Flow Turbulence and Renewable Energy

像风能和太阳能这样的可再生能源确实受到环境湍流的支配。强劲而稳定的风可以通过有前途的风力涡轮机提供丰富的清洁能源。然而，流量波动的作用就不那么明显了。流动湍流可以破坏尾迹组织良好的涡流结构，从而可能减轻尾迹对下游风力涡轮机的不利影响。事实上，一些湍流可以延缓气动失速，提高翼型性能。另一方面，风力的明显波动会导致结构明显疲劳，同时风力捕获也会减少。同样，太阳能电池板的结构需要承受风荷载，其中波动的阻力和升力是最重要的。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凉爽，特别是在炎热的夏季下午，以利用更高的能量转换效率。克服这些和其他实际挑战既需要工程上的聪明才智，也需要对不断令人困惑、无处不在的流动湍流有更好的基本理解。在基本层面上，干净的各向同性湍流仍然是一个需要更好理解的关键因素。在实验和数据缩减方面的极度勤奋，以及改进的分析，是在这条道路上加强进展所必需的。提出的研究包括耦合并行的基本应用方法，专门针对上述清洁能源技术的不断改进和工程湍流的逐步揭示。

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.