PERFORMANCE OF WIND MEASUREMENT ON THE METEOROLOGICAL MAST

NLT0903

Guidelines for

Performance of wind measurement on the meteorological mast

Basing on IEC 61400-12-1 and European Wind Energy Association guidelines.

To ensure the highest quality of the wind measurements the hereby requirements must be followed. Height of the mast
To reduce uncertainty related to the extrapolation of the wind form measured level to a hub height it is important to measure the wind speed as near to the hub height of the proposed turbine as possible. If best practice of a hub height mast is not followed, then a reasonable compromise is to ensure that masts are no less than 75% of the hub height of the turbines.

Quantity and configuration of instruments

A typical measurement mast shall have a number of anemometers installed at different heights on the mast, one or two wind vanes. Also the sensors to measure the air temperature, humidity and pressure are recommended. There shall always be an anemometer installed on the top of the mast that is working in an undisturbed wind flow. There should be also a backup anemometer located near the topmounted anemometer. The other anemometers shall be mounted on the mast at the levels that will properly reflect the vertical wind profile. The wind vane shall be mounted at a minimum of 1,5 m below the primary anemometer. The second wind vane, which can be installed at some distance from the upper wind vane, has two objectives: to be a backup for an upper vane and to reflect the vertical turn of the wind flow. The lower wind vane may mounted nearby of one of the lower anemometers. Mounting the temperature, humidity and pressure sensors is recommended to be done as high as possible, but in the way that will not disturb other measurements. The temperature sensor shall be mounted in a radiation shield. The pressure sensor may be mounted in a weatherproof box. However, care should be taken to ensure that the box is properly vented so that pressure readings are not influenced by the pressure distribution around the box.

Lightning finial
A lightning finial can protect the top mounted instruments. If lightning protection is installed, a number of precautions shall be taken: the lightning finial should be mounted at the top of the mast in such a way that it affords the top mounted anemometers with a 60 protection umbrella and in such a way that the anemometer never is in the wake of the finial when the wind is in the prevailing wind sectors; in order to reduce the wind speed reduction, the lightning finial shall be mounted at the distance of minimum 8 its diameters from the top-mounted anemometer; an adequately sized earth connection should be strapped to the tower base.

Data collection
Data shall be collected continuously at a sampling rate of 1 Hz or higher. Air temperature, air pressure, wind turbine status and precipitation, if measured, may be sampled at a slower rate, but at least once per minute. The data acquisition system shall store either sampled data or statistics of data sets as follows: mean value; standard deviation; maximum value; minimum value. Selected data sets shall be based on 10-min periods derived from contiguous measured data.

Anemometer calibration
The cup anemometer shall be calibrated before and recalibrated after the measurement campaign. The difference between the regression lines of calibration and recalibration shall be within 0,1 m/s in the range 6m/s to 12 m/s. Calibration of the cup anemometer shall be made according to the procedure recommended by MEASNET. During calibration the cup anemometer shall be mounted on a vertical tube configuration similar to the one being used during the measurements.

Anemometer on top
The anemometer shall be mounted on a round vertical tube, with the same outer diameter as used during calibration, which carries the cable to the anemometer inside. The angle deviation from vertical should be less than 2. The tube shall be no larger in diameter than the body of the anemometer and shall support the anemometer cups at least 0,75 m above the meteorological tower and any other flow disturbances. The bracket connecting the anemometer to the vertical tube shall be compact, smooth,

PERFORMANCE OF WIND MEASUREMENT ON THE METEOROLOGICAL MAST

NLT0903

and symmetrical. If necessary to hold the anemometer steady, the small-diameter vertical tube may be mounted on another tube of larger diameter in order to ensure that no parts of the meteorological mast extend beyond a 1:5 cone whose vertex is at the height of the anemometer cups. Other instruments must be positioned at least 1,5 m below the anemometer cups. These instruments and their supporting brackets to a boom may extend beyond the 1:5 cone.

Boom mounting of cup anemometers

Wakes from tower guys can have a strong influence on cup anemometers over surprisingly long distances. Location of cup anemometers in the vicinity of upstream guys shall be avoided. Booms for the anemometers must me rigid and ensure the maximum stability of the anemometers mounted on it. Boom-mounted cup anemometers are influenced by flow distortion of both the mast and the boom. The influence of a round tubular boom is 0.5 % for a distance of the cup rotor 15 boom diameters above the boom. Flow distortion due to booms should be kept below 0.5 %, so it is recommended to keep a distance of 15 boom diameters from the anemometer to the boom. An anemometer operating in the wake of the meteorological mast is highly disturbed. Flow distortion upstream of the mast can be significant. Adequate separation must be allowed between the cup anemometer and the mast to keep flow distortion effects to an acceptably low level. The required separation of the anemometer from the tower depends upon the type of mast and solidity.

Tubular masts

In case of tubular masts, there is a retardation of the flow upwind of the mast, acceleration round it, and a wake behind it. For winds within 45 of the line from the anemometer to the meteorological mast, the largest relative wind speed is seen when the winds are aligned with the anemometer and mast. A 99,5 % relative wind speed is seen to occur at R/d of 8,2 (R is the boom length and r is a mast diameter). Flow distortion due to mast should be kept below 0.5%, so it is recommended to keep a distance of 8.2 mast diameters from the anemometer to the mast. The lowest retardation of the wind flow is observed on the lines on 60 of the wind direction and mast, so it is recommended to install anemometer booms on 60 of the prevailing wind direction. Additionally, due to instable flow around the top of the mast it is recommended to install the side-mounted anemometers at least 6 mast diameters below the top.

Lattice masts

PERFORMANCE OF WIND MEASUREMENT ON THE METEOROLOGICAL MAST

NLT0903

The degree to which flow is disturbed by the mast is a function of the solidity of the mast, the drag of the individual members, the orientation of the wind and the separation of the measurement point from the mast. The flow distortion is a function of the assumed thrust coefficient, CT, which in turn depends upon the porosity of the mast and the drag on the individual members. CT can be regarded as the total drag force per unit length of the tower, divided by the dynamic pressure and the face width, L.

At typical distances of the anemometer R above 2, this flow disturbance is very little affected by tower orientation (whether the face or a corner is oriented into the wind), and it can therefore be assumed to be the same. If the measurement sector is 90 or less, minimum distortion is obtained when the anemometer is placed at an angle of 90 to the centre of the measurement sector. Otherwise, the flow distortion may be determined by considering the upwind deficit as a function of distance. CT can be estimated from the table in which the solidity t is defined as the ratio of the projected area of all structural members on the side of the tower to the total exposed area.

It is recommended no to exceed the wind speed deficit of 99,5 % due to mast construction. When considering the anemometers mounting on lattice mast, the appropriate distance from the anemometer to the center of the mast section centre shall be calculated, basing on the calculated t and CT values. For the best quality of the measurements it is recommended to install the anemometers perpendicularly to the main wind direction.