An Experimental Study on the Effects of Winglets on the Wake and Performance of a Model Wind Turbine

作者：Tobin Nicolas; Hamed Ali M; Chamorro Leonardo P^*

来源：Energies, 2015, 8(10): 11955-11972.

DOI：10.3390/en81011955

• tip vortices
• turbulent wake
• wind energy
• wind turbine
• winglet

Wind tunnel experiments were performed to investigate the effects of downstream-facing winglets on the wake dynamics, power and thrust of a model wind turbine. Two similar turbines with and without winglets were operated under the same conditions. Results show an increase in the power and thrust coefficients of 8.2% and 15.0% for the wingletted case. A simple theoretical treatment of a two-turbine system suggests a possible positive tradeoff between increasing power and thrust coefficients at a wind farm scale. The higher thrust coefficient created a region of enhanced mean shear and turbulence in the outer portion of the wake. The winglets did not significantly change the tip-vortex strength, but higher levels of turbulence in the far wake decreased the tip-vortex strength. Because of the increased mean shear in the wingletted turbine's wake, the Reynolds stresses were higher, potentially leading to a higher energy flux downstream.

• 出版日期2015-10