**1. Introduction**

Many factors have led to increased interest in renewable energy including the reduction in conventional energy sources, the fact that conventional energy sources cause climate change, and the availability and hygiene of renewable energy sources. Lately, wind energy has become particularly important. The IceWind turbine is a new type of Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) that converts wind energy into electricity. It is an attractive and cost effective energy source for electric generation in low velocity regions. The prefix "Ice" in "IceWind" comes from "Iceland", its home town [1]. Currently, there are two products: the CW IceWind turbine, shown in Figure 1, and the RW IceWind turbine, shown in Figure 2.

**Figure 1.** CW IceWind turbine.

**Figure 2.** RW IceWind turbine.

The IceWind turbine was first introduced by Aymane [2]. He mentioned that the IceWind turbine is not as simple to manufacture as the Savonius wind turbine, but its shape is better looking. Furthermore, the IceWind turbine produces less noise than the Savonius turbine. He confirmed that any product should not only show a good level of performance but should also have wide acceptance from the public. He invited participants to fill in a survey about the overall appearance, noise level, and efficiency of the turbine. Eighty-five percent of participants declared that the IceWind turbine produced less noise and had a better overall appearance than the Barrel Savonius. Moreover, Afify [3] investigated the turbine's performance experimentally to determine its optimum design. He concluded that a single stage, three-blade IceWind turbine with end plates, an aspect ratio of 0.38, and a blade arc angle of 112◦ performs better than the Savonius turbine.

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) can predict fluid flow aerodynamic performance. Sarma et al. [4] mentioned that the intent of using CFD is to enable the study of velocity and torque distribution. Nasef et al. [5] numerically analyzed the aerodynamic performance of stationary and rotating Savonius rotors with several overlap ratios using four turbulence models. Their results indicated that the Shear Stress Transport (SST) *k*-ω turbulence model gives more accurate results than the other studied turbulence models. Kacprzak et al. [6] examined the performance of the Savonius wind turbine with fixed cross-sections using quasi 2D flow predictions through ANSYS CFX. Simulations were achieved in a way that allowed comparison with wind tunnel data documented in a related paper, where two designs were simulated: Classical and Bach-type Savonius rotors. The comparison detected the significance of applying a laminar-turbulent transition model. Dobrev and Massouh [7] aimed to consider the flow through a Savonius type turbine using a three-dimensional model by means of *k*-ω and DES (Detached Eddy Simulation). Due to the continuous variation of the flow angle with respect to the blades and turbine principles of operation, strong unsteady effects including separation and vortex shedding were observed. The flow analysis helped to validate their wind turbine design. McTavish et al. [8] developed a novel vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) consisting of many asymmetric vertically stacked stages. The VAWT torque characteristics were computationally investigated using CFdesign 2010 software. Steady two-dimensional CFD simulations demonstrated that the new type had similar average static torque characteristics to present Savonius rotors. Additionally, rotating three-dimensional CFD simulations were performed.

*Energies* **2020**, *13*, 5356

In the present study, three-dimensional numerical simulations are used to calculate the static torque of the IceWind turbine and to show its air flow velocity distribution and streamlines and pressure distribution.
