WIND TURBINES IN URBAN

ENVIRONMENT
NEHA NAIR
143701001
 ABSTRACT
With an increase in population and urbanization, the world is slowly starting to forget about
the high rate of depletion of now available natural resources that could go extinct any day.
Considering this, it is important for the present generation to look ahead into the future to
reuse and revive our resources to fullest potential and have energy efficient buildings.
Accelerated Urbanisation imposes immense pressure on the dwindling energy sources and
fragile ecosystems. Yet the resource crunch confronting energy supplies can be brought down
if we design and develop future buildings by incorporating sound concepts of energy
efficiency and sustainability.
The purpose of this project is to study the effects on applying aerodynamic modifications in
energy efficient tall structure to allow greater and better opportunity to reuse energy with
complete living comfort to users. Proper aerodynamic modifications on tall structures can
help in reducing wind stress on tall structures which will allow the structure to withstand and
allow passage to wind to the wind turbines independently without disrupting any activity in
the structure, allowing the possibilities of wind turbines working better if incorporated well
in the design.
Three different basic principles of such “wind turbines in urban environment” or
concentrators are distinguished:
• wind turbines at the roof or sides of buildings,
• wind turbines between two airfoil-shaped buildings,
• wind turbines in ducts through buildings
The pros and cons of these three concentrator effects will be compared with the help of pre-
existing data to derive the best possible options for maximum energy yield from the wind
turbine.

Keywords: energy efficient buildings, urbanisation, dwindling energy sources, fragile

ecosystems, aerodynamic modifications, wind turbines, tall structures.
AIM
The aim of this project is to prove that aerodynamic modifications can help a building with wind
turbines function better than the buildings with wind turbines that are designed without the
consideration of aerodynamic shaping.

SCOPE
Since there has not been any effective ideas on how to make vertical axis wind turbines as
functional as horizontal axis wind turbine in the case of production of power though it is more easy
to maintain and is much smaller in size and less dangerous, there is a high scope of further study of
this topic for a sustainable future.

RELEVANCE FOR THESIS

The idea of placing VAWT in Mixed use Building with commercial, residential and office spaces can be
done better with the study of this topic.

OBJECTIVES
To study the history, use and different types of wind turbines with aerodynamical aspects to provide
solutions to questions like “why is wind energy not used for sustainable designing as much as
expected?”, “why are wind turbines not able to function to its fullest potential?”
 METHODOLOGY
- Study the history and initial use/ idea of use of wind turbines in buildings and the use of
Aerodynamics in buildings.
- Study the types of wind turbines.
- Study types of wind turbine positioning with examples of each.
- Comparative study of buildings with different placing of wind turbines.
- Conclusion- Proving that aerodynamic designs make wind turbines work better.

HISTORY AND EVOLUTION

 HAWT vs VAWT
HAWT VAWT
Comes in bigger sizes compared to VAWT Comes in small and big sizes

Needs the help of YAW mechanism Does not need YAW

Makes more noise compared to HAWT Makes lesser noise compared to VAWT
Uses up large spaces Does not require a lot of space
High starting speed, self generates Low starting speed, needs manual generation

High maintenance Low maintenance

High rotating speed Low rotating speed

STRATEGIES USED FOR PLACING WIND TURBINES THROUGH

DIFFERENT EXAMPLES

• Strata tower, London – HAWT ON ROOF

• World trade centre, Bahrain – HAWT THROUGH AIRFOIL SHAPE
• Pearl river tower, China – VAWT THROUGH DUCTS
• Greenway garage, Chicago – VAWT ON CORNERS
 WIND TURBINES ON ROOF OF BUILDING: Strata Tower
Location: South London
Elevation of roof of the building
Building height: 147m showing the correct placement
of the wind turbines.
Turbine: 3 HAWT, 9m Diameter, fixed yaw. Source: skyscraper.com

The wind turbines placed on this

building generates 8% of the
energy used by the building.

Strata shows that HAWT can be

placed on the roof too in spite of
its high maintenance issue.

The tilt in the roof profile directs the

wind into the wind turbines making
it more efficient.
Diagram showing
the roofing detail
and wind turbine
placement
separated from
building.
Source:
skyscrapers.com
 The wind turbines are placed
in south concaved enclosure to
capture south west dominant
wind of London.

This is the thought put into designing the wind

turbine placement. It shows the exact tilt and
how the wind can be accommodated.

Source: google.com
WIND TURBINES ON AIRFOIL SHAPED BUILDING: Bahrain World
Trade Centre
Location: Manama, Bahrain

Height: 240m

Turbine: 3 HWAT, 29m Diameter

This building is located near the sea making the sea breeze enter directly toward
the wind turbine without any disruption.

The gap between the buildings provided for the placement of wind turbines
make the noise and vibration from the turbines not affecting the comfort of
activity of users in the building.

These wind turbines generate 11-15% of the energy used by the building.

Even the shape of the bridge is done very thoughtfully as its profile is elliptical
making it super efficient without disrupting the wind.

The wind flows from the south flowing through the buildings in an s shape
showing that the airfoil shape makes it better.

Source: atkins.com
 WIND TURBINES THROUGH DUCTS: Pearl River Tower

Location: China

Height: 309.4m

Turbine: 4 VAWT,
placed on 3x4
openings

This building is so far the most efficient of all BAWT examples.

The wind turbines in this building help generate 58% of the buildings energy
consumption which is a very large achievement.

The only issue faced is that the wind turbines are not able to start by
themselves as the starting speed of Vertical axis wind turbines are very low and
sometimes need external manual application of power to push start the wind
turbine.

The design of the building compensates for this drawback as it passes the wind
through the ducts without fail as the design is so precise and thoughtfully done.

There are separate floors provided for the wind turbines for easy maintenance
without disrupting the usual activities happening in the building.

This building shows that VAWT are way more efficient and also less
maintenance though people still opt for HAWT to avoid the initial manual
power that has to be supplied.

These wind turbines are also very small in size compared to the HAWT and can
be placed close to each other without any problems.
 WIND TURBINES ON BUILDING SIDE: Greenway Parking Garage
This building is another example with VAWT placed on the corner of the
building. The whole building is a parking lot and so consumes electricity
only for lighting mainly and it is 90% provided by the turbines.

Location: Chicago

Turbine: 12 VAWT, 2 sets of 6 wind turbines

placed over each other.
CONCLUSION

With this report we can conclude that the use of wind as a sustainable energy resource when
considering designing of structures can be very useful in the future. The discussed examples prove
that it is functional in today’s world and with further study, there can be much more innovative and
thoughtful use of wind in designing our buildings to avoid complete extinction of our already
depleting natural resources.

LITERATURE STUDY

• The Feasibility of Building-Mounted/Integrated Wind Turbines: Achieving their potential for

carbon emission reductions.
• Final Report of Carbon Trust Contract 2002: Andrew Geoffery Dutton, Jim Halliday
• Crossflex: Concept and early development of a true building integrated wind turbine
• Energy and Buildings 2010: Tim Sharpe, aGordon Provenb
• Feasibility analysis of a Darrieus vertical-axis wind turbine installation in the rooftop of a building
• Applied Energy 2012: Francesco Balduzzi, Alessandro Bianchini, Ennio Antonio Carnevale, Lorenzo
Ferrari, Sandro Magnani
 REFERENCE
• AERODYNAMIC MODEL TESTS OF TALL BUILDINGS
• By Daryl W. Boggs1 and Jon A. Peterka,2 Member, ASC
• Aerodynamic optimization in super-tall building designs
• Jiming Xie
• A different Approach to the Aerodynamic Performance of Tall buildings
• David Menicovich, Phd student, CASE
• Aerodynamic and flow Characteristics of tall buildings with Various Unconventional Configurations
• Hideyuki Tanaka, Takenanka Corporation, CTBUH
• Enhancing performance of tall buildings using corner aerodynamic optimization
• Ahmed Elshaer, Girma Bitsuamlak, Ashraf El Damatty
• The effect of tall building base opening geometry on wind loads and local flow structures
• Seifu Bekele, Senior wind engineer, VIPAC
• Mitigation of motions of tall buildings with specific examples of recent applications
• Ahsan Kareem and Tracy Kijewski
• The role of aerodynamic modifications in the form of tall buildings against wind excitation
• H.Emre ILGIN and M.Halis GUNEL
• Aerodynamic shape optimization of tall buildings using twisting and corner modifications
• Ahmed Elshaer a, Girma Bitsuamlak b, Ashraf El Damatty
• A Tribute to Jack E. Cermak – Wind Effects on Structures: A Reflection on the Past and Outlook for the Future
• Ahsan Kareema
• Wind induced vibration control of super tall buildings using a new combined structural system
• Houshyar Eimani Kalehsar, Nahmat Khodaie
• Blue Star: The proposed energy efficient tall building in Chicago and vertical city strategies
• Xiaoxiao Wanga, Xiangfeng Liub
• Development of a parallel code to simulate skewed flow over a bluff body
• T.G. Thomas, J.J.R. Williams
•

THANK YOU.