Researchers have developed a new experimental approach using highly pressurized wind tunnels that could help improve wind turbine performance and increase power generation from existing wind farms. The method is designed to reproduce the aerodynamic conditions experienced by full-scale wind turbines more accurately than conventional laboratory experiments.
The research involved scientists from MIT, Queen’s University, Princeton University and Penn State University. The work was supported in part by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the U.S. National Science Foundation and the MIT-GE Vernova Alliance. According to MIT News, the research was published in PNAS Nexus.
Testing new wind turbine technologies under controlled conditions remains challenging because turbines operate in constantly changing atmospheric environments. Conventional wind tunnels can support such experiments, but scaled-down turbines do not always reproduce the conditions experienced by full-sized machines operating in wind farms.
To address this gap, researchers used a pressurized wind tunnel to better simulate atmospheric flow physics. The experimental turbine measured 15 centimeters in diameter and was tested at pressures of up to 240 atmospheres. By substantially increasing air density, the researchers were able to reproduce aerodynamic characteristics associated with much larger turbines.
Over several weeks, the team tested turbine performance under different wind-alignment conditions and control strategies. The experiments showed that power output could be increased by adjusting turbine tip speed according to its misalignment angle with the wind. The researchers noted that this type of control strategy is rarely employed at wind farms today and could provide a way to improve turbine performance with minimal additional costs.
The study also points to potential economic benefits. The researchers estimate that optimizing turbine alignment relative to the wind, blade pitch angles—which control the airfoil’s angle of attack—and tip speed relative to the wind could potentially generate tens of thousands of dollars in additional revenue per turbine each year.
Beyond improving the operation of existing wind farms, the experiments validated a computationally lightweight model that engineers can use to assess different turbine designs and control strategies. The model can be run on regular laptop computers, potentially making advanced turbine-performance analysis more accessible.
The researchers said the pressurized testing approach could help bridge the gap between theoretical simulations and complex full-scale field experiments. It could also enable faster testing and validation of future wind turbine designs, aerodynamic models and control strategies under carefully controlled conditions.
