Aerodynamic design and optimization of a Darrieus H-Rotor wind turbine: Structural analysis and performance optimization

¹ MaSEEL, FST of Tangier, Abdelmalek Essaâdi University, Tangier, Morocco
² Laboratory of Systems, Control, and Decision, New Science School of Engineering, Tangier, Morocco

^* Corresponding author: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Published online: 13 May 2026

Abstract

As a contribution to the energy transition and the search for new sustainable solutions for decentralized electricity generation, this paper aims to design and optimization of a new type of Darrieus H-Rotor VAWT, specially tailored to the conditions of an urban and industrial environments. It is intended to be a robust and efficient wind turbine that can deliver a nominal power of 2 kW at low and moderate wind speeds. The methodology used is based on the analysis of wind resources (Mean Wind Speed, Weibull distribution), aerodynamic modeling using QBlade. Structural analysis using CATIA revealed that the Configuration of the second case (with 4 mm blade thickness and 4 vertical supports of 2 mm) offered an excellent compromise, achieving a reduced mass (13 kg) and a controlled maximum stress (85.4 MPa), well below the elastic limit of aluminum. From an aerodynamic perspective, CFD simulations using ANSYS Fluent (k-ω SST turbulence model in transient regime) enabled the visualization of the Cl/Cd ratio and pressure distribution at various angles of attack, thereby validating the effectiveness of the selected configuration. In this study, an optimized wind turbine blade design has been developed that is not only structurally robust and aerodynamically efficient, but also well-suited for deployment in urban environments.