Effects of endplate designs on the performance of Savonius vertical axis wind turbine

In aerodynamic studies, endplates or wingtip devices play a crucial role in enhancing the performance of airfoil blades and minimizing losses. This is particularly important for wind turbines, especially the drag-type Savonius turbine. This paper aims to investigate the effects of different endplate designs. Both experimental works and numerical simulations were conducted on a Savonius rotor with an aspect ratio of 1. A total of eight different endplate geometries and sizes were investigated. The mechanical torque and rotational speed were measured experimentally under various loads with an incoming wind speed of 5.89 m/s. The coefficient of torque (C-T) and coefficient of power (C-P) were calculated in both the experiments and simulations. The simulation was first validated using data from the literature, and flow characteristics were then scrutinized. The results indicate that the endplates greatly impact the turbine performance, with improvements of up to 299.7 % compared to a turbine without endplates from the experiment. The endplates help prevent flow leakage near the blade edges. In addition to tip losses reducing turbine performance, aerodynamic parasitic drag also contributed to a decrease in C-P for the full endplate. The relationship between the aerodynamic parasitic drag with TSR is also reported. By implementing a well-designed endplate, these adverse effects can be mitigated.