To conclude, it can be stated that with respect to wind turbine sound an important phenomenon has been overlooked: the change in wind after sunset. This phenomenon will be more important for modern, tall wind turbines and in view of the many wind farms that are planned. If this problem is not recognized and solved it will hamper the expansion of wind energy.

I.6 Research aims

The issues raised above concerning wind turbine noise and its relationship
to altitude dependent wind velocity led to the following issues to be
investigated:

. what is the influence of atmospheric stability on the speed and
sound power of a wind turbine? 

. what is the influence of atmospheric stability on the character of
wind turbine sound?

. how widespread is the impact of atmospheric stability on wind
turbine performance: is it relevant for new wind turbine projects?;
how can noise prediction take this stability into account?

. what can be done to deal with the resultant higher impact of wind
turbine sound?

Apart from these directly wind turbine related issues, a final aim was to
address a measurement problem:

. how does wind on a microphone affect the measurement of the
ambient sound level?

................................................................................................

The sound of a wind turbine or wind farm can thus become more annoying
after sunset for two reasons: it becomes louder and the sound exhibits
stronger fluctuations. At a given rotor diameter a blade can only be made
less noisy with a different design or by slowing down the speed. A
decrease in speed however reduces the generated electrical power and must
therefore be applied only when necessary. To achieve this a control can be
applied that lowers the speed when a noise limit is exceeded, increasing the
speed again when the limit allows. This control could work on the
generator and/or the pitch angle of the blades.

By changing the pitch angle while the blades rotate, the wind can flow in at
an optimal angle at any position on the rotor, by which the energetic
efficiency will increase on the one hand and the fluctuation strength of the
sound will decrease on the other hand, even rendering the fluctuations
inaudible. The total sound power will then decrease even relative to a
neutral atmosphere, because the in-flow turbulence sound level will be
lower due to the relative absence of atmospheric turbulence. Tilting the
rotor to change the pitch angle during rotation does not appear to be a
fruitful strategy: the tilt must be so great that the disadvantages will
dominate.

The fluctuations near a wind farm can be stronger due to interference from
the fluctuations of several turbines. This can be prevented by
desynchronizing the turbines, as it happens in daytime by large scale
atmospheric turbulence, by adding small and uncorrelated variations in the
load of the rotors or the pitch angle of the blades of the individual turbines.

Controlling the sound production thus requires a new strategy for
managing wind turbines: in daytime there is often more margin available
for sound production than at night and this margin can be used in daytime
in exchange for more restrictions at night.

The strength of atmospheric turbulence does not only depend on the
(average) wind velocity, but also on the local roughness of the earth
surface and the stability of the atmosphere. These last two factors cause
friction and thermal turbulence, respectively. The turbulence strength is well

known for an unobstructed wind flow over flat land. Turbulence is
weaker in a stable and stronger in an unstable atmosphere.
The ‘sound’ pressure level based on atmospheric turbulence appears to
agree well with measured and published levels of wind induced pressure
levels. Thus the influence of wind on a sound measurement in wind can be
calculated. In reverse this calculation model yields a new method to
measure the strength of atmospheric turbulence.

To conclude, it can be stated that with respect to wind turbine sound an
important phenomenon has been overlooked: the change in wind after
sunset. This phenomenon will be more important for modern, tall wind
turbines and in view of the many wind farms that are planned. If this
problem is not recognized and solved it will hamper the expansion of wind
energy.

Web link: http://dissertations.ub.rug.nl/faculties/science/2...

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Chapter Three.pdf (247.77 kB)
Chapter Four.pdf (965.66 kB)
Chapter Five.pdf (965.32 kB)
chapter Six.pdf (1.6 MB)
Chapter Seven.pdf (495.59 kB)
Chapter Eight.pdf (393.86 kB)
Chapter Nine.pdf (95.99 kB)
Chapter Ten.pdf (90.58 kB)
Acknowledgements.pdf (54.54 kB)
Summary.pdf (113.79 kB)
Samenvatting.pdf (115.49 kB)
References.pdf (80.71 kB)
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