Characteristics of wind velocity and turbulence intensity at horizontal axis wind turbines array

The wind turbine performance that is not optimal can be influenced by the distance of unsteady turbine, where it can generate the wake effect. This research has been conducted to analyze the wind velocity, turbulence intensity in the downstream area of wind turbines as wake effect factors, where the turbine is placed in an in-line array configuration. The research novelty is the ideal distance of simple Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine model, which can reduce the wake effect. This research uses variables that are divided into two types i.e. independent variables (turbine line distance), and dependent variables (wind velocity and turbulence intensity). The measurement of the independent variable is carried out at the distance between the upstream and downstream areas of the wind turbine. It is measured by the diameter of the wind turbine, i.e. 1D to 8D. The research method uses a Computational Fluid Dynamics simulation with SST k-Ω model analysis which is divided into two formulations, among others are kinetic energy turbulence (k) and turbulence frequency (Ω), where the simulation results are compared to the ones of previous research. The simulation results can concluded that the reduction in wind velocity and the increased turbulence intensity occur in the downstream area of 1D to 8D. Wind velocity and turbulence intensity have been recovered at a maximum distance of 8D, due to the influence of air flow outside the wake effect area which influences the air flow inside the wake effect area, so turbulent air flow is transformed into the laminar air flow. © 2020 Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l. - All rights reserved.