Wind Turbine Sound Propagation Using A Finite-Difference Time-Domain Method

Abstract

Energy usage is on the rise in both Canada and the United States. Because of this, there is a growing demand and strain on the current infrastructure. More importantly though, there is a strong demand for the use of renewable energy sources to meet this demand. One of the most popular renewable energy sources at this time is the wind turbine. In Ontario, there are plans to implement a significant number of them throughout the province. There are concerns though from residents in the vicinity of them that they cause too much noise, as well as health issues. However, some argue that these complaints stem from incorrectly calculated setback distances due to the lack of use of a detailed sound propagation model. In this study, a sound propagation model was developed using a Finite-Difference Time-Domain method, for a three dimensional computational domain, and simulated using data for a Siemens SWT-2.3-101 wind turbine. The simulations produced data of the sound propagation characteristics of each emitted wave, for each tested case. The model was developed as a starting point and building block for the eventual use in simulations of large domains and complex flow phenomena.