Energy Physics

Lecture 5
B V Kheswa

University of Johannesburg

April 2021
 Course Content
•  Nuclear Energy / Power
•  Solar Energy / Power
•  Semiconductor Solar Cells
•  Wind Energy / Power
•  Water Energy / Power
•  Energy Storage
Prescribed Textbook
 Learning Outcomes and Assessments
•  Students will be able to show understanding
of conceptual physics of energy resources and
their applications

•  Continuous assessment based on

assignments, tests, research essay
 Lecture 5 Content
•  The flow of ideal fluid
- Laminar and turbulent flow
- The continuity equation and bernoulli´s equation
- Aerodynamics

•  Two type of wind turbine designs
•  Extraction of wind power by a turbine
•  Action of turbine blades
•  Optimum speed of turbine blades
•  Operating region of turbine blades
•  Sitting of wind turbines


 Turbulent Flow and Laminar Flow
•  Wind power is basically wind kinetic energy that has been converted to electrical energy using wind
turbine
•  We need to first understand fluid dynamics in order to understand the physics of wind turbines
•  Flow of fluid can be complex, but in many cases we can treat it as Ideal Fluid
(i) Incompressible fluid
(ii) Fluid with no viscosity
- Gases such as air can be considered incompressible if pressure gradients are not too great

•  Fluid can flow in two ways:
(i) Laminar Flow (ii) turbulent flow

No fluid particles can move across one At sufficiently high flow rates or when obstacles
streamline to another causes abrupt change in fluid velocity, the
flow become irregular and chaotic ..forming eddies
When streamlines reach a curved surface, they
get closer together, hence increasing speed and Fluid kinetic energy is dissipated in thermal energy
Reducing pressure

Important Conclusion: turbulent flow should be minimized in wind Turbines


Continuity Equation and Bernoulli´s Equations
•  Fluid volume and mass flow rate are conserved
i.e. Fluid flow rate is the same across any cross- Consider fluid flow in a pipe
sectional area of the pipe

•  Continuity equation


Volume flow rate Volume flow rate at
At inlet outlet

Important conclusion: When fluid speed increases when cross-sectional area decreases
Continuity Equation and Bernoulli´s Equations
•  The pressure and velocity of fluid at a particular point are related according to
Bernoulli´s equations

As can been seen
Bernoulli´s equation
Potential Gravitational
Potential energy energy Potential Is the statement of
per unit mass Energy per Conservation of energy
per unit
unit mass Of fluid
mass

Important conclusion: When velocity increases, pressure reduces

•  Continuity Equation and Bernoulli´s equation qualitatively explains the lift
provided



Continuity Equation and Bernoulli´s Equations
Aerodynamics
•  When streamlines reach aeroplane wing, they crowd together above the wing

- According to the continuity equation cross sectional area reduces and speed increases
- Hence, pressure above the wing decreases according to Bernoulli´s equation
- Thus, downward force due to air on top of the wing is less than upward force beneath the wing

These are the same aerodynamics that rotate a wind turbine. Details on next slides.
 Two types Wind Turbine Design
•  Most common type of turbines today are those that rotate about horizontal axis

•  They typically have three blades

•  They are our main focus in this lecture
and discussed in details on next slides

•  Uncommon types of turbines nowadays are those that rotate about vertical axis

•  Their efficiency is generally lower than

horizontal axis turbines.

•  They don´t self-rotate, must be given impulse
to start rotation
 Horizontal Wind Turbine Design

•  Incoming wind cause pressure difference between opposite surfaces of turbine blades

•  Pressure difference between opposite surfaces of turbine blades cause them to rotate

•  Rotating blades cause electrical generator to rotate and hence producing electrical power
 Power Extracted from by Turbine
•  Power extracted by turbine from wind
depends initial wind speed u0, fractional decrease
of wind speed after interacting with turbine ,
and the area swept by turbine blades

For a given turbine extracted power is given by

u0 = wind speed upstream
uT = wind speed download

where Betz Criterion: No matter what the design turbine and
shape turbine blades. The maximum possible power that can be
extracted from is give by

= density of wind
 Power Extracted from by Turbine
More on Betz Limit
•  maximum power occurs when uT is one 3rd of u0 , i.e. when = 0.3

is called power coefficient. It measures the
Fraction of wind power extracted to wind





•  Maximum power can be achieved in ideal designs that produce no turbulence on blades
•  However, some turbulence is still produced and some wind kinetic energy is lost as thermal
energy
•  Thus, commercial 75 – 80% of Betz Limit due turbulence
 Action of Wind Turbine Blades
The cross-section of the
•  The blades rotate at angular velocity Ω in the plane shaded element as viewed
from the blade tip
that is perpendicular to the wind direction

•  An element of the blade at radial distance r from the
rotor hub is indicated by the shaded area

•  It has linear velocity ulin = rΩ

•  When a relative wind flows across a turbine blade, a pressure

difference develops between the two surfaces of the blade
and a lifting force is produced


•  Question: how is the relative wind created?
Streamlines show direction
How does the blade end up rotating? of relative wind not incident
wind

 Action of Wind Turbine Blades
•  The forces acting on a turbine blade are
the lift force FL and the drag
force FD

•  The lift force is consequence of the unequal
pressure on the upper and lower surfaces
of the blade.


•  The drag force is parallel to the direction of
relative wind, and is due to frictional forces between
the blade and the air

•  The lift force, Flift , and drag force, Fdrag , combine to
produce the total force, Ftot


•  This total force has a component Fpow in the plane of the
rotation of the blades and it is this component that
produces a torque on the rotor and hence the
production of power by the turbine
 Optimum Rotational Speed of Turbine
Blades
•  Rotational speed of a wind turbine is crucial for maximizing power output
•  If the rotational speed is too low, some wind pass without interacting with turbine blades


•  If rotational speed is too high, there will be turbulence reducing efficiency of turbine

•  We have to optimize the rotational speed based on the wind speed

•  This is done using the tip-speed ratio
Turbine blades radius
Angular speed of Turbine blades

Speed of incoming wind

Number of turbine
•  Experiments show that rotational speed is optimum if blades
 Operating region of a Wind Turbine
•  At low wind speeds, there is no enough torque to rotate turbine blades
•  The minimum speed turbine rotates is called cut-in speed and is between 3 – 4 m/s
•  As the wind speed rises, the output power rises rapidly
•  When wind speed exceeds 14 m/s, the extracted power is kept constant : rated power output
to avoid mechanical and electrical damage
 Operating region of a Wind Turbine
•  When wind speed exceeds 14 m/s, the extracted power is kept constant : rated power output
- This is done by controlling the pitch rotor blades
- It avoids exceeding safe electrical and mechanical load
•  As wind speed increases above rated output speed, there is a risk of damaging the rotor
- Breaking system is used to stop the rotor
- The speed at which it is stopped is called cut-out speed and is typically 25 m/s
 Operating region of a Wind Turbine
•  Typical wind turbine connected to national grid has the following parameters
i) Rotor diameter = 100 m
ii) hub height = 80 m
iii) operational wind speed = 4 - 25 m/s
iv) Power output = 3.6 MW ---enough for 3000 house holds

•  Currently the largest wind turbines have capacity of 8 MW and rotor diameter 164 m
 Sitting of a Wind Turbine
Variation of Wind Speed with height

•  Sitting of a wind turbine is crucial in maximizing the amount and speed of the wind it
receives
- This is influenced by various factors such as wind direction, local obstacles: houses, trees,
hills and mountains

•  There is logarithmic variation of wind speed with height

•  Clear the taller the turbine, the higher the wind speed
•  However, there is no much to gain due to
logarithmic dependence of wind speed on height
above 100 m
 Sitting of a Wind Turbine
A particular effective site

•  A effective site for a wind turbine is on top of a hill overlooking surrounding countryside

•  The give wide view to prevailing winds

•  Wind speed increases towards the top because air streamlines compress
- see continuity equation
 Sitting of a Wind Turbine
Adjacent Wind Turbines in Wind Farms

•  Individual wind turbines produce turbulence

downstream

•  The effect of this turbulence must be
minimized to increase wind farm efficiency


•  This turbulence is minimized by separating
wind individual turbines by at least 5 times
their rotor diameter

NOTE: ROTOR IS THE COMBINATION OF BLADES AND HUB

 Some Wind Farms are Onshore
Wind Farm in South Africa
•  In South Africa Eskom has a prototype wind farm at Klipheuwel in the Western Cape
•  It has total capacity of 3.2 MW

•  Homework: Estimate the number of wind turbines of the Klipheuwel widn farm
 Other Wind Farms are Offshore
Wind Farm in South Africa
•  The largest offshore wind farm in the world is the London Array with 175 turbines
•  It delivers 630 MW
 Problem

The output power of a wind turbine can be optimized by changing the angle of attach, α,
shown in the figure above. Workout how the output power depends on value of α
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