Effects of blade configuration and solidity on starting torque of Darrieus wind turbine

This study investigates the effects of blade configuration and solidity of Darrieus wind turbine on the starting torque characteristics. Generally, the configuration of Darrieus wind turbine is divided into Troposkien, parabola, Catenary, Sandia, modified-parabola and straight types. A numerical analysis has been carried out using Multiple Stream Tube (MST) method to investigate the effect of blade configuration and solidity of Darrieus wind turbine on the starting torque under the initial low range of rotational speed. The simulation results show that the starting torque of Darrieus wind turbine varies considerably depending on the blade configuration. The initial starting torque was larger with Troposkien, Parabola, Catenary, and Sandia configurations than with modified parabola or straight types. The increase in solidity with increasing number of blades raised the starting torque and improved the dynamic stability during the initial operational speed of Darrieus wind turbine. Additionally, these torque results represent basic data for fluid-structure interaction (FSI) simulation of the steady-dynamic operation of the turbine.