Effects of the thrust force induced by wind turbine rotors on the incoming wind field: A wind LiDAR experiment

Letizia, Stefano; Moss, Coleman; Puccioni, Matteo; Jacquet, Clément; Apgar, Dale; Iungo, Giacomo Valerio

doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2265/2/022033

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…However, Bleeg et al 22 did not take into account the stability of the atmospheric flow. In a recent field experiment performed with wind scanning LiDARs, 23 it was found that the velocity reduction upwind of a wind turbine varied depending on the atmospheric stratification.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of wind shear and thrust coefficient on the induction zone of a porous disk: A wind tunnel study

Ahmed,

Iungo

2024

Wind Energy

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Neglecting the velocity reduction in the induction zone of wind turbines can lead to overestimates of power production predictions, and, thus, of the annual energy production for a wind farm. An experimental study on the induction zone associated with wind turbine operations is performed in the boundary‐layer test section of the BLAST wind tunnel at UT Dallas using stereo particle image velocimetry. This experiment provides a detailed quantification of the wind speed decrease associated with the induction zone for two different incoming flows, namely, uniform flow and boundary layer flow. Operations of wind turbines in different regions of the power curve are modeled in the wind tunnel environment with two porous disks with a solidity of 50.4% and 32.3%, which correspond to thrust coefficients of 0.71 and 0.63, respectively. The porous disks are designed to approximate the wake velocity profiles previously measured for utility‐scale wind turbines through scanning wind LiDARs. The results show that the streamwise velocity at one rotor diameter upwind of both disks decreases 1% more for the boundary layer flow than for the uniform flow. Further, the effect of shear in front of the disk with a higher thrust coefficient can be observed until 1.75 rotor diameter upwind of the disk, whereas for the disk with a lower thrust coefficient, the effect of shear becomes negligible at 1.25 rotor diameter upwind. It is found that at one rotor diameter upwind, for both incoming flows, the disk having a higher thrust coefficient has 2% more velocity reduction than the lower‐thrust‐coefficient disk. The results suggest that the variability in wind shear and rotor thrust coefficient, which is encountered during typical operations of wind turbines, should be considered for the development of improved models for predictions of the rotor induction zone, the respective cumulative effects in the presence of multiple turbines, namely, wind farm blockage, and more accurate predictions of wind farm power capture.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of wind shear and thrust coefficient on the induction zone of a porous disk: A wind tunnel study

Ahmed,

Iungo

2024

Wind Energy

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“…Several scanning technologies and strategies have been adopted to probe the atmospheric boundary layer for wind energy applications. Profiling lidars have been deployed for freestream resource assessment (Gottschall et al, 2012;Optis et al, 2021;Sharma et al, 2021), wake characterization (Heisel et al, 2018) and plant induction quantification (Jacquet et al, 2022;Letizia et al, 2022). Scanning lidars, i.e., those that feature the ability to direct the laser beam in arbitrary directions (among other abilties), offer additional flexibility and permit a more targeted characterization of the wind plant flow.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of wind turbine flow through nacelle-mounted lidars: a review

Letizia,

Brugger,

Bodini

et al. 2023

Front. Mech. Eng.

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This article provides a comprehensive review of the most recent advances in the planning, execution, and analysis of inflow and wake measurements from nacelle-mounted wind Doppler lidars. Lidars installed on top of wind turbines provide a holistic view of the inflow and wake characteristics required to characterize and optimize wind turbine performance, carry out model validation and calibration, and aid in real-time control. The need to balance the enhanced capabilities and limitations of lidars compared to traditional anemometers inspired a broad variety of approaches for scan design and wind reconstruction, which we discuss in this review. We give particular emphasis to identifying common guidelines and gaps in the available literature with the aim of providing an exhaustive picture of the state-of-the-art techniques for reconstructing wind plant flow using nacelle-mounted lidars.

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Profiling wind LiDAR measurements to quantify blockage for onshore wind turbines

Moss,

Puccioni,

Maulik

et al. 2023

Wind Energy

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Flow modifications induced by wind turbine rotors on the incoming atmospheric boundary layer (ABL), such as blockage and speedups, can be important factors affecting the power performance and annual energy production (AEP) of a wind farm. Further, these rotor‐induced effects on the incoming ABL can vary significantly with the characteristics of the incoming wind, such as wind shear, veer, and turbulence intensity, and turbine operative conditions. To better characterize the complex flow physics underpinning the interaction between turbine rotors and the ABL, a field campaign was performed by deploying profiling wind LiDARs both before and after the construction of an onshore wind turbine array. Considering that the magnitude of these rotor‐induced flow modifications represents a small percentage of the incoming wind speed ( ), high accuracy needs to be achieved for the analysis of the experimental data and generation of flow predictions. Further, flow distortions induced by the site topography and effects of the local climatology need to be quantified and differentiated from those induced by wind turbine rotors. To this aim, a suite of statistical and machine learning models, such as k‐means cluster analysis coupled with random forest predictions, are used to quantify and predict flow modifications for different wind and atmospheric conditions. The experimental results show that wind velocity reductions of up to 3% can be observed at an upstream distance of 1.5 rotor diameter from the leading wind turbine rotor, with more significant effects occurring for larger positive wind shear. For more complex wind conditions, such as negative shear and low‐level jet, the rotor induction becomes highly complex entailing either velocity reductions (down to 9%) below hub height and velocity increases (up to 3%) above hub height. The effects of the rotor induction on the incoming wind velocity field seem to be already roughly negligible at an upstream distance of three rotor diameters. The results from this field experiment will inform models to simulate wind‐turbine and wind‐farm operations with improved accuracy for flow predictions in the proximity of the rotor area, which will be instrumental for more accurate quantification of wind farm blockage and relative effects on AEP.

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Effects of the thrust force induced by wind turbine rotors on the incoming wind field: A wind LiDAR experiment

Cited by 4 publications

References 27 publications

Effects of wind shear and thrust coefficient on the induction zone of a porous disk: A wind tunnel study

Effects of wind shear and thrust coefficient on the induction zone of a porous disk: A wind tunnel study

Characterization of wind turbine flow through nacelle-mounted lidars: a review

Profiling wind LiDAR measurements to quantify blockage for onshore wind turbines

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