Investigation of aerodynamic interaction between the balloon and the ducted wind turbine in airborne configuration

Abstract An aerodynamic analysis is presented in the current work, which estimates the separation distance between the balloon and the turbine in an airborne wind energy system (AWES). The stability of the structure of AWES depends on the aerodynamic interaction between the turbine and the balloon. A minimum gap must be maintained between the balloon and the wind turbine to reduce the interaction between the balloon and the turbine assembly. Three cases of AWES have been studied with a separation gap of 5 m, 10 m, and 16 m to estimate the minimum distance of separation between the balloon and the turbine. The aerodynamic interaction details suggest that a minimum distance of 13 m needs to be maintained between the turbine and the balloon to avoid the interaction between the balloon and turbine. Steady-state simulations of the rotor are run for various wind conditions to evaluate the efficiency of the duct-mounted configuration. The ducted turbine configuration saw a 7.4% increase in torque than the inducted turbine for a wind speed of 5 m s−1. A torque increase of 17.85% was observed when the separation distance was increased to 16 m from earlier 10 m.