Dynamic Modeling and Optimization of a

Wind Turbine with Savonius-Type Rotor

A. Zachr* and N. Burny**
*

College of Dunajvros, Dunajvros, Hungary; Zachar.Andras@gek.szie.hu,

** Subotica Tech, Subotica, Serbia; Burany.Nandor@gmail.com

AbstractA wind turbine with a patented Savonius-type

rotor is built and tested under different loading conditions
and wind velocities. Numerical investigation was carried out
to study the flow around the rotor. The turbine is modeled
and simulated in computational fluid dynamics software.
Detailed description of the 3D modeling procedure is given.
Effects of different meshing approaches are discussed.
Measurement and simulation results are given. Strong
unsteady effects, including separation and vortex shedding
are observed due to the continuous variation of flow angle
with respect to blades. Turbine modifications for achieving
higher torque and power coefficient are suggested and
analyzed.

I.
INTRODUCTION
Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWT) are ideal options
for small scale generation of electricity from wind.
Savonius-type rotor is one of the widely developed and
used VAWTs. Earlier most research is focused on theory
and experiments. In the last two decades, thanks to the
development of computational fluid dynamics software,
the focus is moving to simulations. Computer models
provide the user with the privilege to change inputs and
see the outcome instantly, without fabricating a prototype.
However, computer models are only approximations of
the experiments and are limited in modeling the actual
physics. Special care is necessary to verify the credibility
of simulation results.
There are many patent documents describing wind
turbines applicable in turbulent winds. Mainly these
turbines are some derivatives of the Savonius rotor [2] or
the Darrieus rotor [3]. Unfortunately the patent files
usually do not report about the torque and power
coefficients of these constructions or the reports are not
based on thorough measurements and calculations.
Sometimes it is purely believed that the preferred
embodiment of the patent gives optimum results.
The authors built a real size prototype of the patented
construction [2] and tested it for different wind speeds
which occurred in the period of the investigation Wind
tunnel for the real size turbine was not available.
Measured torque and power values were well below the
expectations based on the patent file.
This discrepancy turned the authors to further
investigations by use of software tools. The aim is to
evaluate different turbine shapes by use of computational
fluid dynamic (CFD) modeling and analysis. Analytical
modeling of turbines is difficult even in 2D cases so it is
not preferred.

Figure 1. Cross sectional drawing of the patented Savonius-type wind

turbine [1].

II. MODEL OVERVIEW

The turbine construction reported in US patent
5,494,407 [1] by Benesh is modeled and analyzed through
this research, first in its original form and later with a
changed blade overlap. The horizontal cross sectional
drawing of the turbine is shown in Fig. 1. It is stated by
the patent holder that the turbine will generate maximum
power for some special ratios of the diameter to other
dimensions of the rotor, given in the patent document.
The construction built by the authors shown in Figure 2
includes two turbines on the same axis, rotated relative to
one another for 90o, to achieve less pulsation of torque and
acceptable starting torque [4,5]. The blade height for both
turbines is the same, 0.9 m, the diameter is D1=1.3 m, so
the effective vertical cross section area of the turbine is
A=2.34 m2.
The total theoretical power possessed by the wind [4]
with velocity v on cross section A is given by formula:

where: =1.29 kg/m3 is the air density.

For the given size of the wind turbine and for wind
velocity v=10 m/s, the total wind power is PW=1510 W.
Power coefficient value of CP=0.37 is reported in the
patent document. Accepting this value, the power
extractable from the turbine for the same wind speed,
neglecting bearing losses is:

Measurements done on the turbine have shown almost

ten times lower output power for the given wind speed. To
find the reasons for this disagreement, CFD analysis of the
turbine is done. Commercially available CFD analysis
software is used to evaluate the dynamic torque on the
turbine for different wind speed and angular speed of the
rotor.
Static CFD analysis of the same turbine is done earlier
and reported in [6]. Using a dynamic analysis, the torque
and power coefficients of the turbine and the speed-torque
characteristic can be evaluated. These results are reported
in this paper.

flow field around the Savonius rotor. The SST model is

based on the k- and the k- turbulence models where the
near wall regions have been calculated by the k- and the
fully turbulent regions calculated by the k- model. The
appropriate blending functions have been used in the
transitional region, between the two models.
For coupling the stator and the rotor domain of the
studied flow geometry the Transient Rotor model has
been applied. This model makes it possible to study the
time evolution of the different flow parameters of the
Savonius rotor.
B.

Domain of discretization
Fig. 3 indicates the generated grid for the rotor
domain on the surface of the studied Savonius rotor.

Figure 3. Details of the generated grid

C.

Initial and boundary conditions

The initial velocity field is zero everywhere inside the
calculation domain. Constant air velocity is assumed at
the inlet position of the stator domain. The gradient of the
velocity profile and the gradient of the turbulent
quantities are assumed to be zero at the end of the outlet.

D.

Figure 2. The wind turbine built by the authors.

III.
A.

MATHEMATICAL FORMULATION

Conservation equations
The usual Reynolds-type averaged time dependent
Navier Stokes equations have been used to model the
impulse transport of the flowing air around the Savonius
rotor. The Boussinesq hypothesis is assumed to link the
Reynolds stresses to the mean rate of fluid deformation.
U1, U2, U3, P, k and as functions of x, y, z, t describes
the flow field and the intensity of the turbulence around
the studied Savonius rotor. The conservation equations
are formulated in the Cartesian coordinate system
because the applied flow solver (Ansys CFX 12.0) uses
the Cartesian system to formulate the conservation
equations for all (vector Ui and scalar P, k, ) quantities.
Description of the entire geometry of the studied problem
is incorporated into the generated unstructured numerical
grid.
The shear stress transport (SST) turbulence model has
been used to model the turbulent effects of the developed

Numerical solution of the transport equations

The corresponding transport equations with the
appropriate boundary conditions have been solved a
commercially available CFD code (Ansys CFX 12.0). A
"High Resolution Up-Wind like" scheme is used for
discretizing the convection term in the transport equations.
The resulting large linear set of equations is solved with
an algebraic multi-grid solver. The applied grids for the
different geometries have been generated with the
WorkBench grid generator.
IV. MODEL GEOMETRY
The 3D model of the turbine is constructed in the CFX
module of the Ansys software. The actual 3D geometry is
shown in Fig. 4. The original mechanical drawings are
prepared in AutoCAD software and imported to a 3D
geometric modeling program to convert the DWG file to
IGES type and after this the file has been imported into
the Ansys WorkBench as an IGES file. Only one stage of
the turbine is modeled and its height and diameter are both
adjusted to 1 m. It is different from the prototype size to
facilitate scaling of the calculation results.

The flow field is far to be laminar. Forming of vortices

on the inlet and the outlet side is evident. The flow is
even not periodic; this leads to non periodic variation of
the torque and the power during multiple revolutions of
the rotor.

Figure 4. Geometrical model of the Savonius-type wind turbine

V. ANALYSIS RESULTS
First, the turbine is analyzed qualitatively: the flow field
is demonstrated, based on CFD analysis. Second, the
analysis results are used to achieve quantitative
characterization of the turbine.

B. Calculated performances of the turbine

Power and torque of the turbine is evaluated from the
CFD analysis for different wind speeds and angular
speeds. Better performances are obtained for the coarse
mesh applied first. The number of finite elements in this
case was 800533.
Applying finer mesh in the second series of analyses
the performances are deteriorated but they are more
acceptable due to the finer representation of the air flow.
The number of finite elements in this case was 3684975.
The torque dependences on angular position for wind
speed 10 m/s and angular speed 2 rad/s, for both meshes,
are given in Fig. 6.
Coarse

A. Dynamic flow field description

The dynamic flow field is analyzed for fixed wind
velocity of 10 m/s and fixed angular speed of the rotor of
4 rad/s. Fig. 5 has been created by the CFD software
postprocessor that represents the local air speed with
arrows. Arrow direction shows the local air movement
direction, different colors stands for different speed
intensity.

Finer

10
5
0
-5
]
m-10
[N-15
e
u
q
r-20
o
T-25
-30
-35
-40
0.31

1.57

2.83
4.08
5.34
6.60
7.85
9.11 10.37
Angel around the vertical (rotational axis) [rad]

11.62

Figure 6. Dependence of the turbine torque on angular position of the

rotor for both meshes

The dependence of the output power on the rotors

angular position for the same wind speed and the same
angular speed of the turbine is given in Fig. 7.
Coarse

Finer

250
200
]
150
W
[
r
e
100
w
o
P
50
0
-50
0.31

1.57

2.83

4.08
5.34
6.60
7.85
9.11 10.37
Angel around vertical (rotational axis) [rad]

11.62

Figure 7. Dependence of the output power on angular position of the

rotor for both meshes

Figure 5. The dynamic flow field for two different angular positions

The torque and the power are calculated and averaged

for two revolutions. More revolutions are not analyzed as
the simulation process is very time consuming.
Averaging the torque for the coarse mesh 16.1 Nm is
obtained, but it is lowered to 8.5 Nm for the finer mesh.
The turbine average output power for the coarse mesh
is 101 W but only 53.5 W is obtained for the finer mesh.
This large deviation in torque and power is supposed to be
caused by the fact that the coarse mesh is not applicable
for the analysis of the real air flow.

The torque diagram and the power diagram for the

coarse mesh is almost periodic, repeated for every 180o. In
contrast, the finer mesh gives large deviations from
periodicity.
This is the more realistic result as vortices cause
aperiodic tilting in the air flow. Flow is always unsteady,
separation and vortex shedding is happening.
Even more authentic values could be obtained with
further refinement of the mesh and through analysis for
more turns of the rotor but with the available computer
resources this was the maximum.
The turbine torque and power depends on its angular
speed. CFD analyses for five angular speed values in the
range from rad/s to 4 rad/s are accomplished (Fig. 8).
The maximum power point is obtained for about 3 rad/s,
for both meshes. This is a somewhat lower value
compared to values for other turbine geometries reported
in the literature [7].
For the coarse mesh, in the maximum power point, the
power coefficient of the turbine is Cp=23%, but the more
realistic value is the one obtained for the finer mesh, equal
to 12%.

VI.

Doing analyses for a coarser and a finer mesh have

shown that the application of finer mesh is essential for
wind turbine analysis with turbulent air flow. CFD
analysis with turbulence modeling by means of detached
eddy simulation is necessary for representation of the
actual physics.
Calculation of the torque for a model with smaller
overlap of the blades has shown that shortening the
overlap of the straight ends of the blades increase the
torque. Further analyses are necessary to find the optimum
overlap.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors wish to express their thanks for Mr.
Gellrt Burny for his help preparing the technical
drawings necessary for CFD analysis.
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]

160
Coarse

140

Finer

[4]

120

] 100
W
[
r 80
e
w
o
P 60

[5]

[6]

40
20

[7]

0
2

10

12

14

Angular speed [1/rad]

Figure 8. Dependence of the output power on angular speed of the

rotor for both meshes

DISCUSSION

A. H. Benesh, Wind Turbine with Savonius-type Rotor, US

Patent Number 5,494,407, Feb. 27, 1996.
S. J. Savonius, Rotor, sterreichisches Patentschrift Nr. 103819,
July 10, 1925.
G.J.M. Darrieus, Turbine having its rotating shaft transverse to
the flow of the current, US Patent Number 1,835,018, Oct. 1,
1926.
T. Hayashi, Y. Li, Y. Hara, Wind tunnel tests on a different phase
three-stage Savonius rotor, JSME International Journal 48 (1), 9
16.
T. Hayashi, Y. Li, Y. Hara, K. Suzuki, Wind tunnel tests on a
three-stage out-phase Savonius rotor, Tottori University, Tottori,
2011.
N. Burny, A. Zachr, Evaluation of a wind turbine with
Savonius-type rotor, EXPRES 2012 Conf. Rec., Subotica, March
2012.
S. Kolachana, A computational framework for the design and
analysis of Savonius wind turbine, Master thesis, Indian Institute
of Technology, Madras, 2012.