ENVT S106E

Wind Power
Lecture Notes

Yehia Khalil, Ph.D., Sc.D.

Professor of Chemical & Environmental Engineering
[email protected]

Yale College
Office: M8, Mason Lab., 9 Hillhouse Ave
Alternate emails: [email protected] [email protected]

This lecture materials is a property of Professor Yehia Khalil. Please do not copy of distribute without a written permission from Prof.
Khalil.
Outline
1) Source of wind energy.
2) Environmental impact and public acceptance.
3) Failure mechanisms of wind turbines.
4) Kinetic energy (KE) of wind.
5) Types of wind turbines (WT): horizontal and vertical
blade designs.
6) Depe de e of the rotor’s po er oeffi ie t Cp on
the tip-speed ratio ().
7) Power output of a wind turbine.
8) Greenhouse gases emissions and WT life cycle
analysis (LCA)
9) Wind farms.
10) Economics of wind power.

An off-shore wind farm

2
Wind Energy
• About 2% of the solar energy absorbed by the earth goes into the wind energy.
• Solar radiation intensity that reaches the earth's is about 350 W/m2.
• Given that only 2% is converted to wind energy, them ~ 7 W/m2 goes into wind
energy.
• 35% of wind energy, that is 2.45 W/m2 (= 0.35 x 7 W/m2), is dissipated in the
first kilometer (~3,281 ft) above Earth's surface.

Over a period of one year, the wind energy (E) is can be calculated as follows:

E = wind energy intensity x Earth's surface area x seconds per year

= (2.45 W/m2) (5.1 x 1014 m2) (3.2x107 s/yr) = 4.0 x 1022 J/yr
Which is 200 times greater than the average energy consumption on Earth,
estimated to be 2 x 1020 J/yr.

3
Are Wind Farms environmentally friendly as
a source of energy? Explain.

4
Environmental Impact and Public Acceptance
Benefits Drawbacks

1. Renewable energy source. 1. Intermittent source of electricity.

2. No emissions of greenhouse gases.(1) 2. Unreliability due to failures of critical

components (e.g., gearbox, generator,
3. No acid rain gases (SOx and NOx).(1) electronic components, etc) as demonstrated
by field failure data.
4. No waste to dispose or radioactivity.
3. Visual impact.
5. No raw materials are consumed.(1)
4. Noise level.
6. No mining, processing and transportation of
fuel (that is wind). 5. Thread to birds.(2)

(2) Examples:

(1) At least during i d tur i es operatio ’s phase. See • Over a 2-year period, 183 birds were killed
lecture notes on life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). in the Altamont wind farm in California.
Some CO2 is produced during manufacturing the WT • An average of 0.13 birds killed per WT in
but it is much less than the emissions from burning 2003 in Spain (which has over 18 wind
an energy-equivalent amount of coal or natural gas. farms).
5
6
http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Altamont-Pass-turbines-kill-fewer-birds-4230640.php#photo-4099594
Causes of Failures of Wind Turbines
1. Icing on the blades.

2. Lightning strikes.

3. High winds.

4. Failure of electronic and electric components.

5. High humidity.

6. Erosion caused by sand storms.

7. Corrosion specially for offshore wind farms.

8. Control algorithms failure.

9. Sensors failure.

10. Cyclic fatigue stresses on turbine blades.

7
Risk Mitigation Methods
1. Fault tolerant design.

2. Component redundancy (e.g., multiple sensors).

3. Components functional diversity.

4. Condition-based maintenance (CBM).

5. Reliability-centered maintenance (RCM).

6. Components testing after manufacturing to eliminate enfant mortality (i.e.,

early failures).

7. WT components manufacturing quality control and quality assurance (QC &

QA).

8
http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&hl=en&q=video+on+wind+turbin+failure&aq=f&
aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&fp=652e0df67dbfff88

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbCs7ZQDKoM

9
How winds are formed?

10
• Original source of wind energy is the radiation from the
sun where a major portion of the solar heat is absorbed
by the sea and land.

• In turn, sea and land heats up the surrounding air and

set up motion of air current (lighter hotter air rises and
colder air moves downwards).

• An enormous amount of power resides in the winds:

≈ 1-2% of the incident solar power (1.37 kW/m2) is
converted into wind power.

• The radius of the Earth r is ≈ 6 k so the ross-

se tio al area re ei i g solar radiatio is ≈ 14 m2
(= 3.142 x r2) and the power i the wi ds is ≈ 15 W
(= 1.37 kW/m2 x 1014 m2) ≈ 1,000 TW = 1015 J/sec

• Land has a lower heat capacity than the sea and heats
up quickly during the day.
A simplified Map of Global Wind
Patterns • During the day, the sea is, therefore, cooler than the
land and this causes the cooler air to flow shorewards to
replace the rising warm air on the land.

• During the night, direction of air flow is reversed.

11
TW = Tera Watt = 1012 Watt
Specific Energy Output:
It is the output power per unit of swept
area and is useful when comparing
turbines of different size or design.

Capacity Factor:
It is the ratio of the energy produced in
a year to the energy that would be
produced if the turbine operated at its
rated power. The capacity factor is
The Yaw control mechanism t pi all ≈ /3
orients the turbine in the
wind direction.
WT Availability:
Turbines operate typically for 65-80%
of the time depending on demand and
on whether the wind speed is below
ucut-in or above ucut-out.

Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT)

The ratio of the annual energy yield to that which would be produced at the rated power is
alled the capacity factor a d it is t pi all ≈ /3
12
• Fixed-pitch constant speed WT.
• With variable speed WT, the pitch can be altered.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:EERE_illust_large_turbine.gif 13
Anemometer:
Measures wind speed and transmits wind speed data to the controller.
Blades:
Most turbines have either two or three blades. Wind blowing over the blades causes the blades to "lift"
and rotate.
Brake:
A disc brake, which can be applied mechanically, electrically, or hydraulically to stop the rotor in
emergency situation.
Controller:
The controller starts up WT at wind speeds of about 8 to 16 miles per hour (mph) (3.6 to 7.2 m/s) and
shuts off WT at about 55 mph (24.6 m/s). Turbines do not operate at wind speeds above about 55 mph
because they might be damaged by the high winds.
Gear box:
Gears connect the low-speed shaft to the high-speed shaft and increase the rotational speeds from about
30 to 60 rotations per minute (rpm) to about 1000 to 1800 rpm, the rotational speed required by most
generators to produce electricity. The gear box is a costly (and heavy) part of the wind turbine and
engineers are exploring "direct-drive" generators that operate at lower rotational speeds and don't need
gear boxes.
Generator:
Usually an off-the-shelf induction generator that produces 60-cycle AC electricity.
High-speed shaft:
Drives the generator.
Low-speed shaft:
The rotor turns the low-speed shaft at about 30 to 60 rotations per minute (rpm).
Nacelle:
The nacelle sits atop the tower and contains the gear box, low- and high-speed shafts, generator,
controller, and brakes. Some nacelles are large enough for a helicopter to land on. 14
Pitch:
Blades are turned, or pitched, out of the wind to control the rotor speed (rpm) and keep the rotor from
turning in winds that are too high or too low to produce electricity.
Rotor:
The blades and hub together are called the rotor.
Tower:
Towers are made from tubular steel, concrete, or steel lattice. Because wind speed increases with height,
taller towers enable turbines to capture more energy and generate more electricity.
Wind direction:
"up i d" a d "do i d dire tio s.
Wind vane:
Measures wind direction and communicates with the yaw drive to orient the turbine properly with respect
to the wind.
Yaw drive:
Upwind turbines face into the wind; the yaw drive is used to keep the rotor facing into the wind as the
wind direction changes. Downwind turbines don't require a yaw drive, the wind blows the rotor
downwind.
Yaw motor:
Powers the yaw drive.

SOURSE: U.S. Department of Energy

Downwind WT Upwind WT

15
Lightning
conductor

Wind
direction
indicator Turbine
Generator
Cup
anemomet
er for wind
speed
indication

16
Nacelle

Tower

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_turbine
17
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/wind_animation.html

Highlight, right click and open hyperlink to go to the website and

see animation

18
Power range: 0.4 kW up to
2 MW or 2.5 MW

Useful information for

life cycle impact
analysis (LCIA)

19
Vertical-Axis Wind Turbine
(VAWT)

20
Kinetic Energy of Wind
• For a wind speed u and air density  , the energy density E, i.e., energy per unit
volume) is given by:

E  .u 2
1 Kinetic Energy per
2 unit volume

• The volume of air flowing per second through a cross-sectional area A normal to the
direction of the wind = u.A

• Hence, the K.E. of the volume of air flowing per second through this area = E.u.A

• This is called the wind power P (i.e., energy per second) and can be expressed as:

P  E. A.u   .u 2 . A.u   . A.u 3  .( .r 2 ).u 3

1 1 1
r = radius of blade
2 2 2

• Thus, the po er i the i d P” varies as the cube of the wind speed u.

P u
Key Insights: 3

• Fluctuations in wind speed can cause WT power output to vary significantly.

• Much more power is available at higher wind speeds. 21

Example:

Calculate the power (P) in a wind moving with a speed u = 5 m/s incident on a WT

speed increases to u = 10 m/s? Assume the density of air  = 1.2 kg/m3

with blades of 100 m diameter (r = 50 m). How does the power change if the wind

Solution:

P  . A.u 3  x(1.2) x(3.142x502 ) x(53 )  0.6MW

1 1
2 2

 10 m / s 
P     23
3

 5 m/ s 

Doubling the wind speed will increase the power P by a factor of 8 (=23), hence:

The wind power would increase to 8 x 0.6 MW = 4.8 MW

22
Can all the power in wind be
extracted by the wind turbine?

23
Maximum Rotor Efficiency (CP)
There are two extreme situations and none of them makes
physical sense:

1) Downwind velocity is zero which means that the wind turbine

e tra ts all of the i d’s ki eti e erg . If this were to happen, no
additional air can pass through the wind turbine as it will be
stopped by the stagnant air.

2) Downwind velocity is the same as the upwind velocity and, hence,

the i d tur i e e tra ts o e of the i d’s ki eti e erg . If this
were to happen, the turbine blades will not rotate.

In 1919, Albert Betz suggested that there must be some ideal

slowing of the wind velocity so that the turbine can extract the
maximum kinetic energy from the wind.

24
Maximum Rotor Efficiency (CP)
• CP represents a constraint on the ability of a wind turbine to
convert kinetic energy in the wind into mechanical power.

• As wind passing though the turbine blades, it slows down and

the pressure is reduced so it expands

25
Kinetic Energy Extracted by the Turbine Blades


KE b   m  v 2  vd2
1 
2

ṁ = mass flow rate of air within stream tube
v = upwind undisturbed wind speed
vd = downwind wind speed

Kinetic energy of the upstream wind is greater than the kinetic

energy of the downstream wind.

26
Determining Mass Flow Rate
• The mass flow rate is easier to calculate at the blades of the
rotor because the cross sectional area (swept area) A is
known.
• Then, the mass flow rate can be calculated as follows:

m   Avb (6.19)
• Assume the velocity through the rotor vb is the average of
upwind velocity v and downwind velocity vd, then:

v  vd  v  vd 
m   A 
 
vb =
2 2
27
Energy Extracted by the Turbine Blades

Substituting m in the kinetic energy equations gives:

KE b     A  
1  v  vd  2 2

  v  vd 
2  2 
Let,

  Wind Speed Ratio  

Downwind velocity vd
Upwind velocity v

KE b     A  
1

 v  v  2 2 2
 v   v 
2  2 

28
Energy Extracted by the Turbine Blades

  v 
 v  v  2
KEPbb   A   
1
 2 
2 2
v (6.22)
2

 v   v  =
 v  v  2   

3 2 3 3 3 3
v v v v
 2 
2 2
- + -

1    - 2 1    
2 2 2 2
v3
=

1    1   2 
2

2 
v3
=

KEPbb   Av  1    1   2 
 
1 3 1
(6.22)
2 2
(KE)b= Energy in the wind CP = Rotor efficiency 29
Maximum Rotor Efficiency (CP)
• Now, we need to determine the wind speed ratio λ which
maximizes the rotor efficiency, CP

CP  1    1   2   = - + -
  
• From the previous slide
2 3
1 1
2 2 2 2 2

CP
Set the derivative of rotor efficiency to zero and solve for λ:

=-2  1  3 2  0

Solve one equation in one unknown ()

CP
=3 2  2  1  0

This value will maximize the rotor efficiency

CP
=  3  1   1  0 
1
 3
30
Maximum Rotor Efficiency (CP)

• Plug the optimal value for λ = 1/3 back into CP

to find the maximum rotor efficiency:
1  1  1   16
CP  1  1  2   =  59.3%
2  3  3   27
(6.26)

• The maximum rotor efficiency of 59.3% occurs when the wind velocity is slowed to
1/3 of its upstream value.

• This conclusions is called the Betz effi ie or Betz’ la

31
Maximum Rotor Efficiency (CP)
 = 1/3
CP = 0.593

Rotor efficiency CP vs. wind speed

ratio λ

  Wind Speed Ratio  

Downwind velocity vd
Wind Speed Ratio ()
Upwind velocity v
32
Summary of Key Insights

• Wind turbines cannot capture more than

59.3% of i d’s e erg Betz, 9 9 .

• This maximum ratio of 59.3% is found at

wind speed ration  = vd/v ≈ /3.

• Ideally, you want the turbine blades to slow

the downstream wind velocity by 2/3 of its
original speed v, that is, from v to 1/3v 33
Tip-Speed Ratio (TSR)
• WT Efficiency is a function of how fast the rotor turns (rpm).
• Tip-Speed Ratio (TSR) is the speed of the outer tip of the
blade divided by the upstream wind speed (v).

Rotor tip speed rpm   D

Tip-Speed-Ratio (TSR)  = (6.27)
Wind speed 60v

 rpm 
 .D
TSR   60  TSR is dimensionless
v
• D = rotor diameter (m)
• v = upwind undisturbed wind speed (m/s)
• rpm = rotor speed, (revolutions/min)
34
Tip-Speed Ratio (TSR)
Cp = 59.3%

Rotors with two blades

reach their maximum
efficiency at higher tip-
speed ratios compared to
three blades type.

TSR for various rotor types.

35
Example
Given Data:
A 40-m diameter wind turbine with three-blades and 600 kW
power output. The wind speed is 14 m/s and the air density ()
is 1.225 kg/m3

a. Find the rpm of the rotor if the wind turbine operates at a

TSR of 4.0
b. Find the tip speed of the rotor
c. What gear ratio is needed to match the rotor speed to the
generator speed if the generator must turn at 1800 rpm?
d. What is the efficiency of the wind turbine under these
conditions?
36
Exa ple co t’d

a. Calculation of the rpm of the rotor if it operates

(rpm)(D)
TSR 
at a TSR of 4.0
60v
Tip-Speed-Ratio (TSR)  60v
rpm 
D
4.0  60sec/min 14m/s
rpm 
  40m/rev
= 26.7 rev/min

We can also express this as seconds per

revolution:
rpm 
26.7 rev/min
= 0.445 rev/sec or 2.24 sec/rev
60 sec/min 37
Exa ple co t’d
b) Rotor tip speed:

(rpm)(D) Rotor tip speed  TSR.v

TSR 

rpm   D
60v
Rotor tip speed=
60 sec/min
Rotor tip speed = (rev/sec)   D

Rotor tip speed = 0.445 rev/sec   40 m/rev = 55.92 m/s

c) Gear ratio:
Generator rpm 1800
Gear Ratio = = = 67.4
Rotor rpm 26.7
38
Exa ple co t’d
d. Efficiency of the complete wind turbine (blades, gear box, generator) under
these conditions:

Overall wind turbine efficiency:


PW   Av = 1.225    402 143  2112 kW
1 1 
4 
3

2 2

Ideal WT Power  Av 3 Actual WT Power  Av 3

1 1
2 2
The actual WT power is given in the problem statement as 600 kW

   28.4%
Actual WT Power 600 kW
Ideal WT Power 2112 kW 39
• The speed V of the blade at a radius r is given by:

V
r.Vtip
where Vtip is the speed of the blade tip and R is max radius
R
of the blade

• The tip-speed ratio () is the ratio of the speed of the

blade at the tip, Vtip, to the speed of the incident wind
uo


Vtip
u0

Wind Incident on a  is the same as TSR which was defined

Rotating Turbine
before.

40
Example:

A wind turbine (WT) with three blades is operating in a mean wind speed of 8 m/s. The
turbine rotate at 15 rpm. Each blade is 40 m long. Estimate Vtip and tip-speed ratio ()

Solution:
The time  (in seconds) for one revolution of the tip of a bade of length R is:

2R Distance
 
Vtip Velocity

The number of revolutions per minutes, nrpm can be calculated as follows:

nrpm 

60

The tip speed and tip-speed ratio (TSR) can be calculated as follows:

2R
Vtip   2R.  2 (40)(15) / 60  62.8 m / s
nrpm
 60

TSR      7.85
Vtip 62.8
Vmean _ wind _ speed 8 41
Output Power Curve
Ucut-in = minimum required for the WT
to operate.

Ucut-out = maximum safe operating wind

speed. WT overspeed is a
failure mode.

The blade pitch can be altered

to shed power by reducing
the angle of attack
(feathering) or the blades
stall by design. The turbine
can be stopped by application
Output Power vs. Wind Speed of the shaft brake.

• The output power curve for a typical fixe- pitch, constant speed turbine is shown in this figure.

• The rated wind speed is such that the wind is strong enough to produce the maximum output
power (Prated) of the turbine generator.

• The tip-speed ratio () and hence the rotor power coefficient Cp change with wind speed for
constant-speed turbines.

42
Example:
Calculate the average power output (P) of a WT with blades of 85 m diameter (D)
operating in wind with a mean speed of 7 m/s. At this speed, the rotor power
coefficient Cp is 0.45. The rated rotor output power is 1.5 MW when the wind
speed is greater than 13 m/s. What is the power coefficient Cp at a wind speed of
13 m/s?
Assume the density of air is 1.2 kg/m3

Cp    0.45

Solution: P P
 .u03 . A
1
(1 / 2).(1.2)( .852 ).(7 3 )
2 4
Hence,

P  526 kW  0.526 MW


C p  1.5 x106 /{(1 / 20.(1.2)( .852 ).(133 )}  0.2
4
In this example, the power coefficient (Cp) at the rated wind speed (i.e., 13 m/s) is
just below half its value (from 0.45  0.2) at the mean wind speed (i.e., 7 m/s).
43
Wind Turbine / Electrolyzer Integrated System

Hydrogen
Gas

44
GLOBAL WARMING POTENTIAL (GWP) & GREENHOUSE
GASES (GHG)
• The global warming potential (GWP) of the WTs/Electrolyzer system is a
combination of CO2, CH4, and N2O emissions expressed as CO2-
equivalence.

• For a 100-year time horizone, the capacity of CH4 and N2O to contribute
to the warming of the atmosphere is 21 and 310 times higher than CO2,
respectively.

• The GWP and the contribution from each compound is given in the Table
below.

45
Life Cycle GWP (CO2 -equivalent)

757 +
43 +
170 =

970 g CO2

• The above Figure shows how the CO2-equivalent emissions are divided among the different
process blocks for the wind farm/electrolysis system.
• Because of the steel and concrete requirements, the construction and operation of the
wind turbines account for 78% of the total GWP.
• Hydrogen storage and compression accounts for 18% of the GWP. This is due primarily to
the production of the steel used in the storage tanks.
46
Wind Farms
When the turbines are placed on a square grid
(d x d), the power per unit land area ca be calculated

v d
as follows: 1
8
3 2

nd 
power
2
land area

where n.d is the number of blade diameters between

turbines.

47
Wind Farms
• Good Wind farm sites require an average wind speed > 6 m/s.

• Onshore suitable locations include high altitude plains, exposed ridges, open
lands and coastal areas.

• Offshore wind farms need undersea electric cables to land and installation &
maintenance costs which are higher than onshore farms.

• Spacing of WTs in a wind farm: 5 to 10 rotor diameter (D) downwind by 5D

crosswind.

• On a wind farm, WTs must be spaced out enough

so that they do not interfere with each other.

• One common way of spacing WTs out is ensuring

there is at least 5 rotor diameters between the
turbines as shown in the figure.
48
Economics of Wind Turbines
1. Capital cost: ~ $2 to $3 million per WT of 3 MW capacity (roughly $1M per 1
MW WT).

2. O&M cost is about 2% of the capital cost. Unfortunately, WT field experience

showed that is an underestimation of O&M costs.

3. Lifetime of a WT is about 20 to 30 years. Typically 20 years

4. Payback period is ~ 1 year

5. Electricity generation cost: WT is ~ 3 to 10 cents/kWh vs. 4 to 9 cents/kWh for

coal-fired plants.

49
Useful References
1. Siemens Energy and Automation, Inc. Wind Turbine (online).
http://www2.sea.siemens.com/NR/rdonlyres/1F91AFE0-BB27-4D13-91F7-
153AEA0D6C98/0/WindTurbine.jpg [9 June 2009].
2. Cullum A, Kwan C, Macdonald K. British Columbia Wind Energy Feasibility
Study (online).
http://www.geog.ubc.ca/courses/geog376/students/class05/cskwan/intro.h
tml [4 May 2009].
3. Dodge, Darrel. Part 1 - Early History Through 1875: Wind Power's Beginnings
(online). Illustrated History of Wind Power Development.
http://www.telosnet.com/wind/early.html [10 June 2009].
4. Aubrecht GJ. Solar Energy: Wind, Photovoltaics, and Large-Scale Installatons.
In: Energy – Physical, Environmental, and Social Impact (3), edited by Erik
Fahlgren. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc., 2006, chapt. 21,
461-465.
5. Kump, L.R., Kasting, J.F., and Crane, R.G. The Atmospheric Circulation
System. In: The Earth System (2), edited by Patrick Lynch. Upper Saddle
River, New Jersey, USA: 2004, chapter 4, pp. 55-82.

50
Useful References
6. Environment Canada. Canadian Atlas Level 0 (online).
http://collaboration.cmc.ec.gc.ca/science/rpn/modcom/eole/CanadianAtlas
0.html [20 May 2009].
7. Gustavson MR. Limits to Wind Power Utilization. Science 204: 13 – 17, 1979.
8. MacKay DJC. Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air (Online). UIT
Cambridge.
http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/sustainable/book/tex/ps/253.326.pdf
[4 May 2009].
9. Danish Wind Industry Association. Guided Tour on Wind Energy (online).
http://www.windpower.org/en/tour.htm [4 May 2009].
10. Learning (online). Solacity Inc. http://www.solacity.com/SiteSelection.htm
[20 May 2009].
11. D’E il B, Ja o se M, Je se M“, Kroh “, Peterse KC, a d Sandstørm, K.
Wind with Miler (online). Danish Wind Industry Association.
http://www.windpower.org/en/kids/index.htm [4 May 2009].

51
Useful References
12. Clarke S. Electricity Generation Using Small Wind Turbines At Your Home Or
Farm (Online). Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Foods and Rural Affairs.
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/engineer/facts/03-047.htm#noise
[25 May 2009].
13. Marris E and Fairless D. Wind Farms' Deadly Reputation Hard to Shift.
Nature 447: 126, 2007.
14. Keith D. Wind Power and Climate Change (online). University of Calgary.
http://www.ucalgary.ca/~keith/WindAndClimateNote.html [20 May 2009].
15. Accio Energy. About Accio Energy (online).
http://www.hydrowindpower.com/ [12 June 2009].

52
Backup Slides

53
Principles of a Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbine
• Not all the power in wind can be extracted by a WT.

• Some of K.E is carried down stream of the turbine in order to maintain flow of air.

• This effect places a theoretical maximum efficiency of 59% for extracting power from the wind,
known as the Betz limit.

u2  u1  u0

u0 . A0  u1. A1  u2 . A2

• Upstream, the speed of wind is u0 and it passes through an area A0.

• By the time the wind reaches the turbine it has slowed to u1 and the area of the stream-tube
has increased to A1, which is the area swept out by the blades of the turbine.

• Do strea of the tur i e, the i d’s ross-sectional area is A2 and its speed is u2.
54
Principles of a Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT)
• The drop in speed of the wind before and after the turbine gives rise to the pressure
drop across the turbine, through Ber oulli’s theore , so there is a thrust on the
turbine blades.

• The maximum power is generated when downstream of the turbine the wind speed
is 1/3 of the upstream speed u0 and at the turbine the wind speed is 2/3 of u0, that
is:
u2  u0 and u1  u0
1 2
3 3

u1  (u0  u2 )  (u0  u0 )  ( u0 )  u0
Hence: 1 1 1 1 4 2
2 2 3 2 3 3

u0  u 2
From u1  u2  2u1  u0  2( u0 )  u0  u0  u0  u0
2 4 1
, then :
2 3 3 3

• The fra tio of po er e tra ted the tur i e hi h is alled the Power Coefficient
Cp 
Cp is give by: P
 . A.u03
1
2 55
Principles of a Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT)

• The limit of Cp is 59.3% (= 16/27) of the incident wind power is called the Betz or
Lanchester-Betz limit and was first derived by Lanchester in 1915 and independently

Pmax   . A.( ).u03

by Betz in 1921.
1 16
2 27
• The thrust T exerted on the turbine by the wind is equal to the rate of change of
momentum:
T .(u0  u2 )
dm
dt
• Where dm/dt is the mass of wind flowing through the stream tube per second.

• Power extracted from wind = (thrust) x (air speed at the turbine)

P  T .u1  .(u0  u2 ).u1

dm
dt

• The power P can also be expressed as the rate of loss of K.E of the wind:

P . .(u0  u22 )
1 dm 2
2 dt 56
Principles of a Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT)
• From the continuity equation, we have:

  . A.u1
dm
dt

• Hence: P  2  .u12 . A.(u0  u1 )

u1  (1  a).u0 Then : P  .u03 . A.{4a.(1  a) 2 }

1
• Let: where a is called the " induction factor"
2
• The power coefficient Cp which represents the fraction of the power in the wind that
is extracted by the turbine is given by:
Cp   4a.(1  a) 2
P
 .u03 . A
1
2

• Maximizing P by setting dCp/dt to zero a d sol i g for the fa tor a gi es a = /3

Pmax   .u03 . A.{16 / 27}

Then, the maximum power extracted Pmax when a = 1/3 1
2
• The li it for the rotor’s po er oeffi ie t Cp of 16/27 (= 59.3%) of the incident wind
power is called the Betz or Lanchester-Betz limit. 57
The Rayleigh
frequency
distribution for a
mean wind speed
of 8 m/s

Typical Variation of Wind Speed

with Height
The commonly used form to describe the dependence of u on height z is given by:

u ( z )  us .(
z s
)
zs
s is called the wind shear coefficient and zs is the height at which u is measured to be us and is
typically 10 m.

s also shows a large variation over a 24 hr period and can change from < 0.15 during the day to
> 0.5 at night. This is because the at night the surface temperature drops as the ground loses
heat by radiation. After sunrise, the ground is heated by the Sun and warms the air in contact
which then rises causing mixing and reducing wind shear. 58
59
Power Output of a Wind Turbine
The power in the wind Pw at a given site is given by:

Pw   . A.  u 3   . A. {u ( z )}3 . f (u ).du

1 1
2 2

Where u(z) is the wind speed at the height of turbine

hub and f(u) is the wind frequency distribution.

The average output power P0 is given by:

P0   . A C p ( ).{u ( z )}3 . f (u ).du

If <u(z)> is the mean wind
1
speed at the height of the
2

Where the tip-speed ratio  = Vtip / u.

turbine hub , the average
output (P0) for a fixed speed
and pitch turbine is:
• For a variable pitch or speed turbine, Cp can be kept
close to its maximum value over a range of wind P0  0.2 D 2 .  u ( z )  3
speeds.

• For a fixed pitch turbine, Cp changes with the wind

speed as shown in the figure.
60
Example:

Estimate the power output of a wind farm consisting of 25 fixed pitch and
constant speed 1 MW turbines. The hub is z = 85 m and diameter is D = 55 m. The
wind has an average speed of u = 7 m/s at a height of 10 m. The land is
characterized by a surface roughness parameter z0 = 0.001 m

Solution:

P0  0.2 D 2 .  u ( z )  3

s   0.08 s is called the wind shear coefficient

1 0.001 0.2
( )
2 10

Uhub = 7(85/10)0.08 = 8.3 m/s

P0 = (0.2)(55)2.(8.3)3 = 346 kW

61
Fatigue in Wind Turbines

• Fatigue in the bade material is an

important concern due to the very large
number of stress cycles, typically on the
order of 100 million, O(108) over a 30-year
design life of the turbine.

• The rotation of the blades causes the loads

experienced by the turbine to change
repeatedly, i.e., cyclical stress. These loads
weaken the structure through fatigue.

• For a 30-year lifetime, an 80 m diameter

turbine operating for 80% of the time at  =
Cyclic stress versus log10 (# of cycles to failure)

8 in a wind speed of 10 m/s will make

about 2.4x108 stress cycles (N).

• This means that the maximum stresses

(force per unit area) must be lower than in
other structures to avoid failure through
fatigue. 62
Fatigue Failure in Wind Turbines

• Fatigue failure is the fracture of material after it has been subjected to repeated
cycles of stress changes at levels considerably below its initial static strength.

• The number of cycles to failure (N) decreases as the alternating stress level
increases.

• The stress level can be characterized by the mean stress and its range:
 imax   imin
i 
mean

Range   imax   imin

• Fatigue involves the initiation and growth of cracks in a material under repeated
stress cycles.

• Discontinuities such as sharp corners or flaws in the material are prime sites.

• Fatigue can be quantified by using the Palmer-Milner linear damage rule (called
Mil er’s rule
63
Fatigue Failure in Wind Turbines
• This method breaks down the cyclic stresses that a structure undergoes into the
number of cycles, ni, at each stress level, i , that occur.

• The total damage DM sustained by a structure is given by:

DM  
is
 1  2  ....
ni n n
i 1 N i N1 N 2

• Where Ni is the number of cycles to failure at the stress level , i

• Mil er’s rule states that failure ill o ur he DM =

• The fatigue strength of a material is the value of the stress level, , required to

an S vs. N plot (S-N plot) where S is the ratio /0

cause failure after a specified number of cycles N. The results can be expressed as

• The stress 0 is the static strength of the material. The data can be represented by
the equation:
S   /  0  1  b. log10 ( N ) where b is a positive cons tan t
64
• The good quality material has a value of
b = 0.1, i.e., the fatigue strength
decreases by 10% for each decade
increase in the number of cycles.

• The poor quality material has b = 0.14.

• As can be seen, at stress ratio S = 0.2,

the good quality material has over two
orders of magnitude longer lifetime.

S-N curves for two fiberglass composites

The equation in the figure shows that the stress (S) that
can be tolerated decreases with the number of cycles.

65