Public Research Seminar by Sustainable Energy and Environment Thrust, Function Hub, HKUST(GZ) - Wind Turbine Aeromechanics and Wake Interferences in Wind Farms

The recent progress made in the speaker’s research laboratory on wind turbine aeromechanics and wake interferences among multiple wind turbines in onshore and offshore wind farms will be introduced.  The experimental studies are conducted in a large-scale Aerodynamic/Atmospheric Boundary Layer (AABL) Wind Tunnel available at Iowa State University. An array of scaled wind turbine models was placed in atmospheric boundary layer winds with different mean and turbulence characteristics to simulate the situations in onshore and offshore wind farms.  The effects of the spacing between turbines, turbine array layout, and terrain topology of wind farms on turbine performances and the wake interferences are investigated systematically.  In addition to measuring dynamic wind loads (both forces and moments) and the power outputs of the model turbines, a high-resolution Stereoscopic Particle Image Velocity (SPIV) system was used to conduct detailed flow field measurements to quantify the evolution of turbulent vortices and characteristics of the wake interferences among the wind turbines sited over a flat (baseline case) and hilly terrain with non-homogenous surface winds. The speaker’s recent work to explore a novel dual-rotor wind turbine (DRWT) concept for improved turbine performance and wind farm efficiency and the effects of the wave-induced base motion on the performance of floating offshore wind turbines will also be introduced briefly.