Effect of Tubercle leading and Trailing Edge (TLTE) on the Efficiency of a Vertical-Axis Wind Turbine

Abstract: This study investigates the aerodynamic performance of Tubercle Leading and Trailing Edge (TLTE) turbine blades applied to a 3-bladed H-Darrieus Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT). Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) was used to simulate the performance of a base NACA 0018 turbine, a TLTE 0, and a TLTE 180 configuration. The realizable k-𝜖 turbulence model and Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations were used for the calculations. Results show that TLTE configurations exhibited reduced performance compared to the base blade. The TLTE configurations were also unable to delay stall and instead increased the magnitude of torque fluctuations after reaching peak torque. This is contrary to previous work that showed reduced performance but better flow control and stall behavior. Further work on the analysis of flow within tubercle structures can improve the discussion on the application of tubercles for VAWTs. Keywords: VAWT, CFD, tubercles, dynamic stall