Aerodynamic optimization of building augmented wind turbines

The omnipresence of wind, low production cost and much advancement within the field, wind power provides a vast and promising renewable energy resource. With the current high prices of oil and pressure to reduce carbon emissions, wind energy has achieved great interest creating high demands for innovative wind technology. Additionally, producing energy at the door step of consumers, such as at consumer dwellings in urban areas, wind power provides a means of producing efficient and reliable energy. The use of architectural structures to provide an augmentation source for the wind has been pursued by some ambitious architects but the effects of building augmentation are still uncertain. This study used computational fluid dynamic models to analyze varying building geometries and their effects on power augmentation. A porous region was used to model a wind turbine back pressure across the gap between the buildings. Results show augmentation increases power production one to two times compared to equivalent size free-standing wind turbines. Results also show that certain wind incidence angles provide the best augmentation indicating that building geometry is optimal when design takes into consideration winds regularity azimuth.