Experimentally observed effects of yaw misalignment on the inflow in the rotor plane

Abstract

Near-wake measurements, focussed on yawed flow conditions, are conducted on a wind turbine rotor model in an open jet wind tunnel. Tip vortex center locations and phase-locked average flow velocity distributions are recorded. Experimental conditions at the blade are not measured and hence are estimated from a measurement analysis tool, named inverse vortex wake model. The unknown bound circulation is derived by the vortex wake type method without the need for an airfoil model. The analysis of the effects yawed operating conditions have on the blade flow conditions concentrates on the individual contributions of tip, root, trailed and shed vortices to the inflow in the rotor plane. © 2007 IOP Publishing Ltd.