Modelling, Design and Optimization of Wind Turbines

A special issue of Machines (ISSN 2075-1702). This special issue belongs to the section "Turbomachinery".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2025 | Viewed by 913

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Industrial Engineering (DIEF), Università degli Studi di Firenze, Via di Santa Marta 3, I-50139 Firenze, Italy
Interests: energy; wind; aerodynamics; aeroelasticity; offshore wind; floating wind
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Departamentul Design de Produs, Mecatronică și Mediu, Transilvania University of Brasov, Brasov, Romania
Interests: mechanics; mechanisms; machines; renewable energy systems; wind turbines; solar tracking systems; artificial intelligence; product design and development
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, wind energy has risen to be one of the most wide-spread renewable energy sources. As new installations increase, new challenges arise. Modern wind turbines are pushing the envelope in multiple ways: at sea, where floating wind is starting to gain momentum and the ever larger rotors that are being developed are pushing us into uncharted territory in regard to external conditions, aeroelasticity and system dynamics; and on shore, where developers have been dealing with aging wind parks and their repowering.

In this ever-changing landscape, accurate modelling, design and optimization techniques are required to further reduce the cost of wind turbines. Moreover, innovative approaches such as co-design, where the wind turbine and the wind turbine controller are designed and optimized together, still have untapped potential, and can lead to improved wind turbine design both on shore and off shore.

This Special Issue entitled “Modelling, Design and Optimization of Wind Turbines” aims to gather relevant contributions and recent advancements in the fields of wind turbine experimental and numerical modelling practices, as well as in the field of wind turbine design and optimization methods. Topics of interest for this Special Issue include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Experimental and numerical wind turbine modelling;
  • Wind turbine load and dynamics computation and modelling;
  • Advancements in wind turbine wake numerical and experimental modelling;
  • Advancements in wind turbine design;
  • Advancements in vertical-axis wind turbine design, modelling and optimization;
  • Optimization methods for wind turbines;
  • Co-design of wind turbines;
  • Wind farm design and optimization;
  • Modelling of wind turbine degradation phenomena such as erosion, icing and dirt accretion.

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Francesco Papi
Prof. Dr. Mircea Neagoe
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Machines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • wind
  • renewable
  • energy transition
  • experiment
  • simulation
  • optimization
  • design
  • load
  • co-design
  • wake
  • wind farm

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

34 pages, 15971 KiB  
Article
Self-Starting Improvement and Performance Enhancement in Darrieus VAWTs Using Auxiliary Blades and Deflectors
by Farzad Ghafoorian, Erfan Enayati, Seyed Reza Mirmotahari and Hui Wan
Machines 2024, 12(11), 806; https://doi.org/10.3390/machines12110806 - 14 Nov 2024
Viewed by 365
Abstract
The Darrieus vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) is categorized as a lift-based turbomachine. It faces challenges in the low tip speed ratio (TSR) range and requires initial torque for the starting operation. Ongoing efforts are being made to enhance the turbine’s self-starting capability. [...] Read more.
The Darrieus vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) is categorized as a lift-based turbomachine. It faces challenges in the low tip speed ratio (TSR) range and requires initial torque for the starting operation. Ongoing efforts are being made to enhance the turbine’s self-starting capability. In this study, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations were utilized to tackle the identified challenge. The Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (URANS) approach was employed, combined with the shear–stress transport (SST) kω turbulence model, to resolve fluid flow equations. The investigation focused on optimizing the placement of auxiliary blades by considering design parameters such as the pitch angle and horizontal and vertical distances. The goal was to increase the turbine efficiency and initial torque in the low-TSR range while minimizing efficiency loss at high-TSR ranges, which is the primary challenge of auxiliary blade installation. Implementing the auxiliary blade successfully extended the rotor’s operational range, shifting the rotor operation’s onset from TSR 1.4 to 0.7. The optimal configuration for installing the auxiliary blade involves a pitch angle of 0°, a horizontal ratio of 0.52, and a vertical ratio of 0.41. To address the ineffectiveness of auxiliary blades at high-TSRs, installing deflectors in various configurations was explored. Introducing a double deflector can significantly enhance the overall efficiency of the conventional Darrieus VAWT and the optimum rotor with the auxiliary blade by 47% and 73% at TSR = 2.5, respectively. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Modelling, Design and Optimization of Wind Turbines)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop