Aeroacoustic Assessment of Wind Plant Controls

Technical Report · Sat May 01 04:00:00 EDT 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1785330· OSTI ID:1785330

Hamilton, Nicholas ^[1]; Bortolotti, Pietro E. ^[1]; Jager, Dave ^[1]; Guo, Yi ^[1]; Roadman, Jason M. ^[1]; Simley, Eric ^[1]

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1. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

The Aeroacoustic Assessment project aims to quantify changes in aeroacoustic noise generation by a utility scale wind turbine operating under imposed yaw offsets common for wake steering and wind plant control strategies. Active plant control utilizing wake deflection control strategies have been shown experimentally and computationally to reliably produce 1-2% of additional annual energy production (AEP) without significant changes in turbine structural loads, the potential impact on aeroacoustic emissions has yet to be quantified or completely understood. Yawed operation of a wind turbine changes the three-dimensional aerodynamic interaction between the rotor blades and the incoming atmospheric flow, leading to changes in noise generation. This work quantifies the extent to which active control induces additional aeroacoustic emissions from additional separation and other flow interaction dynamic effects. Given public concerns about wind turbine noise and the need for observational data required for regulators to establish noise restrictions, we must understand potential acoustic emissions resulting from active control prior to commercial deployment and the development of practical noise reduction methods and technologies. The work outlined in this report details the new aeroacoustic measurement capability developed at NREL and its application to making full-field observations of noise from a utility-scale wind turbine. Preliminary noise modeling with the aeroacoustics module in OpenFAST helped to establish the design of the experiment, specifically targeting the noise observed at observers distributed around the DOE-owned GE 1.5 MW wind turbine. Low-frequency and infrasound measurement capability implemented in this project establish an operational baseline for the wind turbine, setting the stage for future control, rotor blade, and turbine design research.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Wind Energy Technologies Office
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 1785330
• Report Number(s): NREL/TP--5000-79664; MainId:35885; UUID:d80f86c1-e985-4661-982a-1b9d66b8362a; MainAdminID:23456
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

17 WIND ENERGY
47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
aeroacoustics
wake steering
wind plant controls
wind turbine noise