Vertical-axis wind-turbine farm design: Impact of rotor setting and relative arrangement on aerodynamic performance of double rotor arrays

The impact of rotor setting and relative arrangement on the individual and overall power performance and aerodynamics of double rotor vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) arrays is investigated. Eight rotor settings are considered: two relative rotational directions (co-rotating, CO, and counter-rotating, CN), two relative positionings (downstream turbine positioned in the leeward, LW, and windward, WW, of the upstream rotor), and two phase lags (Δθ = 0° and 180°). For each of the eight rotor settings, 63 different relative arrangements are considered resulting in 504 unique cases. The arrangements are considered within 1.25d ≤ R ≤ 10d (d = rotor diameter) and 0° ≤Φ≤ 90°, where R and Φ are relative distance and angle of the rotors, respectively. Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (URANS) CFD simulations, validated with experimental data, are employed. The results show that the power performance of the array is significantly influenced by the relative rotational direction and positioning, ∼8% in power coefficient (C _P), while it is marginally dependent on relative phase lag. The different performance of the studied arrays is because of different parts of the downstream turbine revolution being affected by the wake of the upstream turbine and dissimilar strength/width of the shear layer created in the two rotors’ wake overlap. The preferred rotational direction for WW arrays is co-rotating while for LW arrays counter-rotating is favored. For the same arrangement, counter-rotating turbines with LW relative positioning have the highest C _P due to their downstream turbine blade moving along the flow direction in the wake overlap region resulting in little energy dissipation and weak shear layer. In contrast, counter-rotating arrays with WW relative positioning have the lowest C _P, because the downstream turbine blade moves against the flow in the wake overlap region, resulting in extensive velocity deficit and a thick, strong shear layer.