Multimedia Gallery
Wind Turbine Simulation
Shown is a composite image of three simulations conducted as part of wind turbine advanced analsys research supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Clockwise from the left: (1) an isolated horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) in an upwind, zero yaw angle configuration; (2) complete configuration downwind HAWT, including with tower, nac elle and rotor; and (3) simulation of a flatback wind turbine rotor airfoil with semi-inifite span. In all three figures, an isosurface of the q-criterion is shown. This is a useful visualization method for identifing large-scale vortices, a significant source of turbine noise. All results were generated using the Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) software developed as part of this project. The simulation software is designed to predict the turbulent flow in the wake of the turbine and to ultimately predict the noise generated.
Methods to simulate a full wind turbine are being developed at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Computational Science & Engineering, LLC, with funding from NSF. These computer codes will help scientists and engineers understand and predict the complex turbulent wakes of wind turbines. Once developed, these methods will aid in the design of more efficient and quiet wind turbine designs to increase the use of wind energy as a viable sustainable energy resource in the United States.
[Research supported by NSF grant CBET 07-31034, "Advances in Wind Turbine Analysis and Design for Sustainable Energy;" professor Marilyn Smith (principal investigator). Computer resources were provided by TeraGrid at the NCSA, SDSC and TACC partner sites.] (Date of Image: March 2008)
Credit: Christopher P Stone, Computational Science & Engineering (LLC)
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