The strut is a necessary support structure that connects the vertical axis wind turbine blade to the rotating shaft and transfers the torque, and is one of the key factors affecting the aerodynamic performance of the wind turbine. However, research on struts is limited and the appropriate strut design remain uncertain. Therefore, in this paper, the struts of a straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine are investigated by a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics approach, to find the appropriate strut design parameters that minimize the impact on the aerodynamic performance. Thirty strut profiles with different chord lengths, thicknesses, areas, and streamlined shapes were parametrically created and analyzed, including a novel strut-specific profile proposed in this paper. Furthermore, all strut connecting parameters, such as spanwise and chordwise positions, connecting angle and fairing were investigated. The results show that the power loss of a vertical axis wind turbine has a relatively linear relationship with the dimensionless absolute thickness of the strut within a certain range. The strut chord length is another important influencing factor. Equal chord lengths of the strut and the blade should be avoided as much as possible. The proposed novel olivary strut profile has lower drag characteristics and more favorable geometrical structural properties compared to the most used NACA airfoil. The influence of the spanwise connecting position (within the range around the blade quarter span) is minor. But the chordwise position has a significant effect, and special attention should be paid to avoid the strut maximum thickness position connecting with the blade aerodynamic center, which will result in the greatest performance degradation. Analysis of the connecting angles shows that inclined struts are suitable for small wind turbines. The fairing is effective when the strut chord length is equal to or longer than the blade chord length. With these results, a set of recommended design parameters for vertical axis wind turbine struts is presented.

支柱是连接垂直轴风力机叶片与转轴并传递扭矩的必要支撑结构，是影响风力机气动性能的关键因素之一。然而，对支柱的研究是有限的，合适的支柱设计仍然不确定。因此，在本文中，通过三维计算流体动力学方法研究了直叶片垂直轴风力涡轮机的支柱，以找到合适的支柱设计参数，最大限度地减少对空气动力学性能的影响。以参数化方式创建和分析了 30 种具有不同弦长、厚度、面积和流线型形状的支柱剖面，包括本文提出的一种新颖的特定于支柱的剖面。此外，所有支柱连接参数，例如翼展方向和弦向位置、连接角度和整流罩都进行了研究。结果表明，垂直轴风电机组的功率损失与支柱的无量纲绝对厚度在一定范围内呈相对线性关系。支柱弦长是另一个重要的影响因素。应尽可能避免支柱和叶片的弦长相等。与最常用的 NACA 翼型相比，所提出的新型橄榄形支柱轮廓具有更低的阻力特性和更有利的几何结构特性。展向连接位置（在叶片四分之一跨度范围内）的影响很小。但弦向位置有显着影响，并且要特别注意避开与叶片气动中心相连的支柱最大厚度位置，这将导致最大的性能下降。连接角度分析表明，斜撑适用于小型风电机组。当支柱弦长等于或长于叶片弦长时，整流罩有效。根据这些结果，提出了一组推荐的垂直轴风力涡轮机支柱设计参数。