Large-Eddy Simulation of Flow around a Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbine

Three-dimensional flow around a horizontal-axis wind turbine has been investigated with LES method coupled with sliding mesh and experimental measurement. The boundary conditions are set as the same as those of the experiment. The images of the pressure distribution, flow rate distribution, turbulent intensity, velocity vector and vortices of the wind turbine are presented to show the three-dimensional flow characteristics around the wind turbine. The relationship between flow and sound is further studied by analyzing the flow parameters pulsation spectrum to get the sound pressure level. LES results are compared with the wind-tunnel measurements collected with PIV, and good agreement is observed. The results serve as a reference for optimum design of the wind turbine with high functional performance and low level noise generation.