Small Wind Turbines for Urban Locations

Abstract

The paper presents the critical analysis of small wind turbines for the urban environment, both with horizontal and vertical axes. The basic idea and the purpose of this paper are to analyze and highlight the particularities and functionality of vertical axis wind turbines, the most efficient ones in the urban environment. The study investigates the wind potential for the configuration of the buildings in the architectural structure of the Avantgarden district located in northern Brașov. A simplified building model was generated in the SOLIDWORKS software to study the flow behavior on 3 heights starting at 0 m, 15 m, and 20 m. The results show the optimal area available for the turbine location. This study shows the influence of the building configuration on the wind flow and on energy conversion, implicitly.