The design of wind turbines requires a deep insight into their complex aerodynamics, such as dynamic stall of a single airfoil and flow vortices. The calculation of the aerodynamic forces on the wind turbine blade at different angles of attack (AOAs) is a fundamental task in the design of the blades. The accurate and efficient calculation of aerodynamic forces (lift and drag) and the prediction of stall of an airfoil are challenging tasks. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is able to provide a better understanding of complex flows induced by the rotation of wind turbine blades. A numerical simulation is carried out to determine the aerodynamic characteristics of a single airfoil in a wide range of conditions. Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations and large-eddy simulation (LES) results of flow over a single NACA0012 airfoil are presented in a wide range of AOAs from low lift through stall. Due to the symmetrical nature of airfoils, and also to reduce computational cost, the RANS simulation is performed in the 2D domain. However, the 3D domain is used for the LES calculations with periodical boundary conditions in the spanwise direction. The results obtained are verified and validated against experimental and computational data from previous works. The comparisons of LES and RANS results demonstrate that the RANS model considerably overpredicts the lift and drag of the airfoil at post-stall AOAs because the RANS model is not able to reproduce vorticity diffusion and the formation of the vortex. LES calculations offer good agreement with the experimental measurements.

A lift-driven vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) generates peak power when it is rotating at high tip-speed ratios (TSR), at which time the blades encounter angles of attack (AOA) over a small range from zero to 30 degrees. However, its ability to self-start is dependent upon its performance at low TSRs, at which time the blades encounter a range of AOAs from zero to 180 degrees. A novel vented aerofoil is presented with the intention of improving the performance of a lift-driven VAWT at low TSRs without hampering the performance of the wind turbine at high TSRs. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation is used to predict the aerodynamic characteristics of a new vented aerofoil based on the well documented NACA0012 profile. Simulations are performed using the SST turbulence model. The results obtained show a reduction in the coefficient of tangential force (the force that generates torque on the wind turbine) at low AOAs (less than 90 degrees) of no more than 30%, while at high AOAs (more than 90 degrees) an improvement in the tangential force of over 100% is observed. Using a simple momentum based performance prediction model, these results suggest that this would lead to an increase in torque generation by a theoretical three-bladed VAWT of up to 20% at low TSRs and a minor reduction in coefficient of performance of up to 9% at TSR of 2 and closer to 1% at higher TSRs.