Optimization design of a single-stage savonius type wind turbine

Thesis (Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering) -- University of Rizal System-Morong.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Research and development activities in the field of renewable energy have been considerably increased in many countries due to the global energy crisis. Wind energy is becoming particularly important. The Savonius with turbine appears to be particularly promising for low power applications, such as those in urban areas, and it can take advantage of a simple, reliable and cost-effective construction. Anyway, the Savonius wind turbine suffers from poor performance, when compared with other wind turbine having a major overall complexity and higher costs. This type of turbine is unusual and its application for obtaining useful energy from air stream is an alternative to the use of conventional wind turbines. For this reason, several studies have been carried-out in recent years in order to improve its energy performance. The aim of the present study is to determine the optimum design of a single-stage savonius vertical axis wind turbine to recapture wind energy from vehicles on the median of Balagtas North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) that yields the maximum efficiency of the turbine. In addition to objective is to determine the impact of the guided barrier toward the flow of air with respect to the optimum design of the wind turbine. In order to achieve both objectives; the first one is based on the simulation of the independent variables that is subjected to the most influencing constraints, while the second one concerns the use of Solid/Works software for 3D modeling of the resulting design to analyze the stress distribution around the turbine. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis and Structural Finite Element Analysis (FEA) are also presented in the paper. CFD analysis was performed to evaluate the turbulence flow around the savonius turbine and to obtain the pressure difference between the concave and convex side of the blades while FEA was done to obtain the structural response of the blade due to the wind load applied in term of stresses and its displacement. The outcome of numerical study conducted was efficient compared to other related studies. The maximum turbine efficiency attained 39.13% for the newly optimum design of savonius wind turbine. Furthermore, the structure of the blade of the turbine has a good result; a factor of safety are greater than 1, maximum deformation of (4.083 mm) and a max von mises stress of (0.123 MPa), which is much lower to the yield strength of (2875 MPa), meaning that the structure does not fail to the load applied by the wind. And lastly, the velocity and pressure contours of the turbine show that the savonius turbine captures more wind pattern when the design has a guided barrier than the model without a barrier.