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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Energy Res.
Sec. Wind Energy
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fenrg.2024.1449817
This article is part of the Research Topic Recent Advances in Offshore Renewable Energy View all 6 articles

Experimental study of tower noise on the basis of blade-tower interaction

Provisionally accepted
Hailong Yu Hailong Yu 1Zhichuan Li Zhichuan Li 1Qi Guo Qi Guo 1Lei Qi Lei Qi 1Ning Li Ning Li 1Kuixing Zhu Kuixing Zhu 1Peng Wang Peng Wang 2Ke Sun Ke Sun 2*
  • 1 CNOOC Energy Development Co., Ltd., Clean Energy Branch, Tianjin, China
  • 2 North China Electric Power University, Beijing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Blade-tower interaction(BTI) noise from offshore wind turbines has a negative impact on marine organisms, so further research is needed on the sound generation mechanism of blade-tower noise. Wind tunnel experiments are conducted to collect velocity distribution, Reynolds shear stress, and turbulence kinetic energy data in the vertical incoming flow direction plane behind the tower during the wind turbine impeller-tower interference. The hot wire anemometer velocity method is used to obtain these data. Finally, the flow above characteristics are combined to elucidate the underlying causes of aerodynamic noise in the near wake of the tower resulting from blade-tower interference. The results demonstrate that the blade's passing effect causes irregular velocity distribution and vortex migration and mixing in the near wake of the tower, resulting in the most significant difference in Reynolds shear stress at the 0.71R position of the blade during the blade's transition from an azimuthal angle of 180°to 210°(upward). Furthermore, a strong correlation was identified between the peak turbulent kinetic energy and the peak acoustic pressure value measured during the rotational cycle when the blade ran up to 210 °azimuth angle. Therefore, it is deduced that the aerodynamic noise at the rear of the tower is attributed to the increase in momentum exchange caused by fluid doping and bursting, which are driven by Reynolds shear stress. Momentum exchange induces an increase in turbulent kinetic energy, which results in fluid velocity pulsations, pressure pulsations, and, thus, noise. The reduction in fluid mixing and the reduction in pressure pulsation subsequently lead to a reduction in the noise generated by the tower. Therefore, a viable approach to reducing BTI noise involves minimizing momentum exchange.

    Keywords: Wind Turbine, hot-wire velocimetry, blade tower interference noise, Reynolds stress, turbulent kinetic energy

    Received: 16 Jun 2024; Accepted: 02 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Yu, Li, Guo, Qi, Li, Zhu, Wang and Sun. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Ke Sun, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.