Wind turbine noise modeling including aeroacoustic sources and propagation effects: comparison against field measurements

Abstract

The study of wind turbine noise and its impact is of growing importance with the increase in the demand for green and clean energy. As it is known that wind turbine noise can be a cause of annoyance in the vicinity of wind farms it is beneficial to predict with certain accuracy the generated noise in the design phase itself. A crucial step is the validation of prediction models against field measurements (in-situ). This article presents a wind turbine noise prediction model that combines Amiet's theory to calculate trailing edge noise and turbulence interaction noise in free field with a wide-angle parabolic equation valid in moving media to account for the long-range acoustic propagation effects. The model considers the wind turbine as an extended noise source and the rotation effects (such as the convective amplification and Doppler effect) are taken into account. The predicted noise levels are compared to those obtained from a measurement campaign where acoustic, meteorological and ground impedance data have been recorded simultaneously. First, the sound source model is validated close to the wind turbines for different wind speeds and directions. Then, noise predictions are compared to SPL measurements at various distances from the sound source, between 350 and 1300meters.