Experimental study on the characteristics of wind turbine wake field considering yaw conditions

Abstract

Abstract This paper explores the wake of a wind turbine yaw and its influence on the output power of the downstream wind turbine. A wind turbine model (hub height and diameter of 1.2 m and 1.0 m, respectively) was used in the experiments, and the yaw angle of the upstream wind turbine was successively varied through values of 0°, 15°, and 30°. The wind speed and the intensity of turbulence in the wake region were measured using a hot‐wire anemometer. The measuring positions were changed to 3, 5, and 7 rotor diameters behind the upstream wind turbine. In addition, the output power of the downstream wind turbine model was measured using the rotational speed torque meter. The results show that, in the case of large‐angle yaw of the upstream wind turbine, the recovery of the wind speed in the wake area was greatly improved, and up to 30% recovery was achieved. The power output of the downstream wind turbine was also significantly increased. Under the yaw conditions of 15° and 30° for the upstream wind turbine, the average output power of the downstream wind turbine increased by 17.6% and 21.6%, respectively.

Keywords

• power generation
• turbulence intensity
• wind tunnel
• wind turbine wake
• yaw