Fluid Mechanics Project

Douglas Felix Sousa Rocha
Major: Chemical Engineering

Fluid Mechanics
Date: 04/06/2015
Fluid Mechanics Issues Related to the

Design and Location of Wind Farms.
Norman - OK
2015
Abstract
This project reviews the issues faced with the extraction of energy
through wind turbines and wind farms. Wind turbine aerodynamics concerns
the modeling and prediction of aerodynamic forces, such as performance
predictions of wind farms, and the design of specific parts of wind turbines,
such as rotor-blade geometry. The difficulties in solving these problems will
be discussed, and the different existing models for the description of the
rotor and the wake, along with problems associated with the choice of
turbulence models and inflow conditions.
Introduction
Wind turbines operate on a simple principle. The picture below shows
how energy in the wind can be converted in kinetic energy through three
blades around a rotor. The rotor is connected to the main shaft, which spins a
generator to create electricity. Wind turbines are built on a tower to capture
the most quantity of energy. When their height is 100 feet or more, they can
take advantage of faster and less turbulent wind. Wind turbines can be used
to produce electricity for a single home or building, or they can be connected
to an electricity grid for more widespread electricity distribution. However,
many fluid mechanics issues involved in the design of optimal wind turbines,
but will limited in this project to aerodynamics issues.
Aerodynamics
In terms of aerodynamics, the placement of wind turbines in a park

leads to power losses and increased loading. In the article Energy
effectiveness of arbitrary arrays of wind turbines, written by Lissaman, he
shows the two most important factors influencing array efficiency (i.e. the
generated power of the total wind farm divided by the total power that could
be generated by the same amount of wind turbines if standing isolated): field
geometry and ambient turbulence intensity. The influence of field geometry,
the way in which turbines are placed, is clear. The influence of the
environment turbulence is twofold. High ambient turbulence levels lead to

turbulent mixing in the wake and the faster the velocity field recovers. For
off-shore wind farms the ambient turbulence is often lower than on-shore,
leading to more persistent wakes. Other factors that influence the array
efficiency are: the terrain lay-out, the wind-frequency distribution and the
operating settings of the turbines (thrust coefficient). For example, array
losses decrease with increasing wind speed, wake effects diminish because
the thrust coefficient decreases. These parameters are very much the same
as the parameters influencing the growth of the turbulent wake. Apart from
the turbulence, the mechanical turbulence created by the turbine is
important. In general, a higher turbulence level in the wake leads to larger
loads for downstream turbines. However, it has also been found that for
some turbines the loads were smaller. The highest loads on a downstream
turbine occur when a rotor is only partially immersed in the wake of an
upstream turbine. The wake of a downstream turbine recovers more quickly
than the one upstream, due to the increased turbulence levels generated by
the upstream turbine, which leads to better turbulent mixing in the
downstream wake. The incremental energy loss between turbines decreases
the farther the turbines are located from the first turbine. The second turbine
experiences a significant decrease in power, but the loss in successive
machines is much smaller. The rate of decrease of wind velocity tends to
reach an equilibrium value. A possible explanation for the approximately
constant power for downstream turbines is that after several rows of turbines
the turbulence is saturated and an equilibrium value is reached.
Stability
The height of the atmospheric boundary layer and the turbulence

intensity depend on the thermal stratification. For analyzing atmospheric
stability the concept of the adiabatic lapse rate is useful. The adiabatic lapse
rate is the change in temperature with height for a system with no heat
exchange
( dTdz )
ad
and is approximately 1C per 100m. The stability of the
atmosphere depends on the actual lapse rate
dT
dz
which has an average of
0.65C per 100m. The following atmospheric boundary layers may be

considered:
Unstable: normally during daytime, surface heating causes air to
rise, forming large convection cells (
( dTdz ) ( dTdz )
<
ad
). When the
surrounding air is still colder (no thermal equilibrium), this results in

large-scale turbulent eddies and a thick boundary layer; the
stratification is unstable.
Stable: when surface cooling suppresses vertical motion of the air,
turbulence effects are not caused by large-scale eddies, but are
dominated by friction with the ground; the stratification is stable (
( dTdz ) ( dTdz )
>
ad
). This happens normally during night time and low
winds and leads to a thin boundary layer. In case of
( dTdz )
>0
temperature inversion occurs, making the atmosphere even more
stable.
Neutral: if the air rising from the surface is in thermal equilibrium
with the surrounding air, the stratification is said to be neutral (
( dTdz ) ( dTdz )
=
ad
). This happens often in case of strong winds and
late in the afternoon. Due to the strong winds this is often the most
important situation to consider, but it is also often used because it is
an average condition, in between stable and unstable conditions.
- Turbulence
Atmospheric turbulence is known to be anisotropic 1 and is a function
of surface roughness, atmospheric stability and distance above the ground.
Turbulence intensity is defined by
I=
, where is the standard deviation
of the wind velocity in the average wind direction, and is the magnitude of
the average wind velocity. In principle the intensity is different for each wind
direction, from which the definitions for Iu, Iv and Iw. A well-known analytical
model for atmospheric turbulence is the one of Panofsky and Dutton,
often used in wind turbine simulations. The energy spectrum of a turbulent
velocity field should be, for large Reynolds numbers, proportional to f
5/3
(in
the inertial subrange), with f the frequency. Two expressions for the spectral
density of the longitudinal component, Su, are used: the Kaimal spectrum
and the von Krmn spectrum. These expressions depend on u and on
length scales that typically depend on surface roughness and height above
the ground.
- Augmented wind turbine
In order to exploit wind power as economically as possible, it was

suggested that the wind turbine should be enclosed inside a specifically
designed shroud. Several models were reported in the literature to analyze
wind turbine rotors surrounded by a device (shroud), which was usually a
diffuser. Others suggested different approaches.
The extended Bernoulli equation and mass and momentum balance
equations are used to analyze the augmented wind turbine. The power
coefficient and the thrust coefficients are derived, accounting for losses in
the same manner as was done for the bare turbine case. The efficiency of
the wind turbine could be defined as the ratio of the net power output to the
energy input to the system.
The efficiency based on this definition agrees with the Betz limit.
This type of design showed that the power coefficient is about 2-5
times greater when compared to the performance of the bare wind turbine.
The vertical part at the exit of the shroud reduces the pressure and
therefore, the wind turbine draws more mass.
The balance equations are
followed in the same manner as for the bare wind turbine. The modified
Bernoulli equation differs by the pressure at the exit and is given by:
2
2
P1 V1 P2 V2
+ =
+ +h +h
g 2 g g 2 g t loss
The pressure drop between inlet and outlet is rewritten as proportional

with proportionality coefficient (CF) to the difference in kinetic energies and
it is given by:
1
2
2
P=P1P2= ( V 1V 2 ) CF
2
wind turbine is given by:
Cp=
The power coefficient for the shrouded
P
1
V 21 A t
2
( ( ( ))
Vt
V 22
=
(CF +1 ) 1
V1
V1
C loss
( ))
Vt
V1
The thrust coefficient is given by:

Ct =
T
1
V 21 At
2
=2 ( CF+1 )
Vt
V
1 2
V1
V1
))
Conclusion
Fluid mechanics is the basic principle of wind engineering. Winds in the lower
atmosphere are best described to fluid motion in turbulent boundary layers and
vortices. The wind effects of interest in wind engineering are intimately related to
transport of mass, momentum and heat by turbulent fluid motion. However, the
fluid mechanics of wind engineering greatly exceeds the complexity of classical fluid
mechanics because of complex boundary and initial conditions. More progress in

wind engineering will depend in large measure upon progress in several areas of
basic fluid mechanics. If wind engineering is to advance beyond an almost total
dependency on laboratory investigations for wind effect information, much more
must be learned about three dimensional turbulent boundary layers with and
without thermal stratification, turbulent separation in unsteady flow, turbulent shear
flow over bluff bodies, and interacting turbulent flows of different turbulence
characteristics.
References
J. E. OERMAK, 1975, Applications of Fluid Mechanics to Wind EngineeringA
Freeman Scholar Lecture, Journal of Fluids Engineering;
Maryam Soleimanzadeh, Rafael Wisniewski, Controller design for a wind
farm, considering both power and load aspects, Mechatronics 21;
P.B.S. Lissaman, 1979. Energy effectiveness of arbitrary arrays of wind

turbines. AIAA Paper;
Francesco Petrini, Sauro Manenti, Konstantinos Gkoumas, Franco Bontempi,
2010,Wind Engineering, Vol. 34;
SORENSEN J.N. 2011 Aerodynamic aspects of wind energy conversion. Ann.
Rev. Fluid Mech., Vol. 43;
VERMEER L.J., SORENSEN J.N. & CRESPO A. 2003 Wind turbine wake
aerodynamics. Prog. Aerosp. Sci., Vol. 39;
WYNGAARD J.C. 1992 Atmospheric turbulence. Ann. Rev. Fluid Mech., Vol. 24;

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Douglas Felix Sousa Rocha

Major: Chemical Engineering

Fluid Mechanics Issues Related to the

In terms of aerodynamics, the placement of wind turbines in a park

environment turbulence is twofold. High ambient turbulence levels lead to

The height of the atmospheric boundary layer and the turbulence

and is approximately 1C per 100m. The stability of the

atmosphere depends on the actual lapse rate

which has an average of

0.65C per 100m. The following atmospheric boundary layers may be

Unstable: normally during daytime, surface heating causes air to

rise, forming large convection cells (

surrounding air is still colder (no thermal equilibrium), this results in

). This happens normally during night time and low

winds and leads to a thin boundary layer. In case of

temperature inversion occurs, making the atmosphere even more

). This happens often in case of strong winds and

Turbulence intensity is defined by

, where is the standard deviation

- Augmented wind turbine

In order to exploit wind power as economically as possible, it was

therefore, the wind turbine draws more mass.

The balance equations are

The pressure drop between inlet and outlet is rewritten as proportional

wind turbine is given by:

The power coefficient for the shrouded

The thrust coefficient is given by:

mechanics because of complex boundary and initial conditions. More progress in

P.B.S. Lissaman, 1979. Energy effectiveness of arbitrary arrays of wind

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