A Characterization of Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

Vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT) have a number of advantages over the horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWT), however the performance is a little smaller, so that researchs for their development should be continued for the implementation of these turbines in urban environment for electrical energy generation. This paper provides an overview of characterization of the VAWT, through a literature review, making comparisons with the HAWT and highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of this type of turbines. The paper also defines and compares the main exist types of VAWT for application in urban environment, so that aims to be a first step towards development of a VAWT research. Finally, this paper features how the aerodynamic optimization of a VAWT can be obtained, defining the experimental and the computational numerical analysis, by the relationship between them.