An Experimental Investigation on the Control of Tip Vortices From Wind Turbine Blade

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2013

Identifier/URL

42937786 (Pure)

Abstract

Wind turbine dynamics, wake effects and environmental impacts have been identified the most significant research topics needed for wind resource characterization and wind power generation. Among these issues, tip vortices generated from the blade tip have been recognized as a substantial resource for the turbulent wake flow as well as the aerodynamic noise emission from a wind turbine. An experimental study is conducted to characterize the evolution of the tip vortices downstream a well-designed horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) model. In addition to measuring dynamic wind loads (both aerodynamic forces and moments) and power output from the wind turbine model, a Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) system is used to make phase-locked flow field measurements to quantify the timeevolution of the wake vortex and turbulence flow structures downstream of the wind turbine model. The objective of this study is to find an effective way to restrict the development of tip vortices and thus the consequential noise emission. By altering the blade tip design, unwanted tip vortices and vibration of blade is suppressed considerably. The detailed flow measurements at several cross sections of the blade are also conducted to illuminate the mechanism of vorticity reduction. The detailed flow field measurements are correlated with the wind load and power output measurements to elucidate the underlying physics associated with power generation and environmental impacts from wind turbines.

Comments

Presented at the 51st AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting including the New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition 2013 - Grapevine, TX, Jan 7 2013 - Jan 10 2013.

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