Author: R. Ganesh Rajagopalan , Ted L. Rickerl and Paul C. Klimas
Publication: Sandia National Laboratories
Year Published: 1990

The laminal flowfield and performance of clusters of two-dimensional vertical axis wind turbines are analyzed by idealizing the rotors as momentum sources. The flowfield dominated by the pressure field of the operating turbines is determined by solving the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations and mutual interference is observed to be elliptic in nature. Physical positioning of the turbines with respect to each other significantly affects the aerodynamic performance of the turbines. Several cases are examined starting with…