Resources Technology
blade by separated flow from the convex side of the advancing
blade is strongly under the influence of the developed vortical struc-
ture downstream of the rotor. In other words, in the maximum s/d
value of 1, the separated flow from the convex side of the advancing
blade cannot turn toward the concave side of the returning blade
successfully due to the existence of a large vortical structure down-
stream of the rotor. It should be mentioned that in the zero azimuth
angle of the rotor, the injected flow into the returning blade is the
main player in producing the positive torque. In α = 45 deg, the
effect of the gap in the development of positive drag by returning
blade becomes evident. In this azimuth angle, a vortical flow struc-
ture developed at the gap space between blades play a negative
role in the momentum transfer into the returning blade.
However, it seems that this vortical structure becomes stronger
by increasing the s/d value. Therefore, it can be predicted that
the momentum transfer from the gap space between blades and
consequently the development of positive torque by returning
blade is maximum in the case of s/d = 0.3. In the azimuth angle
of 90 deg, the interaction between the wind flow and the advanc-
ing blade as well as the momentum transfer from the gap space
into the concave side of the returning blade are two main
players in the development of positive drag. In this azimuth
FEBRUARY 2021, Vol. 143 / 021301-7
 Fig. 8 Non-dimensional instantaneous pressure fields around the rotor with various s/d values at different azimuth
angles under U = 7 m/s and TSR = 0.8
angle, with consideration of the vortical structure developed at the
gap space between blades, it seems that the cases with s/d = 0.3
and 0.5 are more effective than the higher s/d values. Finally, in
the last azimuth angle of 135 deg as a critical position for the
rotor, the role of returning blade in rotating the two-blade Savonius
turbine becomes more and more. In this azimuth angle, due to the
profile of blades, in the case with s/d = 0.3, the returning blade
cannot capture a higher amount of the momentum in comparison
to the other cases. Therefore, the minimum interaction between
the wind flow and returning blade develops for s/d = 0.3. As a
result in this azimuth angle, by increasing the s/d value, the posi-
tive torque produced by returning blade increases.
For advanced visualization, non-dimensional vorticity fields
(ω* = ωD/U) are illustrated in Fig. 7 in different rotor azimuth
angles for various blade profiles such as s/d = 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, and 1
under U = 7 m/s and TSR = 0.8. Examination of vorticity fields is
an effective role to understand the instantaneous wind–rotor interac-
tion in various azimuth angles. In the cases of s/d = 0.3 and 0.5, the
shed vortices from the outer tip of the advancing blade move
toward the downstream of the rotor without a considerable interaction
with the returning blade in zero azimuth angle. However, by increas-
ing the s/d value up to 0.7, these shed vortices develop an impact with
021301-8 / Vol. 143, FEBRUARY 2021
the convex side of the returning blade as shown in Fig. 7. This bad
occurrence which amplifies in the case of s/d = 1 reduces the rotor
positive torque. The second event in the zero azimuth angle is the for-
mation of a fluid vortical structure downstream of the rotor due to flow
separation from the convex surface of the returning blade. This vor-
tical structure provides additional pressure downstream of the rotor
and affects the power characteristics of the rotor. In the azimuth
angle of 45 deg, more or less, for all rotors under consideration, an
interaction between the convex side of the returning blade and shed
vortices from the outer tip of the advancing blade observes. In the
last case with s/d = 1, it can be stated that the downstream vortical
structures are very close to the rotor which affects the power charac-
teristics of the rotor considerably. In α = 90 deg, the vorticity field
enhances on the convex surface of the advancing blade and
concave surface of the returning blade. Finally, in the last azimuth
angle of 135 deg, it is seen that the convex surface of the advancing
blade develops interaction with shed vortices from the outer tip of
the returning blade for s/d = 1.
Figure 8 illustrates non-dimensional pressure fields in different
rotor azimuth angles for various blade profiles such as s/d = 0.3,
0.5, 0.7, and 1 under U = 7 m/s and TSR = 0.8. Examinations of pres-
sure distributions around the rotors indicate that at α = 0 deg and
Transactions of the ASME
 Fig. 9 Comparison of torque coefficients of rotors with various s/d values against the azimuth angle under U = 7 m/s and TSR =
0.8: (a) s/d = 0.3 and 0.7 and (b) s/d = 0.5 and 1

Fig. 10 Analysis of near-blades flow behavior for s/d = 0.3 and 1 under U = 7 m/s and TSR = 0.8

Journal of Energy Resources Technology FEBRUARY 2021, Vol. 143 / 021301-9

45 deg, the pressure field on the concave surface of the advancing
blade enhances as a function of s/d which accelerates the rotation
of a wind turbine. However, on some portions of the convex
surface of the returning blade, the pressure values are also augmented
as a function of s/d which reduces the power characteristics of the
rotor. On the other hand, further examination of pressure distribu-
tions around the rotor at an azimuth angle of 90 deg shows that the
high-pressure fields at the concave side of the advancing blade and
convex side of the returning blade inversely enhanced by s/d. The
obtained result for s/d = 0.5 and α = 90 deg is similar with previous
data [35]. The maximum pressure on the concave surface of the
advancing blade for α = 135 deg develops in the case of s/d = 0.5
as seen in Fig. 8. As a result, the Savonius wind turbines are
mainly drag-based rotors which capture the wind power by mostly
total pressure drag of both advancing and returning blades. As dis-
cussed above, the exerted useful pressure on the concave side of
blades strongly depends on the azimuth angle of the rotor. Therefore,
for a specific s/d value, at some azimuth angles, the rotor perfor-
mance becomes better than the other s/d values and at some other
azimuth angles vice versa. Consequently, the power characteristics
should be averaged by integrating over the azimuth angle.
To have more information, variations of the torque coefficient
with azimuth angle in one complete rotation of the turbine is dem-
onstrated in Figs. 9(a) and 9(b) under U = 7 m/s and TSR = 0.8 for
all s/d values under consideration. Examination of the obtained
results shows that between 0 deg < α < 35 deg, the torque coefficient
is maximum for s/d = 0.7 in comparison with the other rotors. After
about 35 deg, the torque coefficients fall below the zero for all
rotors except the case with s/d = 0.5. Then, the torque coefficient
increases for all rotors under consideration to a maximum value
and these reductions and enhancements in the torque coefficient
repeat in the other azimuth angles according to obtained results pre-
sented in Figs. 9(a) and 9(b). An interesting result in this context is
that despite the cases with s/d = 0.3, 0.7, and 1, the rotor with s/d =
0.5 does not generate the negative torque in all azimuth angle as
seen in Figs. 9(a) and 9(b).
Figure 10 provides additional information regarding the flow
behavior very close to the rotors having the minimum and
maximum s/d values of 0.3 (left-hand side images) and 1 (right-hand
side images) in the same azimuth angle of 90 deg under U = 7 m/s
and TSR = 0.8. Development of the overlap jet at the gap space
between blades, high-speed rotating vortices at the outer edge of
the advancing blade, counterrotating vortices close to the outer
edge of both blades, and stagnation points on the convex surface of
the returning blade are clearly illustrated in this figure. Further exam-
ination of presented flow topology reveals that a low-velocity field at
the concave side of the advancing blade is developed in the case of
s/d = 1 which is considerably lower than that of s/d = 0.3. On the
other hand, a low-velocity zone develops just downstream of the
rotor with s/d = 1 which can reduce the rotor performance. Moreover,
the overlap jet that enhances the rotor torque is considerably stronger
for s/d = 0.3 comparing with the rotor with s/d = 1.
Figures 11(a)–11(c) demonstrate variations of the mean power
coefficient against the TSR for all rotors under consideration
under U = 3, 5, and 7 m/s, respectively. The study of mean power Fig. 11 Variations of mean power coefficient against the TSR for
characteristics of rotors is a powerful and common way to make a all s/d values under consideration: (a) U = 3 m/s, (b) U = 5 m/s,
correct decision regarding the best rotor among the rotors under and (c) U = 7 m/s
consideration. Variations of mean power coefficient show that
regardless of the free-wind speed and blade profile, the maximum
power coefficients develop for TSR = 0.8. Therefore, increasing is revealed that among the various blade profiles tested numerically,
or decreasing the TSR from this optimum value leads to a decrease the blade with s/d = 0.5 should be preferred to construct a two-blade
in the power performance of all rotors. On the other hand, the free- drag-based wind turbine. However, to construct drag-based rotors
wind speed has a positive effect on all rotors under consideration. In with more than two blades, additional studies should be performed
other words, by increasing the free-wind speed, the power coeffi- to make a correct decision.
cient of all rotors enhances regardless of the TSR value. An impor-
tant result from Figs. 11(a)–11(c) is that for all free-wind speeds and
TSR values, the maximum power coefficient develops in the case
with s/d = 0.5 which is a conventional semicircle blade profile. Fur- 6 Conclusion
thermore, the minimum power performance observes for s/d = 1. In the present numerical research, four various blade profiles with
Therefore, as an important result from the present investigation, it blade diameter to the blade depth ratios of s/d = 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, and 1

021301-10 / Vol. 143, FEBRUARY 2021 Transactions of the ASME

were studied for a two-blade Savonius wind turbine. Computations ωo = rotating speed (rad/s)
have been carried out two-dimensionally in three different ω∗ = non-dimensional vorticity (dimensionless)
free-wind speeds of U = 3, 5, and 7 m/s under TSR values in the
range from 0.2 to 1.2. In this regard, instantaneous wind–rotor Subscript
interactions were demonstrated and discussed in terms of the
non-dimensional velocity, vorticity, and pressure fields in various ∞ = freestream
rotor azimuth angles. The obtained results can be summarized as
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Transactions of the ASME