An experimental and numerical analysis of the dynamic variation of the angle of attack in a vertical-axis wind turbine

Simulation methods ensuring a level of fidelity higher than that of the ubiquitous Blade Element Momentum theory are increasingly applied to VAWTs, ranging from Lifting-Line methods, to Actuator Line or Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The inherent complexity of these machines, characterised by a continuous variation of the angle of attack...

Flow Analysis between Two Bluff Bodies in a Close Distance Platooning Configuration

This article analyses the flow field between two 1/8-scale Generalized European Transport System (GETS) models which are placed in a two-vehicle platoon at close distances. Numerical simulations using the lattice Boltzmann method together with a wind tunnel experiment (open jet facility, OJF) were executed. Next to balance measurements,...

Bridging PIV spatial and temporal resolution using governing equations and development of the coaxial volumetric velocimeter

A series of techniques is proposed for volumetric air flow measurements that are based upon the principles of particle image velocimetry (PIV). The proposed techniques fall in two categories; part 1 of this dissertation considers measurement data processing using constitutive laws and part 2 focuses on development of a coaxial volumetric flow...

Wind turbine rotor aerodynamics: The IEA MEXICO rotor explained

Wind turbines are operating under very complex and uncontrolled environmental conditions, including atmospheric turbulence, atmospheric boundary layer effects, directional and spatial variations in wind shear, etc. Over the past decades, the size of a commercial wind turbine has increased considerably. All the complex and uncontrolled conditions...