Numerical Study of an Unconventional Savonius Wind Rotor with a 75° Bucket Arc Angle

Zied Driss^1, , Olfa Mlayeh¹, Slah Driss¹, Makram Maaloul¹ and Mohamed Salah Abid¹

¹Laboratory of Electro-Mechanic Systems (LASEM), National School of Engineers of Sfax (ENIS), University of Sfax (US), B.P. 1173, Road Soukra km 3.5, 3038 Sfax, TUNISIA

Cite this paper:
Zied Driss, Olfa Mlayeh, Slah Driss, Makram Maaloul and Mohamed Salah Abid. Numerical Study of an Unconventional Savonius Wind Rotor with a 75° Bucket Arc Angle. American Journal of Mechanical Engineering. 2015; 3(3A):15-21. doi: 10.12691/ajme-3-3A-3

Abstract

In this paper, computer simulation has been conducted to study the aerodynamic structure around an unconventional Savonius wind rotor with a 75° bucket arc angle. The numerical model is based on the resolution of the Navier-Stokes equations in conjunction with the standard k-ε turbulence model. These equations were solved by a finite volume discretization method. The software "Solidworks Flow simulation" has been used to characterise the flow characteristics in different transverse and longitudinal planes. The good comparison between numerical and experimental results confirms the validity of the numerical method.

Keywords:
unconventional Savonius wind rotor bucket arc angle wind tunnel aerodynamic structure CFD

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