Wind-turbine aerodynamics

The primary application of wind turbines is to generate energy using the wind. Hence, the aerodynamics is a very important aspect of wind turbines. Like most machines, wind turbines come in many different types, all of them based on different energy extraction concepts. Though the details of the aerodynamics depend very much on the topology, some fundamental concepts apply to all turbines. Every topology has a maximum power for a given flow, and some topologies are better than others. The method used to extract power has a strong influence on this. In general, all turbines may be classified as either lift-based or drag-based, the former being more efficient. The difference between these groups is the aerodynamic force that is used to extract the energy. The most common topology is the horizontal-axis wind turbine. It is a lift-based wind turbine with very good performance. Accordingly, it is a popular choice for commercial applications and much research has been applied to this tu

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This course focuses on the physical mechanisms at the origin of the transition of a flow from laminar to turbulent using the hydrodynamic instability theory.

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A new wake model and comparison of eight algorithms for layout optimization of wind farms in complex terrain

Roberto Brogna, Fernando Porté Agel

Layout optimization of wind farms constitutes an important and challenging task in complex terrain. This is especially due to the complex interactions of the boundary layer flows in complex terrain and wind turbine wakes, which renders wake modelling in complex terrain difficult. This study tackles this challenge with a new engineering wake model, which is developed by superposing a Gaussian shape wake model on top of the background flow field, assuming that the centerlines of wind turbine wakes follow the streamlines of the background flow field. The model is found to predict wind turbine wakes in complex terrain with good accuracy and at the same time it is computationally cheap to run for optimization applications. Comparisons with high fidelity simulations and field measurements for a real wind farm with 25 turbines in complex terrain demonstrate its effectiveness. A systematic comparison of eight optimization algorithms, which includes two gradient-based and six gradient-free algorithms, is also carried out for the layout optimization problem in complex terrain. To accelerate the optimization process, a double-stage approach is proposed, which optimizes the objective function first neglecting wake effects and then, in the second stage, including them. While all the tested optimization algorithms can improve the original wind farm layout, random search, local search, and pattern search are found to be the top three algorithms in terms of optimization results and computational cost.

ELSEVIER SCI LTD2020

A physics-based model for wind turbine wake expansion in the atmospheric boundary layer

Fernando Porté Agel, Dara Vahidi

Analytical wind turbine wake models are widely used to predict the wake velocity deficit. In these models, the wake growth rate is a key parameter specified mainly with empirical formulations. In this study, a new physics-based model is proposed and validated to predict the wake expansion downstream of a turbine based on the incoming ambient turbulence and turbine operating conditions. The new model utilises Taylor diffusion theory, the Gaussian wake model, turbulent mixing layer theory and the analogy between wind turbine wake expansion and scalar diffusion. These components ensure that the model conserves mass and momentum in the far wake and accounts for the ambient turbulence and turbine-induced turbulence effects on the wake expansion. To account for the turbulence relevant scales that contribute to the wake expansion, the model uses the root-mean-square of the low-pass filtered radial velocity component. A simplified version that only requires the unfiltered velocity standard deviation and turbulence integral scale is also proposed. In addition, a new relation for the near-wake length is derived. The model performance is validated using large-eddy simulation data of a wind turbine wake under neutral atmospheric conditions with a wide range of incoming turbulence levels. The results show that the proposed model yields reasonable predictions of the wake width, maximum velocity deficit and near-wake length. In the case with a relatively low incoming streamwise turbulence intensity of 0.05, the ambient and turbine-induced terms in the model contribute almost equally to the wake width, rendering them both crucial for reasonable wake predictions.

2022

Effect of wind veer on wind turbine wakes measured with nacelle-mounted LiDARs

Peter Andreas Brugger, Fernando Porté Agel, Mohsen Vahidzadeh

2019

Wind turbine

A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over 650 g

Wind power

Wind power is the use of wind energy to generate useful work. Historically, wind power was used by sails, windmills and windpumps, but today it is mostly used to generate electricity. This article

This course focuses on the physical mechanisms at the origin of the transition of a flow from laminar to turbulent using the hydrodynamic instability theory.