A simple induction model characterizing the evolution of the wind flow approaching a wind turbine rotor is presented - along with the numerical simulation results that allowed to derive the model - in a scientific article by Niels Troldborg and Alexander R. Meyer Forsting. The article is published in the Wind Energy journal. The article can be read online at:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-1824.
Paper abstract:
The induction zone in front of different wind turbine rotors is studied by means of steady-state Navier-Stokes simulations combined with an actuator disk approach. It is shown that, for distances beyond 1 rotor radius upstream of the rotors, the induced velocity is self-similar and independent of the rotor geometry. On the basis of these findings, a simple analytical model of the induction zone of wind turbines is proposed.