Assessing compressibility effects on the performance of large horizontal-axis wind turbines

Abstract

The tips of large horizontal-axis wind turbines can easily reach high speeds, thus raising the concern that compressibility effects may influence turbine wakes and ultimately power production. All past studies have assumed that these effects are negligible. Compressibility effects are assessed here in terms of blade aerodynamic properties and variable density separately. Using the Blade Element Momentum (BEM) method, we find that under normal operating conditions (i.e., wind speed