Insights from a new study could help unlock the full potential of a developing form of smaller-scale wind power generation, researchers say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Engineers from the University of Glasgow have used sophisticated computer simulations of bladeless wind turbines (BWTs) to identify for the first time how future generations of the technology could be built for maximum efficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The findings could help the renewables industry take BWTs, which are still at an early stage of research and development, from small-scale field experiments to practical forms of power generation for national electricity grids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unlike conventional wind turbines, which convert the kinetic energy of blades propelled by moving air into electricity, BWTs generate power through a process called vortex-induced vibration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BWTs take the form of slim cylindrical structures that sway in the wind, like lampposts in inclement weather. As the wind blows against them, BWTs create vortices\u2014alternating swirls of air that rock the entire structure back and forth. When the frequency of the rocking matches the structure\u2019s natural tendency to vibrate, the motion is amplified significantly, and the increased motion is converted into electricity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a new paper published in the journal\u00a0Renewable Energy<\/em>, the team shows how they used computer modelling techniques to simulate the performance of thousands of variations of BWT design. The results cast valuable new light on the interplay between mast dimensions, power output, and structural safety in winds between 20 and 70 miles per hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Their key finding is that there is an optimal design for BWTs, that creates a \u2018sweet spot\u2019 where power generation is maximized against structural strength. The ideal design, which finely balances power generation against sturdiness, is an 80cm mast that is 65cm in diameter. That design could safely deliver a maximum of 460 watts of power, the team found, significantly outpacing the best performance of even the best-performing real-world prototypes built to date, which have delivered a maximum of 100 watts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Their model also demonstrated the limits of other designs, which could potentially generate more power. In the paper, they show how different designs of BWTs could, in theory, generate up to 600 watts, but at the cost of structural integrity\u2014in real-world conditions, they would quickly fail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The team says that their methodology could provide the foundation for scaling up BWTs to utility-grade systems generating 1 kilowatt and beyond, making them much more practical for use by renewable energy providers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr. Wrik Mallik, of the University of Glasgow\u2019s James Watt School of Engineering, is one of the paper\u2019s corresponding authors. He said: \u201cWhat this study shows for the first time is that, counterintuitively, the structure with the highest efficiency for extracting energy is not in fact the structure which gives the highest power output. Instead, we have identified the ideal midpoint between the design variables to maximize the ability of BWTs to generate power while maintaining their structural strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn the future, BWTs could play an invaluable role in generating wind power in urban environments, where conventional wind turbines are less useful. BWTs are quieter than wind turbines, take up less space, pose less of a threat to wildlife, and have fewer moving parts, so they should require less regular maintenance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The James Watt School of Engineering\u2019s Professor Sondipon Adhikari is also a corresponding author of the paper. He said: \u201cWe hope that this research will help spur industry to develop new prototypes of BWT designs by clearly demonstrating the most efficient design. Removing some of the guesswork involved in refining prototypes could help bring BWTs closer to becoming a more useful part of the world\u2019s toolbox for achieving net-zero through renewables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe plan to continue refining our understanding of BWT design and how the technology can be scaled up to provide power across a wide range of applications. We\u2019re also keen to explore how metamaterials\u2014specially designed materials which have been finely tuned to imbue them with properties not found in nature \u2013 could boost BWTs\u2019 effectiveness in the years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n James Watt School of Engineering master\u2019s student Janis Breen also contributed to the paper. The team\u2019s paper, titled \u2018Performance analysis and geometric optimization of bladeless wind turbines using wake oscillator model<\/a>,\u2019 is published in\u00a0Renewable Energy.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Insights from a new study could help unlock the full potential of a developing form of smaller-scale wind power generation, researchers say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/university-of-glassgow-logo-scaled.webp",2560,1369,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/university-of-glassgow-logo-200x200.webp",200,200,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/university-of-glassgow-logo-675x361.webp",675,361,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/university-of-glassgow-logo-768x411.webp",750,401,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/university-of-glassgow-logo-1100x588.webp",750,401,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/university-of-glassgow-logo-1536x821.webp",1536,821,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/university-of-glassgow-logo-2048x1095.webp",2048,1095,true],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/university-of-glassgow-logo-1200x800.webp",1200,800,true],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/university-of-glassgow-logo-870x570.webp",870,570,true],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/university-of-glassgow-logo-600x900.webp",600,900,true],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/university-of-glassgow-logo-600x600.webp",600,600,true],"newspaper-x-single-post":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/university-of-glassgow-logo-760x490.webp",760,490,true],"newspaper-x-recent-post-big":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/university-of-glassgow-logo-550x360.webp",550,360,true],"newspaper-x-recent-post-list-image":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/university-of-glassgow-logo-95x65.webp",95,65,true],"web-stories-poster-portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/university-of-glassgow-logo-640x853.webp",640,853,true],"web-stories-publisher-logo":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/university-of-glassgow-logo-96x96.webp",96,96,true],"web-stories-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/university-of-glassgow-logo-150x80.webp",150,80,true]},"author_info":{"info":["RevoScience"]},"category_info":"Research<\/a>","tag_info":"Research","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26559"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26562,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26559\/revisions\/26562"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}