Wake Dynamics and Synergistic Clustering of Savonius Wind Turbine Arrays

Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs) have shown performance benefits when placed in clustered arrays for both full scale field tests and in Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations. However, less is known regarding the potential benefits of clustering on high-solidity designs such as the Savonius VAWT geometry. Ongoing experimental work aims to characterize high-solidity wind turbine wake interactions and performance changes for a variety of clustering layouts. Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) is used to capture the wake behavior of both isolated Savonious rotors and arrays with up to five turbines in a water channel facility. The results will be compared to existing, lower solidity VAWT wake development in order to inform predictions about how additional turbines will behave within a cluster.