Experimental and numerical study of the wake deflections of scaled vertical axis wind turbine models

Wake steering of vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) is investigated experimentally and numerically via stereoscopic particle image velocimetry and Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes simulations. Three different blade pitch angles (-10°, 0°, 10°) of straight H-type VAWTs are adopted to deflect and deform the wake. The experimental results confirm the efficacy of blade pitching on the wake steering, and validate the simulation for both moderate and significant wake deflections. The simulation is then extended to full-scale VAWTs, exploring the wake deflection effects on the power performance of VAWT arrays. The effects of inter-turbine distances and pitching configurations are considered. With the upwind VAWT deflecting the wake, the overall power coefficient is increased by 41%.