Effect of solidity on the dynamic behaviour of the Darrieus turbine with leading-edge protuberance

The dynamic behaviour of the straight–type Darrieus turbine with leading-edge protuberance (LEP) was analysed under various solidity ratios at several tip speed ratios through experiments. The Darrieus turbine is a type of Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) which uses wind energy to generate electricity. This type of turbine was subjected to vortex-induced and buffeting types of vibrations. These vibrations were more sensitive to the number of blades and tip speed ratios. Based on the experimental measurements, the results revealed that, at a low tip speed ratio, the four-bladed turbine exhibits lesser vortex-induced vibrations than those of the three and five-bladed turbines. However, at a high tip speed ratio, the three-bladed configuration operates well against the vortex-induced vibrations. In the case of buffeting, a three-bladed turbine diminishes the dynamic oscillations at both low and high tip speed ratios, whereas the four and five-bladed turbines induce dynamic oscillations at slightly higher amplitudes. However, the amplitude of buffeting is smaller than those of vortex-induced vibrations.