Investigation of blade rotation direction in two in line turbines using Large Eddy Simulation

In this study Large Eddy Simulation method has been employed in order to investigate the effects of blade rotation direction of downstream turbine in two co-rotating and counter-rotating configurations. The acquired results are in good agreement with presented experimental data in literatures. Counter-rotating configuration is used in order to investigate the effect of blade rotation on the efficiency of downstream wind turbine. The results show that the efficiency of downstream wind turbine is increased about 4 percent without any change in wind farm layout and type of wind turbines. The upstream wind turbine absorbed a portion of wind energy. Hence stream wise velocity is decreased and lateral velocities are increased in downstream direction. The flow behind the upstream turbine is rotated in same direction with downstream turbine in a counter-rotating configuration. This is why the efficiency of downstream turbine is increased in a counter-rotating configuration. The results of the present study show that streamwise velocity profile is almost identical in both configurations¡ while¡ lateral velocities are changed considerably. In other words¡ a better efficiency of wind farm could be due to the lateral velocities. Hence¡ the efficiency of wind farm could be increased by decreasing the distance between two consecutive wind turbines in a counter-rotating configuration.