A study of Power Generation From a Traffic Tunnel Using Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

Trains inside subways produce high wind gusts that could be converted into useful electrical power using wind turbines. Savonius vertical axis wind turbine has higher self-starting ability, accept wind from all directions, and can be operated using low wind speeds. Accordingly, the main objective of this study is to numerically investigate the performance of a modified design of Savonius rotor to harness the power from subway tunnels. The effect of thickness of rotor blades within the range of 5 to 40 mm will be also studied. The numerical model is based on Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations in two dimensions along with the Standard k-ε turbulence model. The rotor performance will be studied in terms of torque and power coefficients in addition to presenting the flow field around the rotor blades. Numerical results showed that the blade with the lowest thickness of 5 mm reaches the steady state condition earlier than all other cases due to its lowest mass and moment of inertia. However, the results showed that the power generated increases as the thickness of the blades increases, until the thickness reaches 30mm, then the power generated becomes almost constant.