Vertical axis wind turbine in a falling soap film

Abstract

Vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) have demonstrated a potential to significantly enhance the efficiency of energy harvesting within a wind farm. One mechanism that contributes to this enhancement is a VAWT's inherent insensitivity to wind direction coupled with blockage within an array of turbines. Much like the flow around a bluff body, turbine blockage can locally accelerate the flow near one turbine, providing faster inflow conditions for a well-placed neighboring turbine. Since the power produced by a VAWT typically scales as the cube of the incoming wind speed, even a modest acceleration of the flow can have a significant impact on the overall turbine array performance.

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