Prévision des performances aérodynamiques d'un nouveau type d'éolienne à axe vertical : le rotor à contrevoiles

The Savonius rotor is a slow running vertical axis wind turbine, the advantages of which are numerous ; however, it has a poor aerodynamic efficiency and a very unsteady mechanical torque. We present the results of numerical simulations of the flow around derived Savonius rotors, aiming to raise and stabilise the torque. It is the reason why several geometrical parameters have been adjusted, in particular the overlap of the paddles and their respective position. Then a rotor with displaced blades is studied. The results obtained on few configurations of rotors show that the two-bladed rotor, called reverse paddles rotor, seems to be the most efficient. Mots-clefs : rotor Savonius ; rotor a contrevoiles ; CFD, optimisation