Wind flow potential above noise barriers for urban wind turbine applications near highways

Abstract

Urban wind turbines could be used to produce electricity for near-road applications such as street lighting or electric vehicle charging. However, the low wind potential in hub heights of 10 meters results in a "not economical" system. Therefore, cost reduction and performance increase should be realized. Cost reduction could be achieved by structural integration of wind turbines on noise barriers, which are infrastructural parts of highways near communities that could both provide tower and foundation to these wind turbines which comprises 30% of the total system cost. Moreover, noise barriers could act as a flow augmentation devices for the wind turbine performance. Literature from wind tunnel experiments and simulations has indicated a 10-30% wind speed increase above the noise barrier at heights 20-60% higher than the noise barrier height [1] [2]. An outdoor set-up with several sonic anemometers and a weather station is designed and installed in Delft (The Netherlands) that measures in 3-D all the wind flow properties along with other environmental parameters. The sonic anemometers are placed at different heights between 5-10 meters in order to assess the wind profile in 2 locations. The first being between the noise barrier and the highway and the second above the noise barrier. For all the arc domain in front of the noise barrier, wind speed increase of 8-15% is observed while flow is tilted by 5°-25°. Finally the relative wind speed changes of both locations and tilted flow angles above the noise barrier for all the arc domain in front of the noise barrier are presented.