Wake and wind farm aerodynamics of vertical axis wind turbines

The development of offshore wind energy, especially the steps towards deep water and/or higher density wind farms, revives the prospects of vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs). Because VAWTs may reduce the cost of floating structures, there is a potential to lower energy costs. However, VAWTs are often assumed to be less efficient and less...

The aerodynamics of floating offshore wind turbines in different working states during surge motion

The rotor of floating offshore wind turbines with platform motions may undergo different working states during its operation, e.g. from windmill working state to vortex ring and propeller working state. In this paper, an aerodynamic model based on a free wake vortex method is used to simulate the rotor undergoing surge motion. The associated...

Modelling wing wake and tail aerodynamics of a flapping-wing micro aerial vehicle

Despite significant interest in tailless flapping-wing micro aerial vehicle designs, tailed configurations are often favoured, as they offer many benefits, such as static stability and a simpler control strategy, separating wing and tail control. However, the tail aerodynamics are highly complex due to the interaction between the unsteady...

Adjoint-based model predictive control of wind farms: Beyond the quasi steady-state power maximization

In this paper, we extend our closed-loop optimal control framework for wind farms to minimize wake-induced power losses. We develop an adjoint-based model predictive controller which employs a medium-fidelity 2D dynamic wind farm model. The wind turbine axial induction factors are considered here as the control inputs to influence the overall...