Fossil fuels have been used extensively all over the world to satisfy energy demands. However, their availability is limited and their negative impact on the environment undeniable. Due to this, the need to develop alternative energy resources was recognized a few decades ago. Among different alternatives that have been developed, wind energy appears as a promising option to be implemented in many parts of the world. In order to make wind energy more competitive and attractive to investors, new energy systems are desired. Specifically, it is desired to have a higher energy output.
Shrouded wind turbine is still new technology and has many challenges including high capital costs and low performance issues. The technical challenges are mainly to overcome
1-The high frequency of changes of wind direction .
2-The unpredictable and low wind velocity.
3-The high turbulence flow which are very site specific.
Diffuser augmented wind turbine (DAWT) can offer solution to the first two challenges. Placing a diffuser around a horizontal axis wind turbine has been shown to increase the power output compared to a bare turbine. it generates low-pressure region behind it, which assists the turbine to capture more wind energy.
The main objective of this proposal is to design small scale shrouded wind turbine suitable to the available wind speeds, study the effect of diffuser geometry, location of the turbine rotor inside the diffuser, number of rotor blades, and unsteady weak.