SURFACE WIND

Part A
Module 1 Wind Energy

SURFACE BOUNDARY LAYER

Wind interacts with natural and manmade surface features
Ground wind speed = zero
The geostropic wind is at some
altitude where wind speed is
unaffected by surface features
Region in between is the surface
boundary layer
Turbulent boundary layer

After Grasch and Twele (2002)

SURFACE ROUGHNESS
Scale (physical dimension) of
surface roughness important
Higher shear force to air flow
More turbulence generation
surface friction resistance
to air flow over it

ROUGHNESS LENGTH, z0
Empirical relationship (Lettau,1969):

0 = 0.5

where h = height of a roughness element

S = roughness element cross-sectional area facing wind
AH = average horizontal area available to each roughness
element
Roughness element assumed to be solid

ROUGHNESS LENGTH EXAMPLE

Suburban/country village
Lot

2
0 ~

WL = 30m, DL = 30 m
AH = WL x DL = 900 m2

House

WH = 20 m, h = 7 m
S = h x WH = 140 m2

0 = 0.5

7 1402
9002

= 0.54 m

WH

WL

DL

SURFACE ROUGHNESS CLASS

Surface terrain
divided into four
roughness classes
Representative
value for each class
Roughness length is
a continuum
Values from European Wind Atlas

Type of terrain
Water areas
Open country, few
surface features
Farmland with
buildings & hedges
Farmland with
many trees,
forests, villages

Roughness
class

Roughness
length z0
(m)

0.0002

0.03

0.02-0.05

0.10

0.08-0.18

0.4

0.25-0.6

z0 range

MORE ROUGHNESS LENGTH

Porous roughness elements
(z0)porous = (z0)from formula x porosity
Can be seasonal z0 variability
e.g. bare trees
Flow passes over closely spaced
elements (e.g. cities)
Wind velocity profile is moved
upwards by a distance known as
the displacement length

LOGARITHMIC DEPENDENCE OF V
Prandtl developed a logarithmic expression to represent dependence of
wind speed on height, V(z), in a turbulent boundary layer:

where z = height above the ground

z0 = roughness length, i.e. length scale that characterizes the
surface roughness
V* is the friction velocity (0.1 0.3m/s)
k = Karman constant of the air flow in the boundary layer
(approximately 0.4)
- Constants V* and k difficult to determine accurately -

LOGARITHMIC WIND SPEED FUNCTION

Enables calculation of wind speed at different heights based on a
measured wind velocity at a reference height

ln
0
=

ln
0
where z0 = roughness length, a physical dimension that characterizes
the scale of surface roughness
zr = reference height
Vr(zr) = measured velocity at the reference height

LOGARITHMIC FUNCTION EXAMPLE

Height (m)

Extrapolate wind data from

standard 10m towers to wind
turbine hub height
4 roughness classes + city
Rough surface substantially
reduces wind speed at lower
heights

100
90
80
70
60

Class 0

50

Class 1

40

Class 2

30

Class 3

20

City

10
0
0.8

1.2

1.4

V/Vr

1.6

1.8

POWER EXPONENT WIND SPEED FUNCTION

Alternative to the logarithmic wind speed function

where z = height above ground

zr is the reference height above ground
V(z) is the wind speed at height z
= exponent that depends on surface roughness

SURFACE BOUNDARY IMPLICATIONS

Class 1

Logarithmic profile of wind normalized by

the geostropic wind
Higher is better
More out of boundary layer
Less variation from top/bottom of rotor.

Open area is better

Class 3

500
450
400
350

Height (m)

500 m height chosen for illustration

Class 2

300
250
200
150
100
50
0
0

0.2

0.4

0.6

V/VGeostrophic

0.8

WIND SPEED VARIES

ACROSS ROTOR

Class 1

15% class 1
17% class 2
24% class 3

120

Top of rotor

100

Height (m)

Significant wind speed

variation from rotor bottom
to top

Class 3

140

Wind speed plotted vs rotor

hub height wind speed
Logarithmic profile

Class 2

80

Rotor hub height

60

Bottom of rotor

40
20
0.8

0.9

V/Vrotor hub

1.1

SURFACE WIND SUMMARY

Surface roughness elements, both natural and man-made:
Generate turbulence, which dissipates the winds energy near the
surface
Reduce wind speed as ground is approached
Surface roughness characterized by roughness length, z0
Depends on the nature of the terrain (4 roughness classes)
Logarithmic profile allows wind speed at various heights to be
estimated from a measured wind speed at one height
Implications of the surface boundary layer for wind turbines:
Higher is better
Open area is better

PRACTICE EXERCISES

REFERENCES

Gasch, R. and J. Twele, Wind Power Plants, Solarpraxis AG, Berlin, 2002.
Lettau, H. (1969). Note on aerodynamic roughness-parameter estimation on the
basis of roughness-element distribution, J. Appl. Met. 8, 828-832.
Troen, I and E.L. Petersen (1989). European Wind Atlas, Published for the
Commission of the European Communities Directorate-General for Science,
Research and Development, Brussels, Belgium by Riso National Laboratory,
Roskilde, Denmark.