Investigation on aerodynamic characteristics of building augmented vertical axis wind turbine

In response to the requirement of sustainable buildings, there is growing interest in building integrated wind turbines (BIWTs). In this paper, a building augmented straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine (BASB-VAWT), as a kind of BIWT, was designed and it was numerically investigated by using unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) in ANSYS FLUENT with a Realizable k − ε turbulence model and a non-equilibrium wall function. Compared to the data of experiment, the computational model of clean SB-VAWT was validated to be reasonable. In order to comprehensively seek for the best design parameters and the best operation parameters, the aerodynamic coefficients (power coefficient and torque coefficient), vorticity field around the blades of BASB-VAWTs, and power output are obtained. The results show that the aerodynamic performance of BASB-VAWTs is sensitive to the wind direction. The BASB-VAWTs are hard to start and generate power at the large included angle between the wind direction and flow channel direction. When included angle between the wind direction and flow channel direction is large, the BASB-VAWTs are hardly to start itself and generate power. It is also shown that different airfoils, solidities, and architectural configurations have a great influence on the aerodynamic performance of BASB-VAWTs. Generally, the BASB-VAWTs with a larger thickness of blades and larger solidity have priority to select. Angulate building diffusers lead to a large-scale vortex in the flow channel, resulting in the influence of the operation stability of BASB-VAWT.