Articles | Volume 7, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-201-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-201-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Application of the Townsend–George theory for free shear flows to single and double wind turbine wakes – a wind tunnel study
LHEEA, CNRS, École Centrale de Nantes, 1 Rue de la Noë, 44321 Nantes, France
ForWind, Institute of Physics, University of Oldenburg, Küpkersweg, 26129 Oldenburg, Germany
ForWind, Institute of Physics, University of Oldenburg, Küpkersweg, 26129 Oldenburg, Germany
Martin Obligado
Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble-INP, LEGI, CNRS, 38000 Grenoble, France
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A 3-year meteorological dataset from an operational wind farm of six 2 MW (megawatt) turbines has been made available. This includes a meteorological mast equipped with sonic anemometers at four different heights and radiometer measurements for atmospheric stability analysis. Simultaneously, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) and the scanned geometry of the turbine blades are provided. This database has been made accessible to the research community (https://awit.aeris-data.fr).
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To investigate the impact of turbulence on aerodynamic forces, we first model turbulent kinetic energy decay theoretically using the Taylor length scale and employ this model to create a digital wind tunnel replica for simulating grid-generated turbulence. Experimental validation shows good alignment among theory, simulations, and experiments, paving the way for aerodynamic simulations. Finally, we successfully use the digital replica to obtain force coefficients for a 2D rotor blade section.
Jannis Maus, Joachim Peinke, and Michael Hölling
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Among wind energy research, wind turbines with more than one rotor have recently gained a lot of attraction. Apart from promised lower maintenance- or construction costs, an increase in power generation per area, a better control over their wake (wind shadow/turbulence from turbines) makes these turbines highly attractive for large scale usage. This study shows experimentally, how the wake in a dual rotor can be steered and why this is highly promising for increasing windfarm efficiencies.
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Most human activity happens in the layer of the atmosphere which extends a few hundred meters to a couple of kilometers above the surface of the Earth. The flow in this layer is turbulent. Turbulence impacts wind power production and turbine lifespan. Optimizing wind turbine performance requires understanding how turbulence affects both wind turbine efficiency and reliability. This paper points to gaps in our knowledge that need to be addressed to effectively utilize wind resources.
Astrid Lampert, Beatriz Cañadillas, Thomas Rausch, Lea Schmitt, Bughsin' Djath, Johannes Schulz-Stellenfleth, Andreas Platis, Kjell zum Berge, Ines Schäfer, Jens Bange, Thomas Neumann, Martin Dörenkämper, Bernhard Stoevesandt, Julia Gottschall, Lukas Vollmer, Stefan Emeis, Mares Barekzai, Simon Siedersleben, Martin Kühn, Gerald Steinfeld, Detlev Heinemann, Joachim Peinke, Hendrik Heißelmann, Jörge Schneemann, Gabriele Centurelli, Philipp Waldmann, and Konrad Bärfuss
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Two major aircraft measurement campaigns above the North Sea provide insights into modifications of the wind field and sea surface induced by wind farms: The aircraft performed transects at hub height upstream and downstream of wind farm clusters, and identified different effects, e.g., how long it takes for the wind speed to recover after the wind farm, how changes across the coastline interact with wind energy, and if wind farms are well represented in numerical simulations.
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Various simulation tools exist to provide load forecasts in the wind energy field (engineering models and numerical simulations). A newly introduced concept is the center of wind pressure, a quantity extracted from a wind field. In previous works, similar behaviour, then the main shaft bending moments, was shown. However, a clear relationship is missing. In this work, this gap is filled through the introduction of a calibration parameter.
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High-fidelity fluid-structure coupled simulations of the IEA 15 MW rotor under storm and yaw misalignment shows that certain misalignments trigger strong edgewise vibrations. Growth surges when effective power turns positive near −35° and fades near −43° yaw. Single-blade analysis finds lock-in at −37° with large tip motion and stability at −60° due to off-resonant Strouhal shedding. It is concluded that aeroelastic response is inflow-specific and operational mitigation strategies are needed.
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Wind Energ. Sci., 10, 2729–2754, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-10-2729-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-10-2729-2025, 2025
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Increased sizes of modern turbines require extended descriptions of the atmospheric wind and its correlation to loads. Here, a surrogate stochastic method for estimating the bending moments at the main shaft is proposed. Based on the center of wind pressure dynamics, an advantage is the possibility of stochastically reconstructing large amounts of load data. Atmospheric measurements and modeled data demonstrate the validity of this method.
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This study utilizes a method to analyze power conversion dynamics across different operational states, addressing non-stationarity with a correlation matrix algorithm. Findings reveal distinct dynamics for each state, emphasizing their impact on system behavior and offering a solution for hysteresis effects in power conversion dynamics.
Caroline Braud, Pascal Keravec, Ingrid Neunaber, Sandrine Aubrun, Jean-Luc Attié, Pierre Durand, Philippe Ricaud, Jean-François Georgis, Emmanuel Leclerc, Lise Mourre, and Claire Taymans
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A 3-year meteorological dataset from an operational wind farm of six 2 MW (megawatt) turbines has been made available. This includes a meteorological mast equipped with sonic anemometers at four different heights and radiometer measurements for atmospheric stability analysis. Simultaneously, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) and the scanned geometry of the turbine blades are provided. This database has been made accessible to the research community (https://awit.aeris-data.fr).
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We present a wind tunnel study on the effect of an adverse pressure gradient on wakes from porous discs and cylinders. We quantified the spatial development of turbulent wakes for Reynolds numbers up to 3.9 × 105 and at distances ranging from 1 to 12 diameters downstream, both with and without an adverse pressure gradient. Consistent with previous studies, we find that the pressure gradient has an effect in all cases, resulting in larger velocity deficits and wider wakes.
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For modern wind turbines, the effects of inflow wind fluctuations on the loads are becoming increasingly critical. Based on field measurements and simulations, we identify “bump” events responsible for high damage equivalent loads. In this article, we introduce a new characteristic of a wind field: the virtual center of wind pressure which highly correlates to the identified load events observed in the operational measured data.
Daniela Moreno, Jan Friedrich, Matthias Wächter, Jörg Schwarte, and Joachim Peinke
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Unexpected load events measured on operating wind turbines are not accurately predicted by numerical simulations. We introduce the periods of constant wind speed as a possible cause of such events. We measure and characterize their statistics from atmospheric data. Further comparisons to standard modelled data and experimental turbulence data suggest that such events are not intrinsic to small-scale turbulence and are not accurately described by current standard wind models.
Rishabh Mishra, Emmanuel Guilmineau, Ingrid Neunaber, and Caroline Braud
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 235–252, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-235-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-235-2024, 2024
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To investigate the impact of turbulence on aerodynamic forces, we first model turbulent kinetic energy decay theoretically using the Taylor length scale and employ this model to create a digital wind tunnel replica for simulating grid-generated turbulence. Experimental validation shows good alignment among theory, simulations, and experiments, paving the way for aerodynamic simulations. Finally, we successfully use the digital replica to obtain force coefficients for a 2D rotor blade section.
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Short summary
Wind turbines are often clustered within wind farms. A consequence is that some wind turbines may be exposed to the wakes of other turbines, which reduces their lifetime due to the wake turbulence. Knowledge of the wake is thus important, and we carried out wind tunnel experiments to investigate the wakes. We show how models that describe wakes of bluff bodies can help to improve the understanding of wind turbine wakes and wind turbine wake models, particularly by including a virtual origin.
Wind turbines are often clustered within wind farms. A consequence is that some wind turbines...
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