Investigation of the Rotor Wake of Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine under Yawed Condition

Abstract

The wake and the lack of existing velocity behind the wind turbine affect the energy production and the mechanical integrity of wind turbines downstream in the wind farms. This paper presents an investigation of the unsteady flow around a wind turbine under yawed condition. The simulations and experimental measures are made for the yaw angle rotor 30° and 0°. The wind velocity is 9.3 m/s and the rotation velocity rotor of the wind turbine in 1300, 1500 and 1800 rpm. The wind turbine rotor which is modeled is of a commercial wind turbine i.e. Rutland 503. The approach Improved Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation (IDDES) based on the SST turbulence model is used in the modeling of the flow. The solutions are obtained by using the solver which uses finite volume method. The particle image velocimetry (PIV) method is used in wind tunnel measurements in the experimental laboratory of the ENSAM Paris-Tech. The yawed downstream wake of the rotor is compared with that obtained by the experimental measurements. The results illustrate perfectly the development of the near and far wake of the rotor operation. It is observed that the upstream wind turbine yawed will have a positive impact on the power of the downstream turbine due the distance reduction of the downstream wake of the wind turbine. However the power losses are important for yawed wind turbine when compared with the wind turbine without yaw. The improved understanding of the unsteady environmental of the Horizontal Axis wind Turbine allows optimizing wind turbine structures and the number of wind turbines in wind farms.