The Influence of Structural Morphology on the Efficiency of Building Integrated Wind Turbines (BIWT)

Hassam Nasarullah Chaudhry; John Kaiser Calautit; Ben Richard Hughes; Hassam Nasarullah Chaudhry; John Kaiser Calautit; Ben Richard Hughes

doi:10.3934/energy.2014.3.219

AIMS Energy

2014, Volume 2, Issue 3: 219-236. doi: 10.3934/energy.2014.3.219

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The Influence of Structural Morphology on the Efficiency of Building Integrated Wind Turbines (BIWT)

1.
School of the Built Environment, Heriot-Watt University, PO Box 294 345, Dubai, UAE.;
2.
School of Civil Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.

Received: 10 June 2014 Accepted: 24 July 2014 Published: 01 August 2014

A numerical investigation was carried out to determine the impact of structural morphology on the power generation capacity of building-integrated wind turbines. The performance of the turbines was analysed using the specifications of the Bahrain Trade Centre which was taken as the benchmark model, the results of which were compared against triangular, square and circular cross-sections of the same building. The three-dimensional Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations along with the momentum and continuity equations were solved for obtaining the velocity and pressure field. Simulating a reference wind speed of 6 m/s, the findings from the study quantified an estimate power generation of 6.4 kW indicating a capacity factor of 2.9 % for the benchmark model. The square and circular configurations however determined greater capacity factors of 12.2 % and 19.9 %, recording an estimated power production capability of 26.9 kW and 35.1 kW and confirming the largest extraction of the incoming wind stream. The optimum cross-sectional configuration for installing wind turbines in high-rise buildings was the circular orientation as the average wind speed at the wind turbines was accelerated by 0.3 m/s resulting in an overall augmentation of 5 %. The results from this study therefore highlighted that circular building morphology is the most viable building orientation, particularly suited to regions with a dominant prevailing wind direction.
- Buildings,
- Computational Fluid Dynamics,
- power density,
- turbulence,
- wind turbine
Citation: Hassam Nasarullah Chaudhry, John Kaiser Calautit, Ben Richard Hughes. The Influence of Structural Morphology on the Efficiency of Building Integrated Wind Turbines (BIWT)[J]. AIMS Energy, 2014, 2(3): 219-236. doi: 10.3934/energy.2014.3.219

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Abstract

A numerical investigation was carried out to determine the impact of structural morphology on the power generation capacity of building-integrated wind turbines. The performance of the turbines was analysed using the specifications of the Bahrain Trade Centre which was taken as the benchmark model, the results of which were compared against triangular, square and circular cross-sections of the same building. The three-dimensional Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations along with the momentum and continuity equations were solved for obtaining the velocity and pressure field. Simulating a reference wind speed of 6 m/s, the findings from the study quantified an estimate power generation of 6.4 kW indicating a capacity factor of 2.9 % for the benchmark model. The square and circular configurations however determined greater capacity factors of 12.2 % and 19.9 %, recording an estimated power production capability of 26.9 kW and 35.1 kW and confirming the largest extraction of the incoming wind stream. The optimum cross-sectional configuration for installing wind turbines in high-rise buildings was the circular orientation as the average wind speed at the wind turbines was accelerated by 0.3 m/s resulting in an overall augmentation of 5 %. The results from this study therefore highlighted that circular building morphology is the most viable building orientation, particularly suited to regions with a dominant prevailing wind direction.

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