PIV measurement of flow field of the wind turbine with a brimmed diffuser

Abstract

The paper presents the instantaneous flow velocity measurements of a wind turbine with a brimmed diffuser by particle image velocimetry (PIV). The PIV is used to show the velocity vectors of the inner and downstream flow fields of the model at Reynolds number, 1 × 105 for turbine blades rotating (3 700 rpm) and no turbine blades. Furthermore the flow fields between with and without the turbine blades are compared. If the turbine blades are rotating, the flow disturbances in a brimmed diffuser are suppressed. And there are two large vortices at downstream region of the diffuser. One vortex after Brim acts as suck in wind to the diffuser and raise the inlet flow velocity. Another large unsteady vortex appears at downstream. Consequently the wind turbine with a brimmed diffuser can be operated stably while the turbine blades are rotating.