Comparative Study of a Drag Force for Flat Plate Frame and a Combined Straight Bladed Darrieus- Flat Plate Frame

Abstract

In this paper, experimental investigations were carried out to evaluate the drag forces of a flat plate frame with movable vanes and a combined Straight-Bladed Darrieus - flat plate frame by. For this purpose, two models were developed, one flat plate frame with movable vanes and another one straight-bladed combined with a Darrieus-flat plate frame. For the combined Straight-Bladed Darrieus - flat plate frame, having one flat plate constructed by three movable vanes. A straight-bladed Darrieus NACA0012 airfoil is attached at the tip of the model structure. The design increases the torque of the model on the side which rotates to wind direction hence increasing the drag coefficient Cd and reduces the negative torque on another side of the frame that rotates opposite to the wind. The results indicated that the maximum drag force for flat plate frame is 1.64 N under wind speed V=28 m/s and at azimuth angle θ = 90°, and the maximum drag force for the combined model is 6 N under the same condition.