Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWT) are an interesting alternative to conventional horizontal axis designs. But, it is more difficult to model the Aerodynamics of the VAWT, than the horizontal axis design. The blades see very different wind velocities and flow patterns at the upwind and downwind positions. A semi-analytical approach to estimate the performance of a VAWT, the Double Multiple Stream Tube method (DMST), is not very accurate and can only be used for rough estimates. A more promising approach is to use CFD simulations, which fully resolve the flow pattern inside and around the turbine. Obviously the best results are obtained from a fully transient simulation. 

The Cloud is ideally suited for Computationally Demanding Parameter Studies. Since each wind speed and tip-speed ratio runs independently, progress is limited only by core-count and licenses.