Do wind turbines pose roll hazards to light aircraft?

Tomaszewski, Jessica M.; Lundquist, Julie K.; Churchfield, Matthew J.; Moriarty, Patrick J.

doi:10.5194/wes-3-833-2018

Title: Do wind turbines pose roll hazards to light aircraft?

Journal Article · 01 November 2018 · Wind Energy Science (Online)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-3-833-2018 · OSTI ID:1513801

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Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States); National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Abstract. Wind energy accounted for 5.6% of all electricity generationin the United States in 2016. Much of this development has occurred in rurallocations, where open spaces favorable for harnessing wind also serve generalaviation airports. As such, nearly 40% of all United States wind turbines existwithin 10km of a small airport. Wind turbines generate electricity byextracting momentum from the atmosphere, creating downwind wakescharacterized by wind-speed deficits and increased turbulence. Recently, theconcern that turbine wakes pose hazards for small aircraft has been used tolimit wind-farm development. Herein, we assess roll hazards to small aircraftusing large-eddy simulations (LES) of a utility-scale turbine wake. Wind-generatedlift forces and subsequent rolling moments are calculated for hypotheticalaircraft transecting the wake in various orientations. Stably and neutrallystratified cases are explored, with the stable case presenting a possibleworst-case scenario due to longer-persisting wakes permitted by lower ambientturbulence. In both cases, only 0.001% of rolling moments experienced byhypothetical aircraft during down-wake and cross-wake transects lead to anincreased risk of rolling.

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Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Wind and Water Technologies Office (EE-4W)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1513801

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5000-73919

Journal Information:: Wind Energy Science (Online), Journal Name: Wind Energy Science (Online) Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 3; ISSN 2366-7451

Publisher:: European Wind Energy Association - CopernicusCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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