Flow Turbulence and Renewable Energy

风能和太阳能等可再生能源确实受制于它们所受的环境动荡风的摆布。强劲而稳定的风可以通过前景看好的风力涡轮机提供丰富的清洁能源。然而，流量波动的作用并不明显。流动湍流可能会破坏尾迹组织良好的涡流结构，因此，可能会缓解尾迹对下游风力涡轮机的不利影响。事实上，一定的湍流可以延缓气动失速，改善翼型性能。另一方面，风的显著波动可能会导致严重的结构疲劳，同时减少风能捕获。同样，容纳太阳能电池板的结构也需要承受风荷载，其中波动阻力和升力是首要的。虽然从结构完整性的角度来看，风可能是不可取的，但它需要保持太阳能电池板的凉爽，特别是在炎热的夏天下午，以利用更高的能源转换效率。克服这些和其他实际挑战既需要工程上的独创性，也需要对始终令人困惑的、无处不在的流动湍流有更好的基本理解。在基本层面上，清洁、各向同性的湍流仍然是一个关键因素，需要更好地理解。在实验和数据整理方面的极端努力，以及改进的分析，都是促进这条道路上的进展所必需的。拟议的研究由并行的基础-应用方法组成，具体目的是不断改进上述清洁能源技术，并逐步揭示工程湍流。

Renewable energies such as wind and solar are verily at the mercy of the environmental turbulent wind that they are subject to. Strong and steady wind can furnish abundant clean energy via the promising wind turbines. The roles of flow fluctuations, however, are less obvious. Flow turbulence may break down the well-organized vortical flow structures of the wake, and hence, possibly mitigate the adverse effects of the wake on the downstream wind turbines. In fact, some turbulent flow can delay the aerodynamic stall and improve airfoil performance. On the other hand, pronounced fluctuations in the wind can lead to significant structural fatigue along with reduced wind power capturing. Similarly, the structures housing solar panels need to withstand the wind loads, among which the fluctuating drag and lift are of primal importance. While wind may be undesirable from the standpoint of structural integrity, it is needed to keep the solar panel cool, especially on a hot summer afternoon, to capitalize higher energy conversion efficiency. Overcoming these and other practical challenges requires both engineering ingenuities and improved fundamental understanding of the ever-perplexing, omnipresent flow turbulence. At the fundamental level, clean, isotropic turbulence remains a critical element which demands better understanding. Extreme diligence both in experimentation and in data reduction, along with improved analyses, are necessary in enhancing progress along this path. The proposed research consists of coupled parallel fundamental-application approaches specifically aimed at continuous improvement of the aforementioned clean energy technologies and progressive revelation of engineering turbulence.