Critical Emergent Design Issues in Wind Energy Production: Guidelines for Maximizing the Economic Impact of Wind Turbine Arrays

EAGER奖的研究目标是通过确定在不同湍流尺度和不同地形设置下最大功率提取的最佳条件来制定风能系统的设计指南。这项研究将探讨风能系统的关键方面。虽然这种探索正在以谨慎的速度在全国范围内取得进展，但拟议的研究旨在填补一个关键的跨学科空白，该空白福尔斯落在设计，经济，流体，结构和动力学的联系上。本研究探讨风力涡轮机阵列设计对功率效率的影响，将有助于设计准则的发展。 这一努力解决了超出流体界范围的关键设计问题。 特别是，我们将量化原始外部参数的影响（例如，风力涡轮机、地形、位置、尺寸、布置和涡轮机叶片俯仰角之间相互作用）。这项研究提供了急需的了解这些风力涡轮机阵列如何相互作用，以及它们如何在高度不确定的条件下最佳地提取能量。如果成功的话，这项研究结果的及时发布将为全国风能生产的快速发展提供设计指南。此外，根据一名主要研究员进行研究生学习的少数民族学生的NSF-研究生教育联盟和教授（NSF-AGEP）模式，将开展几项活动，以进一步增加STEM领域的科学家人数。 NSF-AGEP的目标是增加学术界代表性不足的少数群体的数量。PI将从波多黎各和RPI招募5名本科生，在本研究年度参加研究密集型暑期课程。这些学生和一名研究生将通过最先进的技术（建模）接触工程/风能领域。

This research objective of this EAGER award is to develop design guidelines for wind energy systems by identifying the optimal conditions for maximum power-extraction at different scales of the turbulent flow, and different topographical settings. This research will explore critical aspects of wind energy systems. While this exploration is progressing nationally with deliberate speed, the proposed research is intended to fill a critical interdisciplinary void that falls at the nexus of design, economics, fluids, structures, and dynamics. The proposed research explores the impact of wind turbine arrays design on power efficiency, which will contribute to the development of design guidelines. This effort addresses critical design issues that are beyond the scope of the fluids community. In particular, we will quantify the impact of primordial external parameters (e.g., interaction between wind turbine, topography, location, size, arrangements and turbine blade pitching angle). The research provides the much-needed understanding of how these wind turbine arrays interact among themselves, and how they can optimally extract energy under highly uncertain conditions. If successful, the timely release of the results of this research will provide a design guide in the rapidly progressing research and development of wind energy production nationally. In addition, following the NSF-Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (NSF-AGEP) model for minority students under which one PI undertook his graduate studies, several activities will be set in place to further increase the number of scientist in STEM fields. NSF-AGEP goals are to increase the number of underrepresented minorities in academia. The PIs will recruit 5 undergraduate students from Puerto Rico and RPI to participate in a research-intensive summer program during the year of this research. These students and one graduate student will gain exposure to the field of engineering/wind energy with state-of-the-art technologies (modeling).