Researching the impact of wind patterns in urban areas for bladeless wind turbine implementation.

Faro, Ayodeji and Cheneler, David and Cavada, Mariana (2024) Researching the impact of wind patterns in urban areas for bladeless wind turbine implementation. Masters thesis, Lancaster University.

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Abstract

The aim of this research is to understand the urban wind flows for the implementation of bladeless wind turbines named O-wind turbine by carrying out research from existing sources, which will allow conclusions to be drawn on how buildings can manipulate the flows. The novelty introduced by the present research is the development of a methodology, focusing on creating a guide on where and how to look for ideal locations for implementing the O-Wind turbine to harness these unique winds and generate clean electricity in dense urban environments. The Installation of wind turbines to all possible extents has contributed to meet the ever-increasing energy demand. Technologically Developed areas have a high potential for wind energy, including the rooftop of high-rise buildings, railway tracks, the region between or around multi-storeyed buildings, and city roads. Harnessing wind energy from these areas is quite challenging since it has a dramatic nature being chaotic and turbulent on urban surfaces. An O-Wind turbine is a new form of blade-less wind turbine that can harness winds from any direction. The method used was a systematic approach consisting of the following studied site, field measurement, wind data analysis, wind direction study, and computational fluid dynamics which comprises turbulence modelling, boundary conditions, and sensitivity studies. This study developed computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-based evaluation procedures to determine potential implementation sites of wind turbines and obtain estimates of wind velocity and wind power by taking into consideration the details of the local urban topography and boundary conditions of the objective buildings. Parameters such as the wind velocity, direction as well and turbulence intensity, are compared with field measurements via anemometers and analytical methods at different floors of our building of interest to validate the computational model as well as attain a better understanding of the interaction of the wind with buildings in complex terrain. The grid-independent study, analytical method (accuracy), sensitivity study, and best urban settings that favour the use of this turbine using CFD for wind turbines on the studied site are different from those suggested in the literature and their deficiency in providing optimum mounting sites in micro-environments. Moreover, an improved roof design with a rounded shape is proposed for the enhancement of wind power density with relatively lower turbulence intensity.