Title: Experimental and numerical study of flow around a wind turbine rotor

Authors: Ivan Dobrev; Fawaz Massouh; Asif Memon

Addresses: Arts et Métiers-Paristech, 151, bd L'Hôpital, Paris 75013, France ' Arts et Métiers-Paristech, 151, bd L'Hôpital, Paris 75013, France ' Arts et Métiers-Paristech, 151, bd L'Hôpital, Paris 75013, France

Abstract: An improved model of an actuator surface is proposed, representing the flow around a wind turbine. This model was developed in conjunction with a Navier-Stokes solver using a blade element method for the calculation of power and wake development. Blades have been replaced with thin surfaces, and a boundary condition of 'pressure discontinuity' has been applied with rotor inflow and blade-section characteristics. The proposed improvement consists of applying tangential body forces along the chord, in addition to normal body forces resulting from pressure discontinuity along the blade cross-section. The proposed model has been validated for the flow around a horizontal-axis wind turbine. The results obtained from the proposed model are compared with the experimental results obtained from PIV-wind tunnel techniques. The comparison has displayed the necessity of the proposed model for accurate reproduction of the wake behind rotor. The rapidity of calculation, in comparison to full-geometry modelling, appears to be promising for wind farm simulations.

Keywords: wind turbines; wake; particle image velocimetry; PIV; flow; turbine rotors; wind energy; wind power; modelling; actuator surfaces; wind farm simulation; wind farms.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESMS.2013.052380

International Journal of Engineering Systems Modelling and Simulation, 2013 Vol.5 No.1/2/3, pp.137 - 146

Published online: 29 Aug 2014 *

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