Measurements of Directional Wave Spectra and Wind Stress from a Wave Glider Autonomous Surface Vehicle

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 347-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Thomson ◽  
James B. Girton ◽  
Rajesh Jha ◽  
Andrew Trapani

AbstractMethods for measuring waves and winds from a Wave Glider autonomous surface vehicle (ASV) are described and evaluated. The wave method utilizes the frequency spectra of orbital velocities measured by GPS, and the wind stress method utilizes the frequency spectra of turbulent wind fluctuations measured by an ultrasonic anemometer. Both methods evaluate contaminations from vehicle motion. The methods were evaluated with 68 days of data over a full range of open ocean conditions, in which wave heights varied from 1 to 8 m and wind speeds varied from 1 to 17 m s−1. Reference data were collected using additional sensors on board the vehicle. For the waves method, several additional datasets are included that use independently moored Datawell Waverider buoys as reference data. Bulk wave parameters are determined within 5% error with biases of less than 5%. Wind stress is determined within 4% error with 1% bias. Wave directional spectra also compare well, although the Wave Glider results have more spread at low frequencies.

2005 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 1353-1372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah T. Gille

Abstract Four years of ocean vector wind data are used to evaluate statistics of wind stress over the ocean. Raw swath wind stresses derived from the Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) are compared with five different global gridded wind products, including products based on scatterometer observations, meteorological analysis winds from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, and reanalysis winds from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction. Buoy winds from a limited number of sites in the Pacific Ocean are also considered. Probability density functions (PDFs) computed for latitudinal bands show that mean wind stresses for the six global products are largely in agreement, while variances differ substantially, by a factor of 2 or more, with swath wind stresses indicating highest variances for meridional winds and for zonal winds outside the Tropics. Higher moments of the PDFs also differ. Kurtoses are large for all wind products, implying that PDFs are not Gaussian. None of the available gridded products fully captures the range of extreme wind events seen in the raw swath data. Frequency spectra for the five gridded products agree with frequency spectra from swath data at low frequencies, but spectral slopes differ at higher frequencies, particularly for frequencies greater than 100 cycles per year (cpy), which are poorly resolved by a single scatterometer. In the frequency range between 10 and 90 cpy that is resolved by the scatterometer, spectra derived from swath data are flatter than spectra from gridded products and are judged to be flatter than ω−2/3 at all latitudes.


Author(s):  
Carlos Alberto Echeverri-Londoño ◽  
Alice Elizabeth González Fernández

Several noise propagation models used to calculate the noise produced by wind turbines have been reported. However, these models do not accurately predict sound pressure levels. Most of them have been developed to estimate the noise produced by industries, in which wind speeds are less than 5 m/s, and conditions favor its spread. To date, very few models can be applied to evaluate the propagation of sound from wind turbines and most of these yield inaccurate results. This study presents a comparison between noise levels that were estimated using the prediction method established in ISO 9613 Part 2 and measured levels of noise from wind turbines that are part of a wind farm currently in operation. Differences of up to 56.5 dBZ, with a median of 29.6 dBZ, were found between the estimated sound pressure levels and measured levels. The residual sound pressure levels given by standard ISO 9613 Part 2 for the wind turbines is larger for high frequencies than those for low frequencies. When the wide band equivalent continuous sound pressure level is expressed in dBA, the residual varies between −4.4 dBA and 37.7 dBA, with a median of 20.5 dBA.


1995 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 211-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald A. van Buuren ◽  
Joost M. Festen ◽  
Reinier Plomp

The long-term average frequency spectrum of speech was modified to 25 target frequency spectra in order to determine the effect of each of these spectra on speech intelligibility in noise and on sound quality. Speech intelligibility was evaluated using the test as developed by Plomp and Mimpen (1979), whereas sound quality was examined through judgments of loudness, sharpness, clearness, and pleasantness of speech fragments. Subjects had different degrees of sensorineural hearing loss and sloping audiograms, but not all of them were hearing aid users. The 25 frequency spectra were defined such that the entire dynamic range of each listener, from dB above threshold to 5 dB below UCL, was covered. Frequency shaping of the speech was carried out on-line by means of Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filters. The tests on speech reception in noise indicated that the Speech-Reception Thresholds (SRTs) did not differ significantly for the majority of spectra. Spectra with high levels, especially at low frequencies (probably causing significant upward spread of masking), and also those with steep negative slopes resulted in significantly higher SRTs. Sound quality judgments led to conclusions virtually identical to those from the SRT data: frequency spectra with an unacceptably low sound quality were in most of the cases significantly worse on the SRT test as well. Because the SRT did not vary significantly among the majority of frequency spectra, it was concluded that a wide range of spectra between the threshold and UCL levels of listeners with hearing losses is suitable for the presentation of speech energy. This is very useful in everyday listening, where the frequency spectrum of speech may vary considerably.


1997 ◽  
Vol 347 ◽  
pp. 235-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. L. MCGRATH ◽  
H. J. S. FERNANDO ◽  
J. C. R. HUNT

A laboratory experimental study was performed to investigate turbulence, waves and mixing at a sharp density interface (with a jump in buoyancy Δb), subjected to shear-free turbulence induced by oscillating grids with typical velocity and length scales of uH and LH, respectively. The cases where turbulence is present on one side (single-sided stirring) or on both sides (double-sided stirring) of the interface were considered. Extensive flow visualization studies and quantitative measurements were performed on the motion field and mixing characteristics at the interface. It was found that, rather than any one mechanism controlling the mixing process, different mechanisms (namely engulfment, generation of waves and their breaking, eddy impingement and Kelvin–Helmholtz billows) play dominant roles over different ranges of the bulk Richardson number Ri(Ri =ΔbLH/u2H). For the Ri range where wave generation is significant, certain hypotheses and predictions of the companion paper by Fernando & Hunt (1997) were tested in detail, by flow visualization studies of the qualitative properties of interfacial motions and quantitative measurements of the r.m.s. fluctuations of interfacial velocity and displacement, the local gradient Richardson number within the stratified layer, the frequency spectra and the related fractal properties of the interface. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that, at high values of Ri(>35), the density interface consists of linear internal waves driven by turbulence at high frequencies and breaking waves with sharp horizontal gradients of density at low frequencies.


Author(s):  
Peng Wang ◽  
Xinliang Tian ◽  
Xiantao Zhang ◽  
Daoyong Wang ◽  
Xiaoxian Guo

Abstract Wave glider is a novel autonomous surface vehicle that uses energy from surface waves for propulsion. However, because it is inherently under-actuated, multi-variable and strong coupled, it is challenging to control the wave glider accurately under the environmental disturbances. In this study, a novel robust position keeping guidance strategy and an advanced path following approach for the under-actuated wave glider based on restricted circle are firstly developed. Furthermore, an 8-DOFs (Degree-of-Freedom) mathematical model for the under-actuated wave glider is adopted, and the position keeping and path following tasks of the wave glider are conducted in simulation. The results demonstrate that the under-actuated wave glider is able to accomplish the position keeping and path following tasks with the proposed strategies.


2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (6) ◽  
pp. 1369-1379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joey J. Voermans ◽  
Henrique Rapizo ◽  
Hongyu Ma ◽  
Fangli Qiao ◽  
Alexander V. Babanin

AbstractObservations of wind stress during extreme winds are required to improve predictability of tropical cyclone track and intensity. A common method to approximate the wind stress is by measuring the turbulent momentum flux directly. However, during high wind speeds, wave heights are typically of the same order of magnitude as instrument heights, and thus, turbulent momentum flux observations alone are insufficient to estimate wind stresses in tropical cyclones, as wave-induced stresses contribute to the wind stress at the height of measurements. In this study, wind stress observations during the near passage of Tropical Cyclone Olwyn are presented through measurements of the mean wind speed and turbulent momentum flux at 8.8 and 14.8 m above the ocean surface. The high sampling frequency of the water surface displacement (up to 2.5 Hz) allowed for estimations of the wave-induced stresses by parameterizing the wave input source function. During high wind speeds, our results show that the discrepancy between the wind stress and the turbulent stress can be attributed to the wave-induced stress. It is observed that for > 1 m s−1, the wave-induced stress contributes to 63% and 47% of the wind stress at 8.8 and 14.8 m above the ocean surface, respectively. Thus, measurements of wind stresses based on turbulent stresses alone underestimate wind stresses during high wind speed conditions. We show that this discrepancy can be solved for through a simple predictive model of the wave-induced stress using only observations of the turbulent stress and significant wave height.


2019 ◽  
Vol 871 ◽  
pp. 186-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob M. Turner ◽  
Jae Wook Kim

Existing studies suggest that wavy leading edges (WLEs) offer substantial reduction of broadband noise generated by an aerofoil undergoing upstream vortical disturbances. In this context, there are two universal trends in the frequency spectra of the noise reduction which have been observed and reported to date: (i) no significant reduction at low frequencies followed by (ii) a rapid growth of the noise reduction that persists in the medium-to-high frequency range. These trends are known to be insensitive to the aerofoil type and flow condition used. This paper aims to provide comprehensive understandings as to how these universal trends are formed and what the major drivers are. The current work is based on very-high-resolution numerical simulations of a semi-infinite flat-plate aerofoil impinged by a prescribed divergence-free vortex in an inviscid base flow at zero incidence angle, continued from recent work by the authors (Turner & Kim, J. Fluid Mech., vol. 811, 2017, pp. 582–611). One of the most significant findings in the current work is that the noise source distribution on the aerofoil surface becomes entirely two-dimensional (highly non-uniform in the spanwise direction as well as streamwise) at high frequencies when the WLE is involved. Also, the sources downstream of the LE make crucial contributions to creating the universal trends across all frequencies. These findings contradict the conventional LE-focused one-dimensional source analysis that has widely been accepted for all frequencies. The current study suggests that the universal trends in the noise-reduction spectra can be properly understood by taking the downstream source contributions into account, in terms of both magnitude and phase variations. After including the downstream sources, it is shown in this paper that the first universal trend is due to the conservation of total (surface integrated) source energy at low frequencies. The surface-integrated source magnitude that decreases faster with the WLE correlates very well with the noise-reduction spectrum at medium frequencies. In the meantime, the high-frequency noise reduction is driven almost entirely by destructive phase interference that increases rapidly and consistently with frequency, explaining the second universal trend.


2012 ◽  
Vol 69 (9) ◽  
pp. 2733-2748 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dahai Jeong ◽  
Brian K. Haus ◽  
Mark A. Donelan

Abstract Controlled experiments were conducted in the Air–Sea Interaction Saltwater Tank (ASIST) at the University of Miami to investigate air–sea moist enthalpy transfer rates under various wind speeds (range of 0.6–39 m s−1 scaled to equivalent 10-m neutral winds) and water–air temperature differences (range of 1.3°–9.2°C). An indirect calorimetric (heat content budget) measurement technique yielded accurate determinations of moist enthalpy flux over the full range of wind speeds. These winds included conditions with significant spray generation, the concentrations of which were of the same order as field observations. The moist enthalpy exchange coefficient so measured included a contribution from cooled reentrant spray and therefore serves as an upper limit for the interfacial transfer of enthalpy. An unknown quantity of spray was also observed to exit the tank without evaporating. By invoking an air volume enthalpy budget it was determined that the potential contribution of this exiting spray over an unbounded water volume was up to 28%. These two limits bound the total enthalpy transfer coefficient including spray-mediated transfers.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheng Chen ◽  
Fangli Qiao ◽  
Wenzheng Jiang ◽  
Jingsong Guo ◽  
Dejun Dai

<p>The impact of ocean surface waves on wind stress at the air–sea interface under low to moderate wind<br>conditions was systematically investigated based on a simple constant flux model and flux measurements<br>obtained from two coastal towers in the East China Sea and South China Sea. It is first revealed that the<br>swell-induced perturbations can reach a height of nearly 30m above the mean sea surface, and these perturbations<br>disturb the overlying airflow under low wind and strong swell conditions. The wind profiles severely<br>depart from the classical logarithmic profiles, and the deviations increase with the peak wave phase speeds. At<br>wind speeds of less than 4 m/s, an upward momentumtransfer from the wave to the atmosphere is predicted,<br>which is consistent with previous studies. A comparison between the observations and model indicates that<br>the wind stress calculated by the model is largely consistent with the observational wind stress when considering<br>the effects of surface waves, which provides a solution for accurately calculating wind stress in ocean<br>and climate models. Furthermore, the surface waves at the air–sea interface invalidate the traditional<br>Monin–Obukhov similarity theory (MOST), and this invalidity decreases as observational height increases.</p>


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Senad Apelfröjd ◽  
Sandra Eriksson

Results from experiments on a tap transformer based grid connection system for a variable speed vertical axis wind turbine are presented. The tap transformer based system topology consists of a passive diode rectifier, DC-link, IGBT inverter, LCL-filter, and tap transformer. Full range variable speed operation is enabled by using the different step-up ratios of a tap transformer. Simulations using MATLAB/Simulink have been performed in order to study the behavior of the system. A full experimental set up of the system has been used in the laboratory study, where a clone of the on-site generator was driven by an induction motor and the system was connected to a resistive load to better evaluate the performance. Furthermore, the system is run and evaluated for realistic wind speeds and variable speed operation. For a more complete picture of the system performance, a case study using real site Weibull parameters is done, comparing different tap selection options. The results show high system efficiency at nominal power and an increase in overall power output for full tap operation in comparison with the base case, a standard transformer. In addition, the loss distribution at different wind speeds is shown, which highlights the dominant losses at low and high wind speeds. Finally, means for further increasing the overall system efficiency are proposed.


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