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A wind-tunnel study of the wake development behind wind turbines over sinusoidal hills

A wind-tunnel study of the wake development behind wind turbines over sinusoidal hills
A wind-tunnel study of the wake development behind wind turbines over sinusoidal hills

In the present work, the wake development behind small-scale wind turbines is studied when introducing local topography variations consisting of a series of sinusoidal hills. Additionally, wind-tunnel tests with homogeneous and sheared turbulent inflows were performed to understand how shear and ambient turbulence influence the results. The scale of the wind-turbine models was about 1000 times smaller than full-size turbines, suggesting that the present results should only be qualitatively extrapolated to real-field scenarios. Wind-tunnel measurements were made by means of stereoscopic particle image velocimetry to characterize the flow velocity in planes perpendicular to the flow direction. Over flat terrain, the wind-turbine wake was seen to slowly approach the ground while it propagated downstream. When introducing hilly terrain, the downward wake deflection was enhanced in response to flow variations induced by the hills, and the turbulent kinetic energy content in the wake increased because of the speed-up seen over the hills. The combined wake observed behind 2 streamwise aligned turbines was more diffused and when introducing hills, it was more prone to deflect towards the ground compared to the wake behind an isolated turbine. Since wake interactions are common at sites with multiple turbines, this suggested that it is important to consider the local hill-induced velocity variations when onshore wind farms are analysed. Differences in the flow fields were seen when introducing either homogeneous or sheared turbulent inflow conditions, emphasizing the importance of accounting for the prevailing turbulence conditions at a given wind-farm site to accurately capture the downstream wake development.

Complex terrain, Wind turbines, Wind-tunnel measurements
1095-4244
605-617
Hyvärinen, Ann
e7d9387e-b3a0-4ef5-b95f-81b74a78dd4a
Lacagnina, Giovanni
b6c548d0-38b3-4f0f-9f0a-9849cb910113
Segalini, Antonio
8f27b20a-23a4-40d9-b10d-3bc867737db6
Hyvärinen, Ann
e7d9387e-b3a0-4ef5-b95f-81b74a78dd4a
Lacagnina, Giovanni
b6c548d0-38b3-4f0f-9f0a-9849cb910113
Segalini, Antonio
8f27b20a-23a4-40d9-b10d-3bc867737db6

Hyvärinen, Ann, Lacagnina, Giovanni and Segalini, Antonio (2018) A wind-tunnel study of the wake development behind wind turbines over sinusoidal hills. Wind Energy, 21 (8), 605-617. (doi:10.1002/we.2181).

Record type: Article

Abstract

In the present work, the wake development behind small-scale wind turbines is studied when introducing local topography variations consisting of a series of sinusoidal hills. Additionally, wind-tunnel tests with homogeneous and sheared turbulent inflows were performed to understand how shear and ambient turbulence influence the results. The scale of the wind-turbine models was about 1000 times smaller than full-size turbines, suggesting that the present results should only be qualitatively extrapolated to real-field scenarios. Wind-tunnel measurements were made by means of stereoscopic particle image velocimetry to characterize the flow velocity in planes perpendicular to the flow direction. Over flat terrain, the wind-turbine wake was seen to slowly approach the ground while it propagated downstream. When introducing hilly terrain, the downward wake deflection was enhanced in response to flow variations induced by the hills, and the turbulent kinetic energy content in the wake increased because of the speed-up seen over the hills. The combined wake observed behind 2 streamwise aligned turbines was more diffused and when introducing hills, it was more prone to deflect towards the ground compared to the wake behind an isolated turbine. Since wake interactions are common at sites with multiple turbines, this suggested that it is important to consider the local hill-induced velocity variations when onshore wind farms are analysed. Differences in the flow fields were seen when introducing either homogeneous or sheared turbulent inflow conditions, emphasizing the importance of accounting for the prevailing turbulence conditions at a given wind-farm site to accurately capture the downstream wake development.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 23 January 2018
e-pub ahead of print date: 30 March 2018
Published date: August 2018
Keywords: Complex terrain, Wind turbines, Wind-tunnel measurements

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 420104
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/420104
ISSN: 1095-4244
PURE UUID: 4fa181cb-9ea7-4d44-b807-4f07ac76e14a
ORCID for Giovanni Lacagnina: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8038-1127

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Date deposited: 26 Apr 2018 16:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 06:27

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Contributors

Author: Ann Hyvärinen
Author: Giovanni Lacagnina ORCID iD
Author: Antonio Segalini

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