ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT) with particular interest in attempting to establish a smart VAWT through the synthesis of energy harvesting, pitch control and structural health monitoring (SHM) functions. It considers the research status on energy harvesting of VAWTs. The chapter introduces the research on the control of the blade pitch angles of a VAWT for the improvement of its power efficiency, startup capability and shut-down performance. It presents the concept of a smart VAWT comprising energy harvesting, pitch control and SHM functions. A number of analytical models are available for calculating wind forces on the blades and wind power generated by a VAWT. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, with the increased availability of highend computing capability and user-friendly commercial CFD codes, are gradually being adopted as an attractive tool to study VAWTs. The investigation of VAWTs using wind tunnel tests is always conducted in a desirable and controllable environment.
