Effect of Turbulence Level on Torque and Power Coefficients of an H.A.W.T.

The flows over the wind turbines are often highly turbulent. This is mainly because of the earth boundary layer and the effect of the upstream wind turbines. This paper investigates the effect of turbulence intensity on the aerodynamic performance of a horizontal axis wind turbine. Three different turbulence levels (۴.۴%, ۹% and ۱۲%) with the length scale of the order of magnitude of chord length are considered. A RANS CFD method with a moving reference frame (MRF) was developed to model the wind turbine. The results which show a good consistency with the experimental results, can be used to adequately space the wind turbines in a wind energy farms.