CFD Prediction of Performance of Wind Turbines Integrated in the Existing Civil Infrastructure

Abstract

Power generation from wind energy is almost entirely performed in rural locations or at sea, and very little attention has been given to the use of wind turbines in urban locations. Since the re-emergence of wind turbines, the majority of their applications are in large commercial wind farms in rural areas or out at sea, and there is an increasing focus on the use of wind turbines within an urban environment possibly using existing structures, such as bridges and viaducts. There are very few existing buildings which have been designed from the ground-up to include wind turbines in the structure. In order to estimate the wind resources and the performance of a turbine at a particular site, a CFD model is designed and CFD calculations are performed. In order to simplify the modelling of a wind turbine actuator, disc theory is applied. Actuator disc theory is used, as it allows the aerodynamic behaviour of a wind turbine to be analyzed by just considering the energy extraction process without a specific wind turbine design. The power output of wind turbines installed beneath an already existing civil infrastructure is determined and analyzed.

A Multi-Flow Visual Analytics Web Platform for Detecting High Wind Energy Potential in Urban Environments

“…An interactive visualization, based on 3D city modeling, can extract meaningful information in the field of wind energy. Although, in some cases, a 2D visualization of high wind potential can be facilitated, a 3D representation is more intuitive and provides the opportunity to explore special use cases, such as the integration of wind turbines into the underside of high altitude bridges (Handsaker et al, 2021) or the implementation of an array of vertically aligned wind turbines (Figure 1). Identifying locations in an urban environment where a small scale wind turbine could yield an adequate amount of energy in the course of a year is a four-dimensional problem.…”

Numerical Study of a Wind Turbine Blade Modification Using 30° Angle Winglet on Clark Y Foil

“…Improving turbine performance can be satisfactorily predicted using the CFD method. The CFD can precisely predict fluid behaviour and the interaction between fluid and structure [8]. The additional winglet profile on the wind turbine operation can also be predicted using CFD, as studied by Nugroho [9], Khalafallah [10], and Mourad et al [11].…”