Wind Speed Power Spectrum Analysis for Bushland, Texas, USA

Abstract

Numerous papers and publications on wind turbulence have referenced the wind speed spectrum presented by Isaac Van der Hoven in his article entitled Power Spectrum of Horizontal Wind Speed Spectrum in the Frequency Range from 0.0007 to 900 Cycles per Hour (Journal of Meteorology, Vol. 14, 1957, p. 160). Van der Hoven used data measured at different heights between 91 and 125 meters, and represented the high frequency end of the spectrum with data from the peak wind speed hour of hurricane Connie (13 August 1955). Because the data were collected in such special conditions we should question the use of his power spectrum in the wind industry. We computed a power spectrum for Bushland, Texas, from 13 years of hourly average data, 1 year of 5 minute average data, and 2 particularly gusty day's 1 second average data all collected at a height of 10 metres. While the general shape is similar to the Van der Hoven spectrum, few of his peaks were found in the Bushland spectrum.