Numerical study of aerodynamic characteristics on a straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine with bionic blades

This paper has attempted to investigate the aerodynamic characteristics of the straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) with bionic blades for better application of bionic blades to VAWTs. The study was based on the computational fluid dynamics numerical simulation (CFD numerical simulation) technique to investigate the differences of the power and tangential force coefficients of the wind turbine between the bionic blades and standard blades at three different tip speed ratios (TSRs = 1.38, 2.19, and 2.58) for the mainstream wind velocity of 8.0 m/s. The results showed that the average power coefficient enhancing effect of the bionic blade increases as the TSR increases, and the average power coefficient of the bionic blade is higher than that of the standard blade mainly because of the high wind energy utilization in the wave trough section. Moreover, the power coefficients of the wave crest sections for bionic blades are better than that of the standard blades at the downstream region of 200° < θ < 260°. This research provides a reference for the use of bionic blades in the straight-bladed VAWT. • The aerodynamic characteristics of bionic blades for the VAWT are investigated. • The advantage of bionic blade is more significant as tip speed ratio increases. • The power coefficient of the trough section is higher than the crest section. • The bionic structure is beneficial for weakening the influence of tip vortex.