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1st IC-SCCE
Athens, 8-10 September, 2004
© IC-SCCE
N.S. Tachos*, A.P. Fragias*, A.E. Filios**, D.P. Margaris*, D.G. Papanikas*
*
Fluid Mechanics Laboratory, Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics Department,
University of Patras, GR-26500, Patras, Hellas
e-mail: taxos@mech.upatras.gr
**
Mechanical Engineering Department, School of Pedagogical and Technological Education, Athens, Hellas
Abstract. The paper demonstrates a computational methodology for the noise prediction of a Horizontal Axis
Wind Turbine (HAWT) rotor in time domain. The aeroacoustic modeling is based on the Ffowcs Williams and
Hawkings equation considering only the surface monopole and dipole noise sources. The accurate solution of
the noise problem is strongly influenced by the unsteadiness of the rotor flowfield, the non uniform inflow effects
and the blade aerodynamic parameters which are included in the numerical model. The aerodynamic analysis
uses a three dimensional low order panel method combined with a boundary layer correction model for the
calculation of the blade pressure distribution, obtaining satisfactory agreement with experimental data.
Acoustic pressure predictions for the NREL downwind rotor are presented for several cases proving that
broadband noise propagation dominates at low and mid frequency ranges. Sound pressure level contours occur
via Fourier transformations, while the directivity for a single frequency source is also examined.
1 INTRODUCTION
The aerodynamic and aeroacoustic behavior of wind turbines presents special characteristics which make
their prediction a significant research subject. The rotor design is directly influenced by the aerodynamic
analysis and the complexity of the rotor flowfield. The understanding of the noise source mechanisms,
depending on the rotor aerodynamic parameters and the operating conditions is very important for a wide range
of the rotor frequency spectrum. Thus, the noise prediction of a wind turbine is a challenging matter similar to
other complicated aeroacoustic problems such as helicopter or propeller noise[1,2].
The aim of the present paper is to present a coupled aerodynamic and aeroacoustic model for the calculation
of broadband noise radiated by a Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT) rotor. The study addresses a
combination of theoretical modeling and an efficient numerical simulation technique in order to predict the
important broadband noise sources under certain conditions, incorporating the known acoustic system
parameters[3,4].
Essentially broadband noise is considered to be dominated by unsteady thickness, unsteady loading and
trailing edge noise due to the non-uniform inflow effects on rotor flowfield. These fluctuations are not periodical
but random in nature generating by the atmospheric conditions or the blade motion itself[5].
The aeroacoustic prediction model is based on the Ffowcs Williams - Hawkings (FW-H) equation[6] which is
the most general formulation of the Lighthill acoustic analogy[7], and is suitable for the noise prediction of
arbitrarily moving rigid bodies in both time and frequency domain. The FW-H equation has already been used
extensively for the noise radiation of helicopter rotating blades. Following this significant background, the
proposed prediction model calculates the broadband noise generated by the wind turbine rotor at different
operating conditions. The noise source mechanisms considered, are the unsteady thickness and loading
components of the overall sound propagation. The wake characteristics and the geometrical parameters such as
the airfoil and blade shape are fully included in the numerical implementation for the calculation of the resulting
sound pressure level (SPL) contours. Overall noise magnitudes are obtained by integrating contributions of all
acoustic sources over the actual rotor geometry for any observer position.
For the aerodynamic analysis a computationally efficient and robust three-dimensional low order panel
method[8]-was developed. The method is coupled with an integral boundary layer model[9] to provide a more
complete representation of the flowfield. Compressibility effects over the blade surface affect the broadband
noise at low or mid frequency ranges, thus compressibility correcting factors are embedded in the method. The
aerodynamic numerical model leads to the prediction of pressure and velocity distribution over the blade
N.S. Tachos, A.P. Fragias, A.E. Filios, D.P. Margaris, D.G. Papanikas.
2 PHYSICOMATHEMATICAL INTERPRETATION
2.1 Aerodynamic implementation
The aerodynamic analysis implies a three-dimensional low order panel method[8] (LOPM) for the calculation
of the blade flowfield. The surface of the rotor-blade is represented by a sufficiently large number of
quadrilateral plane panels. The geometry of the blade is calculated by using constant strength source density
distribution on each surface panel. The aerodynamic lifting forces are accounted by paneling the "inner surface"
with vortex lattice rings, each representing a constant strength flow problem governed by Laplace equation for
the velocity perturbation potential φ, i.e.
∇ 2ϕ = 0 (1)
where φ is the sum of the source-panels potential (φS) and the doublet-panels potential (φD):
1 σ(S)
ϕS = − ∫∫
4π S r (S, p )
dS (2)
1 ∂ 1
ϕD = ∫∫ µ(Si ) dSi (3)
4π S ∂ n r (Si , p )
i
with source strength σ calculated over the actual blade surface S, and doublet strength µ applied over the
"inner surface" Si.
The boundary condition that must satisfy the perturbation potential at the body surface is:
∂ϕ GG
= −n U∞ (4)
∂n S
where n is the unit vector normal to the surface of the blade and U∞ equals to:
U ∞ = ∇ϕ (5)
The solution to this boundary problem is derived from the following integral equation:
To incorporate the effects of “low speed compressibility” to an incompressible potential-flow based method,
Goethert’s second rule is taken into account. An inviscid/viscous interaction algorithm is developed using
integral boundary layer equations coupled with the low order panel method solution in order to account the
viscous effects[9].
G 1 ∂ 2 p′
□ 2 p ′( x, t ) = 2 − ∇ 2
p
∂
′ = [ρ ο v n δ(S)] −
∂t
∂
∂xi
[A i δ (S) ] +
∂2
∂xix j
[
Tij H(S) ] (7)
a ∂t 2
N.S. Tachos, A.P. Fragias, A.E. Filios, D.P. Margaris, D.G. Papanikas.
Ti j = ρu i u j + Pi j − a 2 ρ′δ ij (8)
1 ∂2
where □2≡ − ∇ 2 is the wave operator, p' is the acoustic pressure, Tij the Lighthill stress tensor, vn the local
a ∂t 2
normal velocity of the integration surface, A i the force intensity (force/unit area) acting on the fluid, Pij the
compressive stress tensor that includes the surface pressure and viscous stress, δ(S) and H(S) are the Dirac delta
and Heaviside functions, and ρ0 and a are the density and the speed of sound in the unbounded space
respectively. The rotor blade is represented in Eq.(7) for S = 0 where S defines the integration surface over
which the noise components are calculated.
The terms in the right hand side of Eq. (7) refer to different mechanisms of sound production and
correspond to the thickness (monopole), loading (dipole) and quadrupole noise sources respectively. Thickness
and loading terms are surface distribution sources as indicated by the presence of the delta function δ(S), while
the quadrupole term is a volume distribution of sources indicated by Heaviside function H(S).
The FW-H equation is valid for the discrete frequency noise prediction of rotating blades, occurring at low
frequencies. Exact solution can also be achieved for broadband noise sources, at higher frequency ranges, using
only the surface terms. High speed impulsive noise, when it exists, is definitely the most important sound source
on wind turbine or helicopter rotors, and needs the quadrupole term to be fully included in the computational
procedure. However in aeroacoustic rotor design and operation, impulsive noise is avoided by controlling the
blade vortex interactions and reducing the tip Mach number. In the present work, only thickness and loading
noise terms of the FW-H equation are included, while quadrupole source is considered negligible compared with
the other two noise sources in the regarded speed range.
A formal solution of the FW-H equation is obtained using the free space Green's function δ(S)/4πr, retaining
only thickness and loading source terms. Thus, for HAWT rotating blades, discussed in this paper, the acoustic
solution is given by the following set of equations[2,10]:
G ρ 0 v n ρ 0 v n rM ( )
r̂ + aM − aM 2
4πp ′T ( x , t ) = ∫ r(1 − M ) 2 ∫
i i r
dS + 2 3 dS (9)
S= 0 r ret S= 0 r (1 − M r ) ret
G 1 A r̂ A r − A iMi
4πp ′L ( x , t ) = ∫ i i
2 dS + ∫ 2 2
a S=0 r (1 − M r ) r (1 − M r ) ret
S= 0
ret
(10)
1 (
A r rM
r̂ + aM − aM 2 )
a S∫=0
i i r
+ dS
r 2 (1 − M r )3 ret
G G G
and p ′(x, t ) = p ′T (x, t ) + p ′L (x, t ) (11)
Here, p ′T and p ′L denote the thickness and loading noise sources respectively. The magnitude vn represents
the local velocity of the blade surface in the direction normal to S=0, A r is the component of the local force
acting on the fluid, due to blade, in the radiation direction, M and a are the local Mach number and speed of
sound in the undisturbed medium. The terms inside the summations are calculated for the retarded time, τ, i.e.
the emission time. The dot over a symbol implies differentiation of this magnitude in respect to emission time.
The summations with 1/r and 1/r2 dependence are the far field and near field terms, respectively.
Thickness noise calculations depend on the strength and distribution of monopole sources on the blade
surface, which are purely geometric. However, dipole sources, affecting loading noise, are defined by the
airloads distribution over the blade, according to the wind turbine rotor operating conditions and the airfoil
geometric and aerodynamic characteristics. The sensitivity of the acoustic prediction is directly affected by the
modeling parameters. Since the unsteady nature of the wind turbine flowfield is successfully computed, the
above analyzed formulation gives accurate results for broadband noise generation in the far field[12].
3 COMPUTATIONAL PROCEDURE
The computational procedure is performed by coupling the calculation of the pressure distribution over the
rotor blade surface with the aeroacoustic model in order to define the noise perturbation. The aerodynamic
N.S. Tachos, A.P. Fragias, A.E. Filios, D.P. Margaris, D.G. Papanikas.
numerical implementation requires the definition of realistic blade geometry and flowfield conditions. Grid
generation is the starting point for every panel method. The discretization of the wake uses a prescribed helical
wake shape (PWS) shown in Figure 1. The actual blade surface is segmented by means of a two-dimensional
paneling distribution method in radial (or spanwise) and chordwise directions, emphasizing in leading and
trailing edge regions of the blade airfoil. The high fidelity of the rotor surface discretization increases the
solution accuracy. Quasi equally spaced spanwise and chordwise intervals are used for the discretization of the
rotor. In the calculations, the discretization technique uses a typical amount of 40 panels chordwise and 50
panels spanwise, for each blade surface, as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 1. Front and side view of the prescribed helical wake shape (PWS) scheme for a three bladed wind
turbine rotor.
Figure 2. Blade geometry and panel discretization scheme used for the computational procedure.
The grid generation routine allows someone to optimize the final surface paneling for more realistic
geometry definition. The discretization of the intervals leads to the matrix formulation of the governing
equations in an algebraic expression.
The rotor flowfield local velocities are calculated at the control points of the panels which are centroids of
elements on each blade surface. Hence the pressure distribution is derived. The integral boundary layer
equations are solved along the streamlines of the blade using the potential assumption as boundary condition. An
iterative process is performed for modifying the blade surface boundary condition for the potential flow,
simulating the displacement by blowing normal to the surface.
The noise prediction is targeted to the calculation of thickness and loading noise sources. The source strength
is computed over the centre of each panel segment for the retarded time, i.e. the emission time. The retarded
time determination that is required to evaluate the integrands in Equations (9) and (10) is performed through an
iterational procedure. The iteration begins by setting an initial value of the azimuth angle and calculating the
corresponding value of the function f = t − τ − r a where t and τ are the observer and the source time
respectively and r is the radiation direction. The procedure is conducted for 40 azimuthal steps per rotor
revolution over each panel. The observer position is fixed during the calculation. The effect of all panels at the
observer position gives the overall acoustic pressure over the entire blade surface. The convergence of the
method is achieved by means of a Newton- Raphson formulation.
The non-uniform inflow effects are included in the loading noise calculations. The sound propagation from
N.S. Tachos, A.P. Fragias, A.E. Filios, D.P. Margaris, D.G. Papanikas.
the source region to a stationary observer uses four intermediate cartesian coordinate reference systems and is
performed by means of matrix algebra. Time differentiation of a specific point i, in respect to emission time, is
found using central differences with four neighbor points and is considered as the value of a least-squared
polynomial that best fits these points[13] The outcoming values are interpolated for the corresponding magnitudes
to result over the center of the panels
Time domain numerical results from the above analyzed prediction method, are Fourier analyzed and
converted to frequency domain[14]. The resulting solution p'(ƒ) is used for the computation of the sound pressure
level spectrum of the noise radiation. This SPL is determined by:
2
p′(ƒ )
SPL(ƒ ) = 10 log (12)
p
ref
where p ref = 2 ×10 −5 Pa. The directivity of a single source for equally spaced circular observer positions at
standard frequency, is also examined
6 1 Numerical
4 Experimental
Numerical 0
2
0 -1
-2
-2
0.00 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00 0.00 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00
x/Chord x/Chord
1.5 1.5
LOPM with PWS LOPM with PWS
1.0 63% span position 1.0 80% span position
0.5 0.5
0.0 0.0
-Cp
-Cp
-0.5 -0.5
Figure 3 Comparison between experimental and numerical pressure distribution at 30, 47, 63 and 80%
spanwise location
In Figure 3 the numerical pressure coefficient distribution is presented and compared with experimental
results for 30, 47, 63 and 80% spanwise locations respectively. Viscous effects are coupled in the numerical
solution. The experiments are carried out by NREL and are available in the literature.
N.S. Tachos, A.P. Fragias, A.E. Filios, D.P. Margaris, D.G. Papanikas.
The comparison between the calculated pressure distribution and the experimental data is in satisfactory
agreement. The calculated pressure distribution is overestimated on the upper side of the blade due to separation
effects. Greater inaccuracies occur on the leading edge of the blade section and seem to increase at spanwise
positions closer to the rotor hub.
0.15
0.006
Aeroacoustic pressure, Pa
Aeroacoustic pressure, Pa
0.10
0.003
0.05 0.000
0.00 -0.003
-0.05 -0.006
-0.10 -0.009
Figure 5. Thickness acoustic pressure for two different Figure 6. Loading acoustic pressure for two different
in-plane observer positions in-plane observer positions
The overall acoustic pressure, presented as a sum of thickness and loading noise components, is analyzed by
means of a discrete Fast Fourier Transformation for the presentation of the time acoustic time histories in the
frequency domain. Figures 7, 8 present the overall broadband spectra for near and far field observer positions.
Such diagrams reveal periodicities of acoustic pressure in input data as well as the relative strengths of any
periodic components. Here it is clearly stated that far field radiation is significant increasing the community
N.S. Tachos, A.P. Fragias, A.E. Filios, D.P. Margaris, D.G. Papanikas.
annoyance. The difference between near and far field is almost 15 dBs for the regarded blade passage frequency
as shown in the figures. The predicted far field sound spectra produces significant peaks in low and mid range
frequencies.
80 80
60 60
40
40
20
20
0
0
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 0 1000 2000 3000 4000
100
obs. (-50,-50,-10)m
Sound Pressure Level, dB
80 90
55 120 60
60 50
150 30
45
40
SPL, dB
40 180 0
20
45
0 210 330
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 50
Figure 8. Predicted far field noise spectra Figure 9. Calculated noise radiation patterns for
constant frequency source 400Hz
In Figure 9 the directivity of a single frequency of 400Hz is presented in polar form. The directivity is
determined by the peak acoustic pressure amplitude for equally spaced observer position in circular layout at a
distance of 6R. The diagram shows that high level amplitudes are calculated for upwind and downwind
positions, during one period T.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The paper has described a coupled aerodynamic and aeroacoustic prediction methodology for broadband
noise of a horizontal axis wind turbine. The most important mechanisms of broadband noise generation are the
rotor flowfield parameters, and the aerodynamic characteristics of the blade and its wake. The aerodynamic
module utilizes a low order panel method with prescribed wake shape, combining viscous effects with potential
solution for the exact rotor flowfield representation. The noise prediction model is based on the FW-H equation,
where only the surface thickness and loading noise sources are considered in the calculations.
The NREL downwind model rotor is examined in a parametric analysis. The pressure distribution over the
blade surface is determined at the beginning of the computational procedure for certain operating conditions,
and is used for the loading noise prediction. Acoustic pressure signatures are presented for distant observers and
the overall sound pressure levels, resulting by Fourier transformation, indicate the far field propagation.
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