A wind tunnel study of wind loads on a model wind turbine in atmospheric boundary layer winds

Abstract A wind tunnel study was conducted to investigate the dynamic wind loads that act on a model wind turbine placed in an atmospheric boundary layer wind tunnel. Two types of atmospheric boundary layer winds with neutral conditions were simulated to quantify the influences of wind shear and turbulence intensity on the dynamic wind loads of the model wind turbine as it operated at different tip-speed-ratios. While the wind shear was recognized as an important factor for the mean wind loads, the turbulence intensity dominated the behavior of the fatigue loads that acted on the model wind turbine. A further investigation of the wind loads acting on different components of the model wind turbine revealed that more than 90% of both the mean and fatigue wind loads were contributed by the rotating rotor of the wind turbine. The mean wind loads on a stationary wind turbine can be as high as approximately 38% of the mean wind loads that act on a rotating wind turbine. By changing the blade phase angle of a stationary wind turbine model, the maximum variation of the mean wind loads was found to be 15%, while fatigue loads vary by 10%.