Title
Wind speed measurements using distributed fiber optics: a wind tunnel study
Author
van Ramshorst, Justus (TU Delft Civil Engineering and Geosciences)
Contributor
Coenders, Miriam (mentor)
Schilperoort, Bart (mentor)
Savenije, Huub (mentor)
van de Wiel, Bas (mentor)
Izett, Jonathan (graduation committee)
Selker, John S. (graduation committee)
Higgins, CW (graduation committee)
Degree granting institution
Delft University of Technology
Date
2018-07-02
Abstract
Near-surface wind speed is typically only measured by point observations. The so-called Actively Heated Fiber-Optic (AHFO) technique, however, has the potential to provide high-resolution distributed observations, allowing for better understanding of different processes. However, before it can be widely used, its performance needs to be tested in a range of settings. Therefore, in this work, experimental results on this novel observational wind-probing technique are presented. We utilized a controlled wind-tunnel setup to assess both the accuracy and the precision of AHFO as well as its potential for outdoor atmospheric operation. The technique allows for wind speed characterization with a spatial resolution of 0.3 m on a 1 s time scale. The flow in the wind tunnel is varied in a controlled manner, such that the mean wind, ranges between 1 and 17 m/s. Comparison of the AHFO measurements with observations from a sonic anemometer shows a high overall correlation, ranging from 0.94-0.99. Also, both precision and accuracy are greater than 95 %. As such, it is concluded that the AHFO has potential to be employed as an outdoor observational technique in addition to existing techniques. In particular, it allows for characterization of spatial varying fields of mean wind in complex terrain, such as in canopy flows or in sloping terrain. In the future the technique could be combined with regular Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) for turbulent heat flux estimation in micrometeorological/hydrological applications.
Subject
AHFO
DTS
wind
speed
tunnel
distributed
To reference this document use:
http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:7cffa6d3-fa0f-49a8-9daf-8933ff5c2a48
Embargo date
2019-07-02
Part of collection
Student theses
Document type
master thesis
Rights
© 2018 Justus van Ramshorst