The effects of free-stream turbulence on the performance of a model wind turbine

Abstract

Free-stream turbulence characteristics play an important role in the mechanisms of power harvesting for wind turbines. Acquisitions of power and thrust from a model wind turbine of diameter 0.18 m have been carried out in a wind tunnel for a wide range of turbulent base flows, with varying free-stream turbulence intensity in the range between 3% and 16% and integral timescale spanning from 0.1 to 10 times the turbine rotation period. The results demonstrate that power is significantly affected by both the inflow turbulence scales and its intensity, while thrust is scarcely affected by free-stream turbulence. Fluctuations in the generated torques are also measured, with their behavior dominated by the free-stream turbulence scale, and only moderately affected by turbulence intensity. The frequency response of thrust fluctuations has been measured for a selected subset of operating conditions, demonstrating that the turbine thrust is unaffected by high-frequency components in the inflow. Conclusions are drawn on the necessity to match both turbulence intensity and base flow frequency content in wind tunnel studies if realistic results are to be obtained from small-scale studies.