Dual-Rotor Wind Turbine

Horizontal axis wind turbines suffer from aerodynamic inefficiencies in the blade root region (near the hub) due to several non-aerodynamic constraints. Aerodynamic interactions between turbines in a wind farm also lead to significant loss of wind farm efficiency. We have developed a new dual-rotor wind turbine (DRWT) technology that aims to mitigate these two losses. One DRWT has been designed using an existing turbine rotor (the NREL 5 MW turbine) for the main rotor. The secondary rotor of the DRWT has been designed using a very high lift-to-drag ratio airfoil. Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes computational fluid dynamics simulations have been used to optimize the turbine design. Large eddy simulations confirm the potential of the DRWT to enhance energy capture.

Publications

Journal

  1. Sadoughi, M., Hu, C., Moghadassian, B., Sharma, A., Beck, J., & Mathiesen, D. (2020). Sequential online dispatch in design of experiments for single-and multiple-response surrogate modeling. IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering, 17(4), 1674–1688.
  2. Moghadassian, B., & Sharma, A. (2020). Designing wind turbine rotor blades to enhance energy capture in turbine arrays. Renewable Energy, 148, 651–664.
  3. Thelen, A., Leifsson, L., Sharma, A., & Koziel, S. (2018). Variable-fidelity shape optimization of dual-rotor wind turbines. Engineering Computations, 35(7), 2514–2542.
  4. Moghadassian, B., & Sharma, A. (2018). Inverse design of single-and multi-rotor horizontal axis wind turbine blades using computational fluid dynamics. Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, 140(2), 021003.
  5. Thelen, A., Leifsson, L., Sharma, A., & Koziel, S. (2018). RANS-based design optimization of dual-rotor wind turbines. Engineering Computations, 35(1), 35–52.
  6. Wang, Z., Tian, W., Ozbay, A., Sharma, A., & Hu, H. (2016). An experimental study on the aeromechanics and wake characteristics of a novel twin-rotor wind turbine in a turbulent boundary layer flow. Experiments in Fluids, 57, 1–17.
  7. Rosenberg, A., & Sharma, A. (2016). A prescribed-wake vortex lattice method for preliminary design of co-axial, dual-rotor wind turbines. Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, 138(6), 061002.
  8. Moghadassian, B., Rosenberg, A., & Sharma, A. (2016). Numerical investigation of aerodynamic performance and loads of a novel dual rotor wind turbine. Energies, 9(7), 571.
  9. Chen, L., Harding, C., Sharma, A., & MacDonald, E. (2016). Modeling noise and lease soft costs improves wind farm design and cost-of-energy predictions. Renewable Energy, 97, 849–859.
  10. Rosenberg, A., Selvaraj, S., & Sharma, A. (2014). A Novel Dual-Rotor Turbine for Increased Wind Energy Capture. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 524(1), 012078. http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/524/1/012078/pdf/1742-6596_524_1_012078.pdf

Conference proceedings

  1. Moghadassian, B., & Sharma, A. (2017). Inverse Design of Single- and Multi-Rotor Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Blades using Computational Fluid Dynamics. AIAA Science and Technology Forum and Exposition.
  2. Rosenberg, A., & Sharma, A. (2017). Inverse Design of a Dual-Rotor Wind Turbine using a Prescribed Wake Vortex Lattice Method. 2017 AIAA Science and Technology Forum and Exposition.
  3. Thelen, A. S., Leifsson, L. T., Sharma, A., & Koziel, S. (2016). RANS-based Shape Optimization of Dual-Rotor Wind Turbines using Variable-fidelity Models. 17th AIAA/ISSMO Multidisciplinary Analysis and Optimization Conference, 3514.
  4. Thelen, A. S., Leifsson, L. T., Sharma, A., & Koziel, S. (2016). Direct and surrogate-based optimization of dual-rotor wind turbines. 34th Wind Energy Symposium.
  5. Rosenberg, A., & Sharma, A. (2015). A Prescribed-Wake Vortex Lattice Method for Aerodynamic Analysis of Co-axial, Dual-Rotor Wind Turbines. North American Wind Energy Academy Symposium.
  6. Moghadassian, B., Rosenberg, A., Hu, H., & Sharma, A. (2015). Numerical Investigation of Aerodynamic Performance and Loads of a Novel Dual Rotor Wind Turbine. AIAA Science and Technology Forum and Exposition (SciTech2015). http://arc.aiaa.org/doi/pdf/10.2514/6.2015-1665
  7. Hu, H., Wang, Z., Ozbay, A., Tian, W., & Sharma, A. (2015). An Experimental Investigation on the Wake Characteristics behind a Novel Twin-Rotor Wind Turbine. AIAA Science and Technology Forum and Exposition (SciTech2015). http://arc.aiaa.org/doi/pdf/10.2514/6.2015-1663
  8. Wang, Z., Ozbay, A., Tian, W., Sharma, A., & Hu, H. (2014). An Experimental Investigation on the Wake Characteristics behind Dual-Rotor Wind Turbines. Bulletin of the American Physical Society, 59.