Slotted blades savonius wind turbine analysis by CFD

In this paper a new bucket configuration for a Savonius wind generator is proposed. Numerical analyses are performed to estimate the performances of the proposed configuration by means of the commercial code COMSOL Multiphysics® with respect to Savonius wind turbine with overlap only. Parametric analyses are performed, for a fixed overlap ratio, by varying the slot position; the results show that for slot positioned near the blade root, the Savonius rotor improves performances at low tip speed ratio, evidencing a better starting torque. This circumstance is confirmed by static analyses performed on the slotted blades in order to investigate the starting characteristic of the proposed Savonius wind generator configuration. © 2013 by the authors.