Comparison of wind tunnel and on site measurements for urban wind energy estimation of potential yield

TLDR: In this article, the authors compare wind tunnel results with field measurement wind data in order to examine the validity of wind tunnel data in providing realistic estimates of urban wind energy potential and assess the probable errors involved.

About: This article is published in Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics.The article was published on 2016-11-01 and is currently open access. It has received 47 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Wind profile power law & Roughness length.

Figures

Fig. 8. : EV Building model with surroundings above the turntable in the wind tunnel (Direction of the wind is South-West).

Fig. 7. : Field Measurement Data above the Roof of EV Building with the Corresponding Error Bars. (a) Average Wind Speed. (b) Total Wind Energy Potential per Unit Area.

Fig. 14. : Field Measurement Data and Estimated Values above the Roof of Equiterre Building with the Corresponding Error Bars. (a) Average Wind Speed. (b) Total Wind Energy Potential per Unit Area.

Fig. 15. : Estimated Values above the Roof of Equiterre Building for a One-Year Duration with the Corresponding Error Bars. (a) Average Wind Speed. (b) Total Wind Energy Potential per Unit Area.

Fig. 1. : Urban Wind Turbines: Bahrain World Trade Center Towers. (https:// commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bahrain_World_Trade_Center.jpg?uselang=nl).

Fig. 9. : Field Measurement Data and Estimated Values above the Roof of EV Building with the Corresponding Error Bars. (a) Average Wind Speed. (b) Total Wind Energy Potential per Unit Area.

Frequently asked questions

Q1. What contributions have the authors mentioned in the paper "Comparison of wind tunnel and on site measurements for urban wind energy estimation of potential yield" ?

The paper refers to and discusses two Montreal building cases with different upstream roughness homogeneity. In the first case, field wind speed measurements are used to calculate the wind energy potential for a building with upstream rather homogeneous suburban type of terrain. The calculated wind energy potential based on the field measurements was compared with the estimated value based on respective boundary layer wind tunnel data. In the first case, where the upstream terrain is homogeneous, the difference between the estimation of wind energy potential and the calculation using the field measurements is less than 5 %. However, in the second case with the nonhomogeneous upstream terrain conditions, the difference between the estimation of the wind energy potential and the calculation using the field measurements is increased by up to 20 %. 

Q2. What are the future works in "Comparison of wind tunnel and on site measurements for urban wind energy estimation of potential yield" ?

Further research would be desirable to examine different wind climates and the effect of turbulence intensity, the high values of which in the urban environment is presently a deterrent for the utilization of urban wind energy. Any means to reduce the turbulence intensity by streamlining the oncoming wind flow prior to interacting with the wind energy generator deserve further study and investigation.