Purdue University Purdue e-Pubs Open Access Dissertations Theses and Dissertations Fall 2013 An Experimental Investigation of Wind Turbine Aerodynamic Interaction Brandon Lee Ennis Purdue University Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_dissertations Part of the Mechanical Engineering Commons, and the Oil, Gas, and Energy Commons Recommended Citation Ennis, Brandon Lee, "An Experimental Investigation of Wind Turbine Aerodynamic Interaction" (2013). Open Access Dissertations. 113. https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_dissertations/113 This document has been made available through Purdue e-Pubs, a service of the Purdue University Libraries. Please contact [email protected] for additional information. Graduate School ETD Form 9 (Revised 12/07) PURDUE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL Thesis/Dissertation Acceptance This is to certify that the thesis/dissertation prepared By Brandon Lee Ennis Entitled An Experimental Investigation of Wind Turbine Aerodynamic Interaction Doctor of Philosophy For the degree of Is approved by the final examining committee: Prof. Sandy Fleeter Chair Prof. Doug Adams Prof. Jun Chen Prof. Karen Marais To the best of my knowledge and as understood by the student in the Research Integrity and Copyright Disclaimer (Graduate School Form 20), this thesis/dissertation adheres to the provisions of Purdue University’s “Policy on Integrity in Research” and the use of copyrighted material. Approved by Major Professor(s): ____________________________________Prof. Sandy Fleeter ____________________________________ Approved by: David Anderson 11/26/2013 Head of the Graduate Program Date AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF WIND TURBINE AERODYNAMIC INTERACTION A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Purdue University by Brandon Lee Ennis In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2013 Purdue University West Lafayette, Indiana ii “I can do all things through Jesus Christ, who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13 Thank you Lord for your love displayed through faithfulness to me both in times of great abundance and times of great need. With your help, may I be faithful to you and only love you more for the rest of my days. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The highest thanks and praise and all glory goes to the Lord and my Savior, Jesus Christ, for this work. It is by his grace and strength that I was able to accomplish this work and it is his divine plan which has led me here and has seen me through this program. I also want to sincerely thank Prof. Sandy Fleeter. Prof. Fleeter has such great understanding and insight into choosing novel research projects which provide needed and significant results. I have enjoyed my six years as his graduate student and the opportunities to learn from him in the classroom, to learn from him about research, and to simply learn about him through the many conversations. Without Prof. Fleeter’s guidance and willingness and trust to put me on big projects I would not be where I am or the researcher I am today. Prof. Fleeter is one of the Great’s of Purdue, and I am truly privileged to have worked under his guidance. Thank you for always supporting me financially and emotionally. I hope that I have honored you with this work. I would be remiss to not also express my deep gratitude to Ronnie McGuire, the most talented and caring machinist that has ever worked at Purdue. Ronnie has gone above and beyond what I could ever think to ask of him. He has come in on Saturday’s to work with me outside in the cold, he has worked early hours and late hours, and he always makes great parts. Ronnie’s friendship and his generous heart and all the conversations we’ve shared will always stand out to me when I think back on my time at Purdue. Thank you for your seemingly endless experience and for your willingness to always help, I literally couldn’t have completed this dissertation without you. Finally, to my family, friends, roommates and brothers and sisters in Christ; you have held me up when I have been weak, you have given me joy when I have felt sorrow, and you have prayed for me without ceasing. I owe this accomplishment, in part, to you also. Thank you for your love and encouragement, and for making life so much better. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................................ vi LIST OF FIGURES........................................................................................................................................ viii ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................................... xii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Problem Background ....................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Problem Description ........................................................................................................................ 2 1.3 Technical Literature ......................................................................................................................... 2 1.4 Research Objectives....................................................................................................................... 29 CHAPTER 2: EXPERIMENTAL FACILITY ......................................................................................... 30 2.1 Micro Reconfigurable Wind Farm Test Facility ............................................................... 30 2.1.1 Micro Reconfigurable Wind Farm Instrumentation.............................................. 30 2.1.2 Wind Turbine Performance Instrumentation .......................................................... 35 CHAPTER 3: TECHNICAL APPROACH ............................................................................................... 39 3.1 Wind Turbine Nomenclature .................................................................................................... 39 3.2 Wind Turbine Optimum Theoretical Performance Derivations .............................. 40 3.2.1 Single Rotor Wind Turbine Optimum Theoretical Performance .................... 40 3.2.2 Double Rotor Wind Turbine Optimum Theoretical Performance .................. 44 3.3 Wind Turbine Wake Modeling ................................................................................................. 51 3.3.1 Wind Turbine Single Wake Model ................................................................................. 52 3.3.2 Wind Turbine Multiple Wake Model ............................................................................ 59 3.3.3 Wind Turbine Lateral Wake Model ............................................................................... 61 3.4 Micro Reconfigurable Wind Farm Technical Approach ............................................... 65 3.4.1 Micro Reconfigurable Wind Farm Data Acquisition.............................................. 65 v Page 3.4.2 Micro Reconfigurable Wind Farm Data Analysis .................................................... 69 3.4.3 Micro Reconfigurable Wind Farm Experimental Uncertainty ......................... 78 CHAPTER 4: WIND DATA ANALYSIS RESULTS ............................................................................ 82 4.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 83 4.2 Data Acquisition .............................................................................................................................. 86 4.3 Mathematical Procedure ............................................................................................................. 87 4.4 Results .................................................................................................................................................. 90 4.5 Conclusions ..................................................................................................................................... 112 4.6 Highlights......................................................................................................................................... 113 4.7 Additional Monthly Averaged Wind Speed Data .......................................................... 114 4.8 Additional Monthly Averaged Weibull Parameter Data ........................................... 116 CHAPTER 5: MICRO RECONFIGURABLE WIND FARM EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS ...................................................................................................................................................... 118 5.1 Limitations and Assumptions ................................................................................................ 118 5.2 Wind Turbine Single Wake Results..................................................................................... 119 5.3 Wind Turbine Multiple Wake Results ................................................................................ 144 5.4 Wind Turbine Lateral Wake Results .................................................................................. 158 CHAPTER 6: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................ 174 6.1 Conclusions ....................................................................................................................................