Civil 4 - Renewable Energy

Wind

Centre for Renewable Energy at Dundalk IT

CREDIT

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 Outline

• Wind energy

• Wind turbine foundations

• Wind turbine civil works

• Energy policy

• Assessment

– CA Matlab exercise - data analysis from campus wind turbine (commences

after reading week)

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 What is Power and Energy ?

•Power is the rate at which this work is done

•Power = Energy/Time or
•Energy = Power x Time

Power is Measures in Watts (W) or kW

Energy in measure in kilowatt-hours (kWh)

e.g.
Your kettle is rated at a power of 2200 W or 2.2 kW

The unit of energy on your electricity bill is 1 kWh

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 Wind resource – Western Europe

From the European Wind Atlas. by

Risø National Laboratory,
Roskilde, Denmark.

The windiest
region in
Europe!

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 Installed wind farms in Ireland (Feb 2015)

Installed wind capacity:

Republic of Ireland = 2441MW
206 wind farms in 26 counties
(including 25MW Offshore –Arklow Bank)

Northern Ireland = 642 MW

33 Wind farms

Total = 3083MW on Island of Ireland

Source: IWEA

~ 24% of Ireland’s total electricity came from

wind in 2015

Source: Eirgrid
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 A modern large wind turbine

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 Blades

• Horizontal axis wind turbine part overview

Root Leading Edge

Tip

Trailing Edge

Blade Cross-section (Airfoil shape)

Leading Edge Trailing Edge

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 Large Scale Wind Technologies

E.g. Vestas V52

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 Large Scale Wind Turbines

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 Nacelle Internal Overview

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 Large Scale Wind Technologies

E.g. Enercon E47

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 Wind Turbine Power Curves
Cut Out

Rated @12m/s

Cut in

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 Some Terminology

•Power curve: shows how the power output of a wind turbine system
varies with wind speed. They are unique to each turbine model

•Rated Power = power output (kW) of a turbine (power output at

wind speed = 12m/s for a large scale turbine, 11m/s for small scale
wind turbines)

•Cut in Speed = Wind Speed above which the turbine will generator
power ~3-4m/s (10km/hr)

•Cut Out Speed = speed above which turbine will shut down for
safety reasons i.e. in very high winds > 25m/s (90km/hr) on large
wind turbines

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 Power in the wind (basic physics)

 A thin disc of air has a mass of m = A * dx

 The mass flow rate of air through a disc can be written
as dm/dt = AU
 The kinetic energy per unit time (the power) is given by p
= ½ * dm/dt * U2 = ½ AU3
U = wind speed in metres/sec (1 m/s = 2.25mph)

p = air density ( ~ 1.225 kg/m3 at sea level, less higher up)

dx
A = area of intercepted wind (m2)
dx = length of thin disk section (m)

1
U0
A Pw   AU 0
3

2
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 Power in the wind (ideal case)

Power available in the the wind on its own ( i.e. no turbine)

Free Stream Wind

Pw = power in watts (1,000 watts = 1 kW)

U = wind speed in metres/sec (1 m/s = 2.25mph)

p = air density ( ~ 1.225 kg/m3 at sea level, less higher up)

A = area of intercepted wind (m2)

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 Can all the power in the wind be
extracted?
Pr
Cp
Pw

If we look at a wind turbine rotor from the side and assume:

• Ideal rotor (treated as a disc)

• Incompressible steady state flow
• No friction drag
• An infinite number of blades
• A non-rotating wake

Then we can do a streamtube analysis based on momentum theory

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to determine the (Betz) limit
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 Bernoulli (conservation of energy):

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 U  p   gh  const
2
2
Potential Energy
Kinetic Energy
Pressure Energy

(Note: Energy per unit volume)

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 Streamtube analysis

Symbols used:
U∞ = upstream wind speed away from rotor (i.e. normal wind)
UW = wind speed downstream of rotor in the wake of rotor (i.e. behind rotor)
UD = wind speed at rotor (at rotor disc)

p∞ = atmospheric pressure in normal wind

pD+ = air pressure at rotor disc (just in front of rotor disc)
pD- = air pressure at rotor disc (just behind rotor disc)

A∞ = area of streamtube upstream away from rotor

AW = area of stream tube in rotor wake
AD = area of rotor disc

ρ = air density
a = axial induction factor

g= acceleration due to gravity

h= height
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 Streamtube analysis

Incompressible and constant height =>

Upstream

Wake

Rotor
Disc

 AU    ADU D   AW U W 19
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 Streamtube analysis

From conservation of mass flow:

 AU    ADU D   AW U W

Induction factor, a, is defined in order that:

U D  U  (1  a)
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 Streamtube analysis

Rate of change of momentum is change of

velocity times mass flow rate, hence overall rate of
change of momentum from upstream to
downstream is:

(U   U W )  ADU D

Force (in this case due to pressure difference across the

disk) is equal to rate of change of momentum =>
( pD   pD  ) AD  (U   U W )  ADU  (1  a)
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 Streamtube analysis

From Bernoulli eqn (conservation of energy):

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 U 2  p   gh  const
2
On the upstream side of the rotor:
1 1
U   p   gh  DU D2  p D  D ghD
2
2 2
Simplifies (incompressible and const. height) to:
1 1
 U   p   U D2  p D
2
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 Streamtube analysis

Similarly for the downstream side of the rotor:

1 1
 U W  p   U D2  p D
2
2 2
Upstream and downstream together give:
1

( pD  pD 
)   (U 2  U W2 )
2
From momentum balance:
1
 (U 2  U W2 ) AD  (U   U W )  ADU  (1  a )
2

U W  (1  2a)U  23
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 Power coefficient Cp

Pr
Cp
Pw Pr
Cp 1
2  AU 3
0

Force on the air at the disk:

 
F  ( pD  pD ) AD  2  ADU 2 a(1  a)

Power is force times velocity:

Pr  FU D  2 ADU 3 a(1  a) 2

CP  4a(1  a) 2
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 Betz Limit

To find the maximum power coefficient differentiate:

CP  4a(1  a)2
dC p
4(1  a)(1  3a)0
da
A physically meaningful solution is a = 1/3, which
gives:

C p  0.593 16
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Betz limit (of ideal rotor)

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 Airflow over airfoil

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 Angle of attack

The angle of attack α is the angle between the

oncoming wind flow and the blade (i.e. a line from
the leading edge to the trailing edge)

low α medium α high α

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 Basic Aerodynamics – no rotating blade

• The Lift Force is

perpendicular to the α = low
direction of motion. We
want to make this force
BIG.
α = medium
<10 degrees

• The Drag Force is

parallel to the direction α = High
of motion. We want to Stall!!
make this force small.

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 Linear speed at blade tip is faster
than at blade root (hub)

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 Blade pitch angle

Head Wind β

Direction of
rotation
Oncoming wind

β = blade pitch angle, which angle between

blade chord line and plane of rotation

Blade chord = is a line from the blade trailing edge

to leading edge

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 Wind flow on rotating blade section

V
Head Wind

ΩR
W
Oncoming wind

Direction of
rotation

V = Wind speed
W = Apparent wind speed
Ω= rotational speed
ΩR = speed of blade section at a distance R from hub

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 Lift/Drag Forces on rotating blade
section
V
Head Wind
β
ΩR L α W
Oncoming wind

Direction of
rotation

D V = Wind speed
W = Apparent wind speed
Ω= rotational speed
ΩR = speed of blade section at a distance R from hub
α = angle of attack
β = blade pitch angle
L = Lift
D =Drag
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 Blades

Blade Taper and Twist

Tip

Leading Edge

Root

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 Tip-Speed Ratio

• Tip-speed ratio is the ratio of the

speed of the rotating blade tip to ΩR
the speed of the free stream wind
• There is an optimum angle of R
attack which creates the highest
lift to drag ratio
• Because angle of attack is
dependant on wind speed, there
is an optimum tip-speed ratio

λ = ΩR/U∞
Where,
Ω = rotational speed in radians/sec
R = Rotor Radius
U = Wind “Free Stream” Velocity

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 Coefficient of Performance

• Coefficient of performance varies with Tip Speed Ratio

• Characterized by Cp vs Tip Speed Ratio curve

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 Betz Limit

• All wind power cannot

be captured by rotor or
air would be completely
still behind rotor and not
allow more wind to pass
through.
• Theoretical limit of rotor
efficiency is 59%
• Most modern wind
turbines are in the 35 –
45% range

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 Many Different Rotor types…

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 Number of Blades – One

• Rotor must move more rapidly to

capture same amount of wind
– Gearbox ratio reduced
– Added weight of counterbalance
negates some benefits of lighter
design
– Higher speed means more
noise, visual, and wildlife
impacts

• Blades easier to install because

entire rotor can be assembled on
ground

• Captures 10% less energy than

two blade design
• Ultimately provide no cost
savings

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 Number of Blades - Two

• Advantages &
disadvantages similar to
one blade

• Need teetering hub and or

shock absorbers because
of gyroscopic imbalances

• Captures ~ 5% less
energy than three blade
designs

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 Number of Blades - Three

• Balance of gyroscopic
forces
• Slower rotation
– increases gearbox &
transmission costs
– More aesthetic, less noise,
fewer bird strikes

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 Coefficient of Performance

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