Aerodynamic performance of a dual turbine concept characterized by a relatively close distance between rotors

Abstract

Abstract In this work, a closely spaced dual turbine concept is studied. The distance between the two side‐by‐side hubs is 1.05 D, where D is the rotor diameter. This configuration has a potential benefit for offshore wind developments in which power density can be maximized. The main goal is to evaluate the overall aerodynamic performance, blade loads, and wake structure of a reference wind turbine generator operating within this dual turbine configuration and to compare the effects against those for the typical single turbine configuration. For this purpose, an actuator line model has been employed together with the large eddy simulation approach for predicting the turbulence effects. This model was implemented by using the open‐source computational fluid dynamics toolbox OpenFOAM. Results show a better performance for the dual turbine concept. Under same operating conditions, the aerodynamic power of each turbine within the dual concept is higher than the power of the stand alone turbine, particularly at lower operating wind speeds (approximately 2% to 3% of extra power per turbine). Comparison between the two configurations shows similar character of the tangential and normal forces acting on the blades in terms of magnitude and fluctuation, eliminating potential concerns regarding fatigue and blade design. The largest difference in the tangential and normal root bending moments are approximately 3% and 2%, respectively, between single and dual turbine configurations. Finally, wake recovery analysis shows a downwind velocity deficit that is not enhanced streamwise in the dual turbine configuration with no considerable difference after 7 D.

Keywords

• actuator line model (ALM)
• dual turbine configuration
• horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT)
• large eddy simulation (LES)