6.

wind turbines

momentum theory: HAWT

angular velocity of turbine ⌦

angular velocity of wake rotation

The rotation of the horizontal axis wind turbine on downstream side of turbine disk !

induces a wake rotation in the opposite direction.

Consider an annulus with area dAt = 2 ⇡ r dr .

⌦R
define the tip speed ratio =
Uu
⌦r r p2 p3 , !
define the local speed ratio r = =
Uu R
p1 = p1 = 0 p4 = p1 = 0

Uu Ut
define induction factor for wake velocity: a = r
Uu
! At = ⇡R2
define induction factor for wake rotation: a0 = dr
2⌦
R

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6. wind turbines

conservation of mass: dṁ = ⇢ dAt Ut

conservation of momentum

angular momentum, across turbine disk: dQ = dṁ r2 !

linear momentum, across turbine disk: dAt p2 dAt p3 = dT

linear momentum, upstream and downstream: dṁ Uu dṁ Ud = dT

conservation of energy
1 1
upstream and ahead of turbine: dṁ Uu2 p2 dAt Ut dṁ Ut2 = 0
2 2
1 1 ⇣ ⌘
across turbine disk: p2 dAt Ut + dṁ Ut2 p3 dAt Ut 2 2
dṁ Ut + (! r) = dQ ⌦
2 2
1 1
upstream and downstream: dṁ Uu2 dṁ Ud2 = dT Ut
2 2
Here, the term dT Ut represents the sum of the kinetic energy in
the wake rotation and the energy extracted by the turbine dQ ⌦ .

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6. wind turbines

Thus, we obtain:

dQ = 4 a0 (1 a) ⇢ ⌦ Uu ⇡ r3 dr

dT = 4 a0 (1 + a0 ) ⇢ ⌦2 ⇡ r3 dr = 4 a (1 a) ⇢ Uu2 ⇡ r dr

✓ ◆
8
The first equation renders dP = dQ ⌦ = Pwind 2
a0 (1 a) 3
r d r .

Thus, the maximum of the power generated by an annular ring of the turbine is associated
with the largest possible value of a0 (1 a) .

Manipulation of the thrust terms gives

s
a (1 a) 1 1 4
= 2
r or, rearranged, a0 = + 1+ 2
a(1 a) .
a0 (1 + a0 ) 2 2 r

Expressing a0 in terms of a , differentiating a0 (1 a) with respect to a and equating

2 (1 a)(4a 1)2
the result to zero renders r = .
1 3a

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6. wind turbines

a (1 a) 2 0 1 3a
Equating this with 0 0
= r renders a = for maximum power generation.
a (1 + a ) 4a 1

After further manipulation, the maximum power coefficient can be expressed as

R Za1 ✓ ◆2
dPmax 24 8a3 14a2 + 7a 1
CP max = = 2 da ,
Pwind 1 3a
a0
1
where a0 = corresponds to r = 0 and a1 depends on .
4
The integral can be evaluated numerically.

Finally, the torque coefficient CQ is obtained from

P PR 1 Pwind R CP 1 2 3 CP
Q = = = = ⇢ Uu ⇡ R
⌦ Uu Uu |2 {z } |{z}
Qwind CQ

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6. wind turbines

0.9

0.8
Betz limit for CP
0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4 CP max
0.3 CQ max
0.2

0.1

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

tip speed ratio

Turbines operating at small tip speed ratios (low rotational speeds) generate
higher torques but less power than turbines designed for larger tip speed ratios.

WGD EGEM07 Fluid-Structure Interaction 59