The Influence of Structural Morphology on the Efficiency of Building Integrated Wind Turbines (BIWT)

A numerical investigation was carried out to determine the impact of structural morphology on the power generation capacity of building-integrated wind turbines. The performance of the turbines was analysed using the specifications of the Bahrain Trade Centre which was taken as the benchmark model, the results of which were compared against triangular, square and circular cross-sections of the same building. The three-dimensional Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations along with the momentum and continuity equations were solved for obtaining the velocity and pressure field. Simulating a reference wind speed of 6 m/s, the findings from the study quantified an estimate power generation of 6.4 kW indicating a capacity factor of 2.9 % for the benchmark model. The square and circular configurations however determined greater capacity factors of 12.2 % and 19.9 %, recording an estimated power production capability of 26.9 kW and 35.1 kW and confirming the largest extraction of the incoming wind stream. The optimum cross-sectional configuration for installing wind turbines in high-rise buildings was the circular orientation as the average wind speed at the wind turbines was accelerated by 0.3 m/s resulting in an overall augmentation of 5 %. The results from this study therefore highlighted that circular building morphology is the most viable building orientation, particularly suited to regions with a dominant prevailing wind direction.