Wind-Turbine Wake Encounter by Light Aircraft

Wang, Y.; White, Mark; Barakos, George N.

doi:10.2514/1.c033870

Cited by 4 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Conversely, our results using an actuator-line representation of a wind turbine in the SOWFA LES model never surpass the low roll hazard threshold. Rather, our results agree with those of Wang et al (2015Wang et al ( , 2017, whose calculations are computed from the Beddoes circulation formula (Madsen and Rasmussen, 2004), as opposed to the wind tunnel extrapolation in Mulinazzi and Zheng (2014). Past successes in 20 turbine wake modeling using LES actuator-line methods can in part validate our results (e.g., Churchfield et al (2012);Nilsson et al (2015); Jha et al (2015)).…”

supporting

confidence: 79%

“…5) is calculated for an aircraft inside and outside the wake for the neutral (Figure 4b) and stable ( Figure 4d) cases to categorize each moment as a "low", "medium", or "high" hazard as used in the Mulinazzi and Zheng (2014) and Wang et al (2015) assessments of wake roll 20 hazards. These assessment criteria are based on the maximum rolling moment that the aileron on a typical aircraft can generate to counteract a moment induced by the wake field (Wang et al, 2015). A wake-induced rolling moment coefficient |C roll | above 0.28 is considered a high hazard, between 0.1 and 0.28 a medium hazard, and below 0.1 a low hazard.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For a 30-m rotor diameter wind turbine, Wang et al (2015Wang et al ( , 2017 find the wake does not pose any roll hazards for aircraft 5 30 rotor diameters downstream from the turbine.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The roll hazard metric most concerning to general aviation pilots is the rolling moment (Wang et al, 2015). The rolling moment is the aerodynamic force applied at a distance from an aircraft's center of mass that causes the aircraft to undergo angular acceleration about its roll axis.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Wang et al (2015Wang et al ( , 2017) computed a wake wind field derived using the Beddoes circulation formula (Madsen and Rasmussen, 2004), proven to adequately match lidar field observations made of a wind turbine wake.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Do Wind Turbines Pose Roll Hazards to Light Aircraft?

Tomaszewski

2018

Preprint

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Abstract. Wind energy accounted for 5.6% of all electricity generation in the United States in 2016. Much of this development has occurred in rural locations, where open spaces favorable for harnessing wind also serve general aviation airports. As such, nearly 40% of all U.S. wind turbines exist within 10 km of a small airport. Wind turbines generate electricity by extracting momentum from the atmosphere, creating downwind wakes characterized by wind-speed deficits and increased turbulence.Recently, the concern that turbine wakes pose hazards for small aircraft has been used to limit wind farm development. Herein, we assess roll hazards to small aircraft using large-eddy simulations of a utility-scale turbine wake. Wind-generated rolling moments on hypothetical aircraft transecting the wake in stably and neutrally stratified conditions are calculated. In both cases, only 0.001% of rolling moments experienced by hypothetical aircraft during down-wake and cross-wake transects lead to an increased risk of rolling.

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supporting

confidence: 79%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For a 30-m rotor diameter wind turbine, Wang et al (2015Wang et al ( , 2017 find the wake does not pose any roll hazards for aircraft 5 30 rotor diameters downstream from the turbine.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Do Wind Turbines Pose Roll Hazards to Light Aircraft?

Tomaszewski

2018

Preprint

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A review of impact loads on composite wind turbine blades: Impact threats and classification

Verma

Yan

et al. 2023

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

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Flight Load Assessment for Light Aircraft Landing Trajectories in Windy Atmosphere and Near Wind Farms

et al. 2018

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This work focuses on the wake encounter problem occurring when a light, or very light, aircraft flies through or nearby a wind turbine wake. The dependency of the aircraft normal load factor on the distance from the turbine rotor in various flight and environmental conditions is quantified. For this research, a framework of software applications has been developed for generating and controlling a population of flight simulation scenarios in presence of assigned wind and turbulence fields. The JSBSim flight dynamics model makes use of several autopilot systems for simulating a realistic pilot behavior during navigation. The wind distribution, calculated with OpenFOAM, is a separate input for the dynamic model and is considered frozen during each flight simulation. The aircraft normal load factor during wake encounters is monitored at different distances from the rotor, aircraft speeds, rates of descent and crossing angles. Based on these figures, some preliminary guidelines and recommendations on safe encounter distances are provided for general aviation aircraft, with considerations on pilot comfort and flight safety. These are needed, for instance, when an accident risk assessment study is required for flight in proximity of aeolic parks. A link to the GitHub code repository is provided.

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Wind-Turbine Wake Encounter by Light Aircraft

Cited by 4 publications

References 16 publications

Do Wind Turbines Pose Roll Hazards to Light Aircraft?

Do Wind Turbines Pose Roll Hazards to Light Aircraft?

A review of impact loads on composite wind turbine blades: Impact threats and classification

Flight Load Assessment for Light Aircraft Landing Trajectories in Windy Atmosphere and Near Wind Farms

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