Bulletin of the American Physical Society
70th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics
Volume 62, Number 14
Sunday–Tuesday, November 19–21, 2017; Denver, Colorado
Session M17: Aerodynamics: Wind Energy IIIAerodynamics Energy
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Chair: Colin M. Parker, The George Washington University Room: 605 |
Tuesday, November 21, 2017 8:00AM - 8:13AM |
M17.00001: Wind Turbine Performance in an Atmospheric Boundary Layer: Betz Analysis Revisited Jacob West, Sanjiva Lele Using large eddy simulation of an infinite (periodic in x and y) wind farm, we compute momentum and mean mechanical energy budgets. We focus on the control volume defined by a streamtube of the mean flow that intersects with a turbine actuator disk, in a similar way as traditional Betz analysis is done for a streamtube in inviscid, irrotational flow through an actuator disk. This analysis reveals that many of the same phenomena from Betz analysis are found in the atmospheric boundary layer case. The streamtube expands as the fluid decelerates through the turbine, and the pressure increases and then drops sharply across the actuator disk. However, away from the turbine, the downstream streamtube shrinks and fluid accelerates due to turbulent mixing. In this way, turbulence alters the idealization of the Betz streamtube. We anticipate that the Betz analysis can be applied most effectively to a wind turbine in the atmospheric boundary layer by focusing on the immediate vicinity around the turbine, where inviscid, potential flow effects dominate. Adjustments can be made to account for the vertical energy flux in wind farms, as well as the energy contained in velocity fluctuations. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, November 21, 2017 8:13AM - 8:26AM |
M17.00002: Propagation of low-level jet's signals across the wind turbine structures. Walter Gutierrez, Arquimedes Ruiz-Columbie, Murat Tutkun, Luciano Castillo Low-level jets (LLJs) are identified as relative maxima in the vertical profile of the horizontal wind speed at the top of the stable boundary layer. Such peaks constitute major power resources, since they are observed at altitudes within the heights of commercial-size wind turbines (e.g., \textasciitilde 40m and 100 m). However, the stronger wind speed and the stronger wind shear below the peak altitude can also increase the mechanical loading on the wind turbine. Moreover, LLJs can act as a carrier of firm frequencies that can excite several of the turbine's parts. How those loads and frequencies are replicated along the turbine's structure has not been thoroughly studied. Using high-frequency data of actual atmospheric LLJ as input for the NREL aeroelastic simulator FAST, together with spectral analysis, we determine how the signal from the incoming wind is first created at the elements facing the wind and then transported across all turbine's parts. We found that the tower is the main source of perturbation breaking the symmetry of many of the turbine's responses. Results from this research can provide a better understanding of how several LLJ's features act to exacerbate or mitigate the damages on turbine's parts. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, November 21, 2017 8:26AM - 8:39AM |
M17.00003: Hess Tower field study: sonic measurements at a former building-integrated wind farm site Daniel Araya Built in 2010, Hess Tower is a 29-story office building located in the heart of downtown Houston, TX. Unique to the building is a roof structure that was specifically engineered to house ten vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) to partially offset the energy demands of the building. Despite extensive atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) wind tunnel tests to predict the flow conditions on the roof before the building was constructed, the Hess VAWTs were eventually removed after allegedly one of the turbines failed and fell to the ground. This talk presents in-situ sonic anemometry measurements taken on the roof of Hess Tower at the former turbine locations. We compare this wind field characterization to the ABL wind tunnel data to draw conclusions about building-integrated wind farm performance and prediction capability. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, November 21, 2017 8:39AM - 8:52AM |
M17.00004: Flow measurement behind a pair of vertical-axis wind turbines Colin M. Parker, Raymond Hummels, Megan C. Leftwich The wake from a pair of vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) is measured using particle imaging velocimetry (PIV). The VAWT models are mounted in a low-speed wind tunnel and driven using a motor control system. The rotation of the turbines is synced using a proportional controller that allows the turbine's rotational position to be set relative to each other. The rotation of the turbines is also synced with the PIV system for taking phase averaged results. The VAWTs are tested for both co- and counter-rotating cases over a range of relative phase offsets. Time averaged and phase averaged results are measured at the horizontal mid-plane in the near wake. The time-averaged results compare the bulk wake profiles from the pair of turbines. Phase averaged results look at the vortex interactions in the near wake of the turbines. By changing the phase relation between the turbines we can see the impact of the structure interactions in both the phase and time averaged results. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, November 21, 2017 8:52AM - 9:05AM |
M17.00005: Aerodynamic Interactions between Pairs of Vertical-Axis Wind Turbines Ian Brownstein, John Dabiri Increased power production has been observed in downstream vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) when positioned offset from the wake of upstream turbines. This effect was found to exist in both laboratory and field environments with pairs of co- and counter-rotating turbines. It is hypothesized that the observed power production enhancement is due to flow acceleration adjacent to the upstream turbine caused by bluff body blockage, which increases the incident freestream velocity on appropriately positioned downstream turbines. This type of flow acceleration has been observed in computational and laboratory studies of VAWTs and will be further investigated here using 3D-PTV measurements around pairs of laboratory-scale VAWTs. These measurements will be used to understand the mechanisms behind the performance enhancement effect and seek to determine optimal separation distances and angles between turbines based on turbine design parameters. These results will lead to recommendations for optimizing the power production of VAWT wind farms which utilize this effect. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, November 21, 2017 9:05AM - 9:18AM |
M17.00006: Verification of fluid-structure-interaction algorithms through the method of manufactured solutions for actuator-line applications Ganesh Vijayakumar, Michael Sprague Demonstrating expected convergence rates with spatial- and temporal-grid refinement is the ``gold standard'' of code and algorithm verification. However, the lack of analytical solutions and generating manufactured solutions presents challenges for verifying codes for complex systems. The application of the method of manufactured solutions (MMS) for verification for coupled multi-physics phenomena like fluid-structure interaction (FSI) has only seen recent investigation. While many FSI algorithms for aeroelastic phenomena have focused on boundary-resolved CFD simulations, the actuator-line representation of the structure is widely used for FSI simulations in wind-energy research. In this work, we demonstrate the verification of an FSI algorithm using MMS for actuator-line CFD simulations with a simplified structural model. We use a manufactured solution for the fluid velocity field and the displacement of the SMD system. We demonstrate the convergence of both the fluid and structural solver to second-order accuracy with grid and time-step refinement. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, November 21, 2017 9:18AM - 9:31AM |
M17.00007: Tip vortices in the actuator line model Luis Martinez, Charles Meneveau The actuator line model (ALM) is a widely used tool to represent the wind turbine blades in computational fluid dynamics without the need to resolve the full geometry of the blades. The ALM can be optimized to represent the 'correct' aerodynamics of the blades by choosing an appropriate smearing length scale $\epsilon$. This appropriate length scale creates a tip vortex which induces a downwash near the tip of the blade. A theoretical frame-work is used to establish a solution to the induced velocity created by a tip vortex as a function of the smearing length scale $\epsilon$. A correction is presented which allows the use of a non-optimal smearing length scale but still provides the downwash which would be induced using the optimal length scale. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, November 21, 2017 9:31AM - 9:44AM |
M17.00008: Description of signature scales in a floating wind turbine model wake subjected to varying turbulence intensity. Hawwa Kadum, Stanislav Rockel, Michael Holling, Joachim Peinke, Raul Bayon Cal The wake behind a floating model horizontal axis wind turbine during pitch motion is investigated and compared to a fixed wind turbine wake. An experiment is conducted in an acoustic wind tunnel where hot-wire data are acquired at five downstream locations. At each downstream location, a rake of 16 hot-wires was used with placement of the probes increasing radially in the vertical, horizontal, and diagonally at 45 deg. In addition, the effect of turbulence intensity on the floating wake is examined by subjecting the wind turbine to different inflow conditions controlled through three settings in the wind tunnel grid, a passive and two active protocols, thus varying in intensity. The wakes are inspected by statistics of the point measurements, where the various length/time scales are considered. The wake characteristics for a floating wind turbine are compared to a fixed turbine, and uncovering its features; relevant as the demand for exploiting deep waters in wind energy is increasing. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, November 21, 2017 9:44AM - 9:57AM |
M17.00009: Harnessing Wind Power in Moving Reference Frames with Application to Vehicles Oleg Goushcha, Robert Felicissimo, Amir Danesh-Yazdi, Yiannis Andreopoulos The extraction of wind power from unique configurations embedded in moving vehicles by using micro-turbine devices has been investigated. In such moving environments, the specific power of the air motion is much greater and less intermittent than in stationary wind turbines anchored to the ground in open atmospheric conditions. In a translational frame of reference, the rate of work done by the drag force acting on the wind harnessing device due the relative motion of air should be taken into account in the overall performance evaluation through an energy balance. A device with a venting tube has been tested that connects a high-pressure stagnating flow region in the front of the vehicle with a low-pressure region at its rear. Our analysis identified two key areas to focus on for potentially significant rewards: (1) Vehicles with high energy conversion efficiency which require a high mass flow rate through the venting duct, and (2) low efficiency vehicles with wakes, which will be globally affected by the introduction of the venting duct device in a manner that reduces their drag so that there is a net gain in power generation. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, November 21, 2017 9:57AM - 10:10AM |
M17.00010: Adjoint-Baed Optimal Control on the Pitch Angle of a Single-Bladed Vertical-Axis Wind Turbine Hsieh-Chen Tsai, Tim Colonius Optimal control on the pitch angle of a NACA0018 single-bladed vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) is numerically investigated at a low Reynolds number of 1500. With fixed tip-speed ratio, the input power is minimized and mean tangential force is maximized over a specific time horizon. The immersed boundary method is used to simulate the two-dimensional, incompressible flow around a horizontal cross section of the VAWT. The problem is formulated as a PDE constrained optimization problem and an iterative solution is obtained using adjoint-based conjugate gradient methods. By the end of the longest control horizon examined, two controls end up with time-invariant pitch angles of about the same magnitude but with the opposite signs. The results show that both cases lead to a reduction in the input power but not necessarily an enhancement in the mean tangential force. These reductions in input power are due to the removal of a power-damaging phenomenon that occurs when a vortex pair is captured by the blade in the upwind-half region of a cycle. This project was supported by Caltech FLOWE center/Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. [Preview Abstract] |
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