Paper ID: (AA2/03)

EFFECT OF BOUNDARY LAYER & ROTOR SPEED ON BROADBAND NOISE

PREDICTION FROM WIND TURBINES

Corresponding Author: Vasishta bhargava, SIET, Hyderabad, India

Co-authors: Samala Rahul, Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai
Amar Alapati, SiemensGamesa Renewable Energy, Bangalore

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 Content overview

 An introduction to wind turbine noise

 Airborne noise sources from wind turbines

 Broadband noise prediction methods

 Brookes, Pope & Marcolini
 Grosveld
 Lowson

 Effect of boundary layer

 Rotor speed effect

 Validation of results

 Conclusions

 Citations/ References
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 An Introduction to Wind Turbine Noise

 “Sound is form of mechanical energy

and produced due to vibration or
fluctuating pressure in a medium
above or below ref atmospheric
pressure“

 Types of noise mechanisms

 Airborne - Aerofoil self noise: Turbulent

inflow noise e.g. aerofoil, fan blades, 105dB(A)

 Structure borne e.g. meshing of gears;

90dB(A)
airframes,
55dB(A)

 Impacts of Wind Turbine Noise on

human Health
 Annoyance - sleep disturbances
(Pedersen & Waye, 2004) 0m 100m 200m 300m 400m
Source : GE Global Research
 Physiological effects: Anxiety, stress Sound Levels (dBA)
(University of Notre Dame study)

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Airborne noise sources from wind turbines

 Aerofoil self-noise mechanisms Turbulent boundary layer

√ Turbulent boundary layer trailing edge

√ Trailing edge bluntness /thickness Trailing edge noise

√ Tip vortex formation

√ Flow separation /stall induced

√ Laminar boundary layer-vortex shedding

 Turbulent inflow noise mechanism

Source: Gasch, NASA – RP- 1218 (1989)

 Airborne noise types based on frequency range

 Special noise characteristics
Low frequency (20Hz<f<200Hz); Infrasonic (f< 18 Hz) ; Tonal noise ( short pulses )

 Broadband aerodynamic noise (20Hz <f < 20kHz)

Boundary layer flow over a surface ; undergoes edge scattering or diffraction

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 Previous research & current work

 Broadband noise from horizontal axis wind turbine blades

Broadband noise caused during downward motion of blade due to turbulent boundary
layer interaction with trailing edge surface (Oerlemans, Schepers , 2009/10 study)

Main factors affecting overall sound pressure -trailing edge geometry, boundary
layer properties, blade tip speed, Mach number ( Moriarty, Wei et al, 2003/05 study)

 Tip speed is design constraint

Increase in either blade length or rotational speed directly affects the noise level
A trade off between the acoustic emission from blades and aerodynamic
power extraction from turbine. (Wei et al 2005, Oerlemans 2012)

 Current work - effect of boundary layer and rotor speed on noise levels from MW
turbines

Brookes, Pope and Marcolini (1989), Grosveld and Lowson prediction methods
Downwind receiver position is worst case scenario due to sound wave amplification

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 Broadband noise prediction methods

 Brookes Pope Marcolini (BPM)

 Derived from large scale anechoic wind tunnel experiments

data E.g. NACA 0012 symmetric aerofoil

 Aerofoil is modelled as flat plate

 Sound pressure varies as Mach number, M5

 Flow over aerofoil is 2D incompressible, viscous, uniform

inflow

 Inverse square relation as distance between source-receiver

δ∗p M 5 LDh St p
SPLp = 10. log10 +A + K1 − 3 + ∆K1
re2 St1
δ𝑠∗ M 5 LDh St s
SPL𝑠 = 10. log10 + A + K1 − 3
re2 St1

δ∗s M 5 LDh St s
SPLα = 10. log10 + B + K2
re2 St 2
SPLα SPLp SPLs
SPLTotal = 10. log10 10 10 + 10 10 + 10 10 Source: Oerlemans (2011)

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 … continued

 Lowson
𝛿M5 L
SPLtotal = 10. log10 . 𝐺6 (𝑓) + 128.5
 Sound pressure Level is proportional to δ, M5 re2

 G6 is the frequency dependent scaling factor

 Grosveld
𝐵𝛿U5 LDh
SPLtotal = 10. log10 . 𝐾𝐾2 + 𝐶
 Sound pressure Level is proportional to δ, U5 re2

 KK2 is the frequency dependent scaling factor

 According to acoustic emissions R

measurements per IEC 61400-11
 Receiver distance  HH + D/2
 Receiver location  00 (downwind) reference
 Source height  Hub height (80m)
 Receiver height  flush mounted on ground
OR 2m AGL
 Ref height for WS  10m AGL
 Apparent Sound power level -> LwA = LeqA - 6 + 10log(4𝜋R2/S0) ;
R- Slant distance; S0 – Reference area, 1 m2;

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Results – boundary layer effect
U10m= 10 m/s
 Rotor azimuth averaged noise spectra
Rc - 80 + 38 (receiver distance from turbine)
Rh – 2m AGL (above ground level)
Rotor speed 15 RPM; Rated Power- 2MW
No of blades : 3; Rotor orient: Upwind
Root: Chord ~ 3.24m, Twist ~ 11.20
Tip: Chord ~ 0.2m, Twist ~ 30
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 Max LwA – 99 dB (A) for BPM using δ.
 Δ LwAδ-δ* is ~ 8 dB (A) near the 1 kHz
region for all prediction models
 Δ LwA δ-δ* constant above 1 kHz region
for Lowson and Grosveld methods, but
increase for BPM method
(1/3rd octave band filter)
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 Results - rotor speed effect

U10m = 8 m/s

• Rotor azimuth averaged noise spectra for baseline methods

Rc - 80 + 38 (receiver distance from turbine)

 Δ LwA is ~ 6 dB (A) near the 1 kHz
Rh – 2m AGL (above ground level)
region for all prediction models

For f < 100 Hz,  Constant difference above 1 kHz region

Max Δ LwA – 4.5 dB (A) between 14 & 17 rpm for all three prediction methods

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 Validation with experiment data

U10m = 8 m/s U10m = 10 m/s

Wind speed of 8 m/s • Penalty of ~ 2dB is added for all simulated data
Max LwA (dBA) • Good correlation with Lowson method
~ 94.86 – BPM; • Very good agreement with BPM and Grosveld
~ 98.64 – Lowson methods for 500Hz < f< 2 kHz range for both wind
~ 94.20 - Grosveld speeds;
Wind speed of 10 m/s
Validation of baseline results with experiment data
Max LwA (dBA)
GE 1.5sle 77m rotor diameter (RD) at 8 & 10 m/s
~ 102.22 – BPM;
Siemens SWT 2.3MW 93m RD (R.O Neal) “ “
~ 107.66 – Lowson ;
Siemens SWT 2.3 MW, 93m RD (Pieter) ““
~ 101.58 - Grosveld

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Contours (apparent sound power) LwA
TBL-TEN, BPM TBL-TEN, LOWSON TBL-TEN, GROSVELD

Frequency [Hz] Frequency [Hz] Frequency [Hz]

Rotor azimuth averaged noise spectra for • Max LwA, dBA above rated WS
baseline methods Brookes et al – 103 @ 11 m/s
Lowson - 108 @ 11 m/s
Rc - 80 + 38 (receiver distance from turbine) Grosveld – 102 @ 11 m/s
Rh – 2m AGL (above ground level)
• Max LwA, dBA near rated WS
Surface roughness length ~ 0.05m ; grass land
Brookes et al – 93 @ 8 m/s
Lowson - 98@ 8 m/s
Frequency range : 20 Hz – 3150 Hz
Grosveld – 92 @ 8 m/s
Wind speed+ (WS) range : 6m/s – 11 m/s ( 8-
15m/s HH)
+ is wind speed at 10m height AGL as per IEC 61400-11

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 Conclusions

• 1/3rd octave band sound pressure level vary as 5th power of Mach number (flow
velocity-U) regardless of trailing edge noise prediction method

• Downwind receiver position is considered worst case due to high frequency

amplification

• The experiment data showed more difference in low frequency region than
predicted simulation results ; Attributed to background or inflow turbulence

• An increase of boundary layer thickness contributes to rise in noise levels

• Tip speed (Ω.R) of blade directly affects the overall sound levels from a turbine.
i.e. product of rotational speed and blade length

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 References / Citations

Brooks et al (1989) “Aerofoil self-noise prediction” NASA report.

F.W. Grosveld (1984) “Prediction of broadband noise from horizontal axis wind turbines” The
Bionetics corporation, Hampton, Virgnia.

Wei Zhu et al.(2005) “Modelling of noise from wind turbines” Technical University of Denmark

P. Moriarty P Migliore (2001) “Semi empirical aero-acoustic noise prediction code for wind
turbines” NREL-report.

C Doolan, D J Moreau, L Brooks.(2012) “Wind turbine noise mechanisms and some

concepts for its control” School of mechanical engineering, The University of Adelaide
Australia

Pieter Djikstra.(2015) “Rotor noise and aero acoustic optimization of wind turbine aerofoils”
TU Delft, Netherlands

Oerlemans et al, (2007) “Location and quantification of noise sources on a wind turbine”
Journal of sound and vibration

Robert D ‘O Neal et al (2009) “A study of low frequency noise and infrasound from wind
turbines” NextEra Energy Resources, LLC

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 Thank you for the attention

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 Results – blade segment noise

75 % - r/R
• Max of 10dBA ΔSPL when blade azimuth
is in 100 and 150 degrees and at 60 & 2400
receiver location i.e. downward motion of
blade

Frequency [Hz]
• Primary noise radiation from blade occurs
between 75% r/R to 90% r/R from trailing
edge noise source

• Secondary noise radiation from blade

Blade Azimuth Angle [ degrees]
occurs at mid span of the blade due to
trailing edge thickness or bluntness vortex
shedding noise source (Schepers, 2009) 1
2sin2 ( θ)sin2 (∅)
Dh θ, ∅ = 2 ;
1 + Mcosθ . (1 + M − Mc cosθ)2

Doppler effect Convective amplification

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Basic flow chart for current simulation work

Noise/ Formulate the problem &

Collect input data of system
Wind Collect input data of system
Turbine

No
Noise Prepare /make the assumptions document
prediction
models
Check
MATLAB Construct or program simulation model validity/
Verify
program

Yes

Make pilot simulation runs Simulation outputs

MAT files
Design & make final runs

 Experiment data of system

 Subject matter expert
Noise data Log the result data  Data from another model for
similar system & conditions

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