scholarly journals Trailing Edge Thickness Effect on Tonal Noise Emission Characteristics from Wind Turbine Blades

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 99-111
Author(s):  
Satya Prasad MADDULA ◽  
Vasishta Bhargava NUKALA ◽  
Venkata Swamy Naidu NEIGAPULA

Broadband noise generation from wind turbine blades is one of the fundamental aspects of flow-induced noise. Besides the turbulent boundary layer flow over the blades, factors such as the angle of attack, the turbulence intensity, the trailing edge thickness of the blade and their shapes strongly influence the overall sound power levels at high frequencies, i.e. f > 8 kHz. In large operating wind farms, a trade-off between noise generation and power production is considered by power utility firms to maximize the return on investment (ROI) and minimize the fatigue damage on wind turbine components. The present work deals with the analysis of the thickness effect on trailing edge bluntness noise level at hub height average wind speeds of 7 m/s, 10 m/s. A semi-empirical BPM model was used to predict the sound pressure levels from the 37 m blade length of a 2MW wind turbine. The receiver configuration was fixed at a distance of 120 m from the source height of 80 m. The results demonstrated that as the trailing edge height increased from 0.1 % to 0.5 % of the local chord, the sound power level increased by ~ 17 dB for frequencies > 200 Hz, but decreased by 16 dB when the thickness is 0.1 % local chord. The computed results of the sound power level using the BPM model have been validated using experimental data and showed a good agreement for the tonal frequencies, f ~ 10 kHz, where the trailing edge bluntness noise becomes dominant.

Author(s):  
Vasishta Bhargava ◽  
Rahul Samala

Research on broadband aerodynamic noise from wind turbine blades is becoming important in several countries. In this work, computer simulation of acoustic emissions from wind turbine blades are predicted using quasi empirical model for a three-bladed horizontal axis 3 MW turbine with blade length ~47 m. Sound power levels are investigated for source and receiver height of 80 m and 2 m above ground and located at a distance equal to total turbine height. The results are validated using existing experimental data for Siemens SWT-2.3 MW turbine having blade length of 47 m, as well as with 2.5 MW turbine. Aerofoil self-noise mechanisms are discussed in present work and results are demonstrated for wind speed of 8 m/s. Overall sound power levels for 3 MW turbine showed good agreements with the existing experiment data obtained for SWT-2.3 MW turbine. Noise map of single source sound power level, dBA of an isolated blade segment located at 75 %R for single blade is illustrated for wind speed of 8 m/s. The results demonstrated that most of the noise production occurred from outboard section of blade and for blade azimuth positions between 80° and 170°.


2021 ◽  
Vol 263 (6) ◽  
pp. 42-53
Author(s):  
Satya Prasad Maddula ◽  
Vasishta Bhargava ◽  
Naidu N.V. Swamy

Wind turbine noise is a critical issue for siting and its operation in offshore and terrestrial conditions. In this work, we analysed trailing edge bluntness vortex shedding noise source for a land based turbine of size 2MW and blade span of 38m using modified BPM noise solver. A regression approach has been implemented to predict the shape function in terms of thickness to chord ratio of aerofoils used for blade. For trailing edge height of 1 % chord, computations for sound power level were done at wind speed of 8m/s, 17 RPM, and showed that present regression approach predicts the noise peak of 78dBA at f ~ 10 kHz. These results were also validated using experiment data from GE 1.5sle, Siemens 2.3MW turbines with blade lengths of 78 -101m and agreed within 2 % at very high frequencies, f > 5kHz. In addition, results from present approach agreed with original BPM and modified BPM by Wei et al at high frequencies, f ~ 10kHz where the bluntness noise becomes predominant. The slope of noise curves from present approach, and modified BPM methods are lower when compared with original BPM and show sound level coincidence with peak Strouhal number of ~ 3.3.


Author(s):  
K. J. Standish ◽  
C. P. van Dam

The adoption of blunt trailing edge airfoils for the inner regions of large wind turbine blades has been proposed. Blunt trailing edge airfoils would not only provide increased structural volume, but have also been found to improve the lift characteristics of airfoils and therefore allow for section shapes with a greater maximum thickness. Limited experimental data makes it difficult for wind turbine designers to consider and conduct tradeoff studies using these section shapes. This lack of experimental data precipitated the present analysis of blunt trailing edge airfoils using computational fluid dynamics. Several computational techniques are applied including a viscous/inviscid interaction method and several Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes methods.


Wind Energy ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 909-923 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Wolf ◽  
Thorsten Lutz ◽  
Werner Würz ◽  
Ewald Krämer ◽  
Oksana Stalnov ◽  
...  

Wind Energy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 487-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Rosemeier ◽  
A. Antoniou ◽  
X. Chen ◽  
F. Lahuerta ◽  
P. Berring ◽  
...  

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 263-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jong-Won Lee ◽  
Joong-Kwan Kim ◽  
Jae-Hung Han ◽  
Hyung-Kee Shin

1999 ◽  
Vol 121 (2) ◽  
pp. 276-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Velarde-Sua´rez ◽  
Carlos Santolaria-Morros ◽  
Rafael Ballesteros-Tajadura

In this paper, an aeroacoustic study on a forward-curved blades centrifugal fan has been carried out. As a first step, the fan performance curves, i.e., total pressure, power, efficiency and sound power level versus flow rate were obtained, showing its unstable behavior over a wide operating range. Second, the fan sound power level spectra for several working conditions were determined. For this purpose a normalized installation for testing in laboratory was designed and constructed. Afterwards, the velocity and pressure fields, both at the inlet and outlet planes of the impeller were measured using hot wire probes and pressure transducers, for different operating conditions. Finally, the aeroacoustic behavior of the fan was determined measuring the vorticity field at the impeller outlet, which is known to be related to tonal noise generation. This relation is worked out using the theory of vortex sound, developed by several authors during the second half of this century. The paper shows that the generation of tonal noise is produced at the blade passing frequency and it increases with the flow rate. Although the main contribution to fan noise generation is due to mechanical sources, the bands in which aerodynamic noise is generated by these fans correspond to frequencies especially unpleasant to the human ear. Therefore, the research presented in this paper may be of considerable interest, establishing a starting point for the design of quieter and more efficient fans.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document