An Experimental Investigation on the Wake Characteristics of a Wind Turbine in an Atmospheric Boundary Layer Wind

An experimental study is conducted to characterize the dynamic wind loads and evolution of the turbulent vortex and flow structures in the wake of a horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT). In addition to measuring dynamic wind loads (both aerodynamic forces and moments) acting on a wind turbine model, a high-resolution Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) system was used to make “free-run” and phase-locked flow field measurements to quantify the time evolution of the turbulence vortex and flow structures in the wake of the wind turbine model. The detailed flow field measurements were correlated with the dynamic wind load measurements to elucidate the underlying physics associated with power generation and fatigue loads acting on wind turbines operating in an atmospheric boundary wind.