Advice on vertical axis turbine modelling
 

Dear all

I have just started my PhD and need to model a vertical axis turbine. I am new to cfd and would like your advice.

I need to model the turbine flaps opening and closing, they open/close depending on the fluid flow, and are not motor driven. Their movement is restricted to 180 degrees.

My problem is a bit like trying to model the wind blowing a door open, and if the wind was coming from the other direction, it would blow the door shut. my question is how would you model this? is it a fsi problem? or do I have to predict the position of the flaps (not desirable)? I have been told that I would need to write a udf to calculate the movement based on the pressure difference either side of the flap- is this a recommended way of solving this?

I have been advised that either fluent or cfx have this capability, which software do you think is more appropriate? also would i need the icem meshing software as the flaps can move 180 degrees, or would the built in meshing tools be able to handle this?

Any ideas/suggestions are extremely helpful as I am trying to gather as much infomation as possible at the moment.

Many thanks in advance

James