With simple construction and mechanism, Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) is the most promising renewable energy resource in the modern era. A two-dimensional analysis on the aerodynamic behavior and performance of five bladed VAWT is investigated. The study is systematically focused mainly on parameters such as turbulence modeling, temporal discretization and mesh refinement to figure out the accuracy of the unsteady flow behavior and stability of the scheme. All these parameters have a direct impact on the exactness of the simulation result, which is analyzed and presented. Later on, CFD validation is done by comparing with experimental five bladed data based on the aerodynamic behavior and performance. Lastly, it is observed from the numerical analysis that turbulence modeling, time step and mesh refinement has a high impact on the accuracy of the simulation results in understating the unsteady flow phenomena around and through the vertical axis wind turbine. It is very important to develop a fluid-solid integrated model towards understanding of energy production by varying different parameters of wind machine. It is believed that the present 2D work can be extended to 3D without much difficulty and can produce useful results before developing a prototype and making it viable for green energy production.

Keywords: Vertical axis wind turbine, Turbulence Modelling, Time Stepping, Mesh Refinement, CFD.