Novel investigation of the different Omni-direction-guide-vane angles effects on the urban vertical axis wind turbine output power via three-dimensional numerical simulation

The aim of this study is to present the effects of different Omni-direction-guide-vane (ODGV) angles on the performance of the vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT). For this purpose, five different straight-bladed VAWTs have been simulated via three-dimensional (3D) computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Hence, the VAWT without ODGV covering, were simulated and validated via CFD and experimental fluid dynamics (EFD) data, respectively in the first step. Indeed, grid and time step independency test as well as the effect of domain size, have been conducted and a suitable agreement was found based on comparison of the CFD and EFD results. In the next step, the VAWT was shrouded by ODGV cover and the whole system was simulated for 52 angles of the ODGV in four different tip speed ratios (TSR), to investigate the impact of guide vanes angles on the VAWT performance. Results of this study indicated that output power of the VAWT with α = 20° and β = 55° ODGV guide vanes, was improved 40.9%, 36.5%, 35.3% and 33.2%, respectively in four different TSR including 0.745, 1.091, 1.901 and 2.53.