Comparative CFD analysis of six VAWT turbines in the Chicamocha Canyon

Micro wind power generation through vertical axis wind turbines for low wind velocity in the department of Santander, Colombia, is viable due to the physical characteristics of the region. However, there are crucial factors for the development of a turbine for the region such as turbine typology, robustness, aspect ratios, etc. For this reason, it is a good practice to perform simulations through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to predict the performance of the turbine in operation. In this context, an analysis of six configurations of a Darrieus-type VAWT turbine with the asymmetric profile DU06W200 and straight blades, which were obtained by an algorithm considering the factors mentioned above was carried out. The height-diameter ratios to be analyzed were 0.25 (with chord lengths of 0.117 and 0.173 m), 0.4 (with chord lengths of 0.0929 and 0.137 m) and 1 (with chord lengths of 0.0587 and 0.0864 m). It can be concluded that with a ratio of 0.25 and a rope length of 0.173 m, it is possible to obtain an average Power Coefficient of 0.31, which is an outstanding value due to the low wind velocity of the region of interest.