Power output fluctuations and unsteady aerodynamic loads of a scaled wind turbine subjected to periodically oscillating wind environments

Abstract

Wind tunnel experiments were performed to quantify the coupling mechanisms between incoming wind flows, power output fluctuations, and unsteady tower aerodynamic loads of a model wind turbine under periodically oscillating wind environments across various yaw misalignment angles. A high-resolution load cell and a data logger at high temporal resolution were applied to quantify the aerodynamic loads and power output, and time-resolved particle image velocimetry system was used to characterize incoming and wake flow statistics. Results showed that due to the inertia of the turbine rotor, the time series of power output exhibits a distinctive phase lag compared to the incoming periodically oscillating wind flow, whereas the phase lag between unsteady aerodynamic loads and incoming winds was negligible. Reduced-order models based on the coupling between turbine properties and incoming periodic flow characteristics were derived to predict the fluctuation intensity of turbine power output and the associated phase lag, which exhibited reasonable agreement with experiments. Flow statistics demonstrated that under periodically oscillating wind environments, the growth of yaw misalignment could effectively mitigate the overall flow fluctuation in the wake region and significantly enhance the stream-wise wake velocity cross correlation intensities downstream of the turbine hub location.