Abstract
Data collected at the Eolos wind research facility and in the Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory atmospheric boundary layer wind tunnel are used to study the impact of turbulent inflow conditions on the performance of a horizontal axis wind turbine on flat terrain. The Eolos test facility comprises a 2.5MW Clipper Liberty C96 wind turbine, a meteorological tower and a WindCube LiDAR wind profiler. A second set of experiments was completed using particle image velocimetry upwind and in a wake of a miniature turbine in the wind tunnel to complement LiDAR measurements near the Eolos turbine. Joint statistics, most notably temporal cross-correlations between wind velocity at different heights and turbine performance, are presented and compared at both the laboratory and field scales. The work (i) confirms that the turbine exerts a blockage effect on the mean flow and (ii) suggests a key, specific elevation, above hub height, where the incoming velocity signal is statistically most relevant to turbine operation and control. Wind tunnel measurements confirm such indication and suggest that hub height velocity measurements are optimal for wind preview and/or as input for active control strategies in aligned turbine configurations.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1371-1389 |
| Number of pages | 19 |
| Journal | Wind Energy |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 1 2016 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Keywords
- boundary layer
- control
- inflow conditions
- scaling
- turbine interaction
- turbine siting
- velocity deficit
- wind gust
