Tiny wind turbines in a vast ocean: Flow, power and motion dynamics
Portland State University
Abstract
Wind and water tunnel experiments of turbulent wakes in a scaled floating wind farm are performed. Scaling of a floating wind farm with a scaling ratio of 1:400 is made possible by relaxing geometric scaling of the turbine platform system, such that the dynamic response can be correctly matched, and to allow for relaxing Froude scaling such that the Reynolds number can be kept large enough. The response and performance of a single turbine scaled model are characterized for different wind and wave conditions. Subsequently, a wind farm experiment is performed with twelve floating turbine models, organized in four rows and three columns. Mechanisms for wake recovery and power production are discussed with implications on dependencies on wave conditions and wind farm arrangement.
About the speaker
Dr. Raúl Bayoán Cal is the Daimler Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Portland State University. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University. His research focuses on understanding fluid flow phenomena as it relates to physical systems such as turbulence with emphasis placed on physics related to wall-bounded, free-shear and multi-phase flows as well as wind/solar energy, and capillary microfluidics including in both terrestrial and space.
