Turbine Wake Measurements Using the Meteorological Kite

Author(s): Anders Daniels

Source: Wind Engineering, Vol. 19, No. 5 (1995), pp. 289-302
Published by: Sage Publications, Ltd.
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/43749588
Accessed: 26-03-2019 06:01 UTC

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Turbine Wake Measurements Using the
Meteorological Kite
Anders Daniels
Department of Meteorology, University of Hawaii, Honolulu HI 96816, USA.

ABSTRACT

A 3 by 3 array of meteorological or Tala kites flew upwind and down wind of 1

instrumented wind turbines. A nearby tower had three hot film anemometers (HFA
Rain Flow Count (RFC) code identified discrete turbulence events in wind speed
series from both instruments. The kites saw many more large amplitude events tha
HFA and events lasted half as long. Obviously, the way in which the two set
instruments register turbulence events is fundamentally different. Based on
aerodynamics analysis and previous experience with the kite, it seems that the
actively moves into the center of approaching events thereby measuring the maxim
minimum speed of the event while a fixed anemometer measures the speed at
unknown distance from the event center. Since it is the maximum or minimum sp
an event, and not the speed at some distance from the center, that affects a structure
turbulence measurements should be superior for wind turbine designers. An u
turbine seemed to destroy small events, chip mid range ones in half and create
events. Since the position of the kite was measured together with the speed, the s
events were estimated. Without a wake, circular event cross sections ranged from
for small (1 m/s) events to 4 m for large (5 m/s) events. With a wake, events
considerable larger particularly in the vertical. The turbine wake turns 5 to 10 deg
to the left and the wakes were identified 16 diameters down wind by flying all the
at hub height along a row perpendicular to the wind. Rotational 5 Hz wind speed s
were constructed from the flap on a down wind turbine blade using an obser
flap/power/wind speed relationship. Rotational kite and HFA wind speed series
constructed by sequentially sampling the instruments to mimic the rotating tu
blade. RFC analysis produced remarkably close kite and flap number of events and
periods, particularly for a wake run. The HFA estimated much too few events that
longer than measured flap. It is concluded that the TALA kite has the potential to b
the optimal tool to investigate wakes, assess turbulence and turbine life time
prospective sites and to study the origin , extent and nature of turbulence events.

1. INTRODUCTION

The meteorological or TALA kite consists of a 25 by 35 cm sled kite connected via

stretching Kevlar string to a visually read spring calibrated in wind speed. Light w
requiring no power and easy to use, the kite has proved very suitable for short term
surveys of hub height wind speeds at potential wind turbine locations and it has s
most frequent use in the area of wind energy meteorology. The disadvantage with t
is that an observer is required. Below 5 m/s, the kite will not fly well and may
while above 20 m/s, the kite may be lost or damaged. However, for comparing po
sites with wind speeds in the range where turbines operate, the kite is ideal and i
used for this purpose during several surveys in Hawaii (Daniels and Schroeder,
There are, however, besides a good wind resource, two other meteorological aspect
might be equally important for a wind energy project, namely corrosion and turbu
The Tala kite has been used to investigate both.
To get an estimate of potential corrosion at different altitudes, the string to th
was intersected by steel wires on which salt collected and the mass of salt convert

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TURBINE WAKE MEASUREMENTS USING METEOROGICAL KITE

concentrations (Daniels, 1989). Kite turbulence measurements were made by Bake

Walker (1985) and Hogstrom et al. (1988) by visually reading the extension of the sp
as fast as possible. These, and other similar studies, all showed higher turbulence
than nearby anemometers (Hassan et al., 1989). It is, however, very difficult to rap
make accurate and precise visual observations. In order to allow electronic record
kite wind speeds and eliminate the response of the kite spring, which contaminate
speed signal, the Department of Meteorology at the University of Hawaii devel
special kite head under a licensing agreement with TALA (Daniels, 1981). The kite
measures wind speed by a semiconductor strain gauge mounted in a gimb
configuration with the angles of the two orthogonal planes monitored by potentiom
(Figure 1). The angles define kite azimuth and elevation. The two potentiometer s
and the signal from the strain gauge are recorded by data loggers which also pr
excitation power for the sensors. The kite heads were initially used during turbu
surveys in Hawaii (Daniels and Oshiro, 1982). Spectral analysis showed the
registering many more high frequency gusts than cup anemometers nearby. Sam
was, unfortunately, limited to 1 Hz.

Figure 1 . The University of Hawaii kite head.

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TURBINE WAKE MEASUREMENTS USING METEOROGICAL KITE

In connection with acceptance tests of Westinghouse 600 kW turbines in Hawa

1987, 10 Hz anemometer data were collected from a tower immediately upwind
turbine. On eight occasions we flew a strain gauged kite at hub height between
instrumented tower and the turbine. Winds from the Gill UVW anemometers on the

tower were recorded together with turbine blade flap and kite winds (Daniels, 1993). The
kite again revealed much more high frequency turbulence than the anemometers. Using
a measured anemometer speed/blade strain conversion curve, blade flap was simulated
by kite and anemometer wind data and compared with measured flap using the rain flow
count method which identifies discrete turbulence events in the data. The kite simulated

many more large amplitude events than the anemometer, much more in line with
measured blade flap. Part of the reason for this difference might have been a loss of
response of the anemometers at about 1 Hz while the kite system responds to much
higher frequencies.
In 1991, we had an opportunity to compare the kites to fast responding hot film
anemometers during a wind survey conducted by the Department of Meteorology at the
University of Uppsala, Sweden. The survey took place at Alsvik on the island of Gotland
in the Baltic, where four 170 kW turbines are operated by the Swedish State Power
Board. The turbines, made by Danwind, have a hub height of 30 m and a rotor diameter
of 23 m, and rotate at 42 rpm. They are instrumented by the Aeronautical Research
Institute of Sweden primarily to investigate turbine wake effects. Figure 2. shows the
area which is near the ocean in SW Gotland with undisturbed fetch for S-SW winds that

prevailed during the survey in July of 1991.

ļ Trees and bushes,

The Baltic ,
)ļ ^

""V
f ^ it3 A
^ An A

>7
v x'
x' hj(0 h
100
. m
i
vl/ . '

Figure 2. The
in the south
anemometer
are shown.

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TURBINE WAKE MEASUREMENTS USING METEOROGICAL KITE

2. SURVEY INSTRUMENTATION
Data from the following sensors were collected during the survey:

1 . Three hot film anemometer systems developed by the Department of Meteorol

at the University of Uppsala, Sweden (Bergstrom and Hogstrom, 1987) mount
at 21, 32 and 40 m on tower M2 in front of turbine T4 (Figure 2). Data we
recorded at 20 Hz though anemometer response extended well beyond this
frequency.

2. A high quality anemometer and vane profile system mounted on the same tower
and operated by the University of Uppsala team.

3. Nine meteorological kite systems with kite wind speed and position recorded at 10
Hz.

4. Turbine blade root moments (flap and edge wise) measured on turbine T4 and
recorded at 30 Hz together with power produced.

The main objective of our study was to further evaluate the kite for turbulence
research by comparing it to hot film anemometers and turbine blade flap. To this end.
two surveys were conducted, one on June 9 - runs 16 to 22 at location K1 (Figure 2), the
other on June 12 - runs 23 to 29 at K2. The kites flew in an approximately 10 m by 10
m array perpendicular to the wind direction. The array was located beside the
instrumented turbine T4 during the first survey and upwind of it during the second
survey. The most upwind set of three kites had a string length of 56 m, the next one 42
m and the last one 28 m. Assuming an average kite elevation angle of 45 degrees, these
lengths put the kites at 20, 30 and 40 m. During the survey at location Kl, the kite array
happened to be in the wake of turbine T2 during runs 16-18 while at the second location,
the array was in the wake of turbine T3 during runs 23-27. A second objective of the
study was to see if wakes from the turbines could be detected 16 rotor diameters down
wind by flying the kites 15 m apart along a line at nacelle height perpendicular to the
wind direction at location K3 on June 19.

The strain gauges were calibrated by disconnecting the kite string and recording zero
strain. Then, the response to a lead anchor of a known weight (corresponding to about
10 m/s) was recorded. The kite head had to be rotated 90 degrees to allow the weight to
hang vertically. A linearly varying strain with time was assumed between calibrations
before and after a survey. The Poisson configured strain gauges were excited by 2VDC
from the data logger, a Campbell CR21X. A second CR21X excited and recorded
potentiometer positions. Four voltages, corresponding to ±90 degree from the vertical in
the two orthogonal planes were recorded and used to calculate the azimuth and elevation
of the kite string. The orientation of the kite head and the length of the kite string
completed the calibration parameters required. With this configuration, the two loggers
could handle eight kites. The ninth kite was recorded on data logging system used for the
University of Uppsala sensors. Excitation to all kite sensors was connected to a switch
which allowed excitation voltage to be switched on simultaneously to ensure
synchronization of the different kite signals. The audio cassette tapes used to record the
data lasted about 45 minutes, the average run period.
Kite and hot film anemometer mean wind speeds are close for the first survey at
location Kl, but agree less well during the second survey at K2. The difference between
the kite and the hot film anemometer run mean speed increases rather linearly with kite
speeds from -0.5 m/s at 4 m/s to 1 m/s at 8 m/s. It is possible that the difference is caused
by the thermal drift not being, as assumed, linear in time. More frequent calibrations than
the two, done eight hours apart, should have been made (preferably hourly). There are
also other possible explanations (Daniels 1995a). The effect of this drift is however less
on turbulence statistics than on absolute wind speed statistics. The only kite head
malfunction was sticking gimbals mountings for at least two of the kites towards the end

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TURBINE WAKE MEASUREMENTS USING METEOROGICAL KITE

of the second survey. A number of radiation shields were damaged when cows de
to investigate the kite heads in some detail during the third survey. Regularly s
portions of missing kite data caused by the recorders operating above maximum wr
capacity were replaced by the last record before the loss. This procedure also rep
data when the kite had crashed as indicated by a speed below 2.5 m/s or a height be
5 m.

Hot film anemometer standard deviations were half as large as kite ones, in line with
previous kite/anemometer surveys (Daniels, 1993). For the second survey, standard
deviation for kites during no-wake runs was 1.5 m/s while during wake runs it was 2.8
m/s. For the hot film anemometers they were 1 m/s and 1.4 m/s respectively.

3. WIND DIRECTION ANALYSIS

The runs were sorted based on how well the kites flew. While in a wake, it was
sometimes not possible to fly all the kites and the kites would frequently crash or tangle.
Without a wake, the kites would fly continuously without any problems. A moderate
wake from turbine T2 (Figure 2) and light winds created some problems during the first
survey during runs 16-18. During the second survey, a wake from turbine T3 during runs
23-27 was so severe that only five or six kites could be flown. Mean wind directions
during wake and no-wake runs are listed separately in Table 1 for towers and the kites.

Table 1 . Mean kite and tower wind directions for wake and no wake runs.

Run Period M2 KITE M2-KITE M1-M2

Kite wake runs

16 June 9 12:47-13:22 249 237 12 6
17 13:23-14:09 232 233 -1 4
18 14:10-14:57 233 233 0 4
23 June 12 11:34-12:05 229 203 26 2
24 12:11-12:57 227 206 21 2
25 13:56-14:42 223 211 13 -1
26 15:12-15:59 227 220 7 -2
27 16:06-16:53 226 222 4 -1

Kite no wake runs

19 June 9 15:06-15:53 222 219 4 3
20 12:54-16:40 217 215 2 3
21 16:45-17:32 220 218 2 3
22 18:23-18:31 209 207 2 3
28 June 12 18:30-19:17 213 213 0 2
29 19:18-20:03 206

Calculated wake direction secto

location K1 and from 199 to 215
with Ml winds from 237 to 254
winds will turn left because of inc
direction shift could be as large as
kites. It seems likely that the wake
At location Kl, the kites shift ou
directions becoming close to tower
direction from turbine tower T3
mean wind direction was 206 degr
if the wake had been aligned wi
registered, however, no wake con

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TURBINE WAKE MEASUREMENTS USING METEOROGICAL KITE

During run 28, on the other hand, kite and tower mean directions of 213 degree
tower M2 in the observed wake of turbine T3 only if the wake is assumed to tu
degrees to the left. Thus, it seems that the wake produces a wind direction shift of
5 degrees to the left which could be partially explained by lower wake speeds red
the coriolis force resulting in non balanced flow or, more likely, by rotational inter
with the vortex created by the turbine.

4. DISCRETE TURBULENCE EVENTS

The rain flow count (RFC) analysis identifies nested events in data series which spe
analysis also does, but RFC events do not have to be sinuosidal and individual event
identified. In this aspect, the RFC method is similar to discrete gust counting sc
which, however, cannot include nested cycles. These advantages have made the m
a preferred one among turbine designers (e.g. Ganander and Johansson,
Importantly, because events are individually identified, the motion of the kite duri
event can be calculated. Table 2, showing kite and hot film anemometer event stat
for the only run with both instruments in a wake, run 27 and those with no wake at e
run 29, confirms observations from previously kite/fixed anemometer surveys - th
sees fewer small events, about twice as many mid range events that last about h
long and an order of magnitude more large events. The pattern is the same wi
without a wake. For both instruments, the number of events decreases exponen
while periods increase linearly with amplitude above the first amplitude class.

Table 2. The number of events and event period averaged for kites and not film
anemometers (HFA) for a wake and no wake run.

Event Number of events/hour Event period, sec

Amplitude Run 27-wake Run 29-no wake Run 27-wake Run 29-no
m/s KITE HFA KITE HFA KITE HFA KITE HFA

0-1 2786 5853 5059 5925 0.5 0.5 0.2 0.5

1-2 1953 1549 3641 1490 0.6 1.6 0.6 1.7
2-3 683 317 716 300 1.6 5.2 2.1 5.5
3-4 203 118 262 112 3.3 11.6 5.7 12.1
4-5 120 62 116 58 5.8 20.7 12.6 21.1
5-6 65 30 62 28 10.8 38.4 28.1 40.7
6-7 38 10 26 9 17.8 53.1 52.4 57.0
7-8 24 2 11 2 20.8 147.9 75.0 136.4
8-9 18 1 3 0 43.1 214.3 103.1
9-10 5 0 1 0 51.6 - 133.8
10-11 8 0 0 0 67.4 - -
11-12 7 0 0 0 86.2 - - -

There is obviously a fundam

registers turbulent events. A
or with a speed gradient up
(Daniels 1995a). Other statist
support this kite motion h
approaching turbulent events
event while a stationary anem
from the center of the even
durations. Obviously, it is th
on structures larger than the
It is impossible to uniquely
were lower during run 29 tha

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TURBINE WAKE MEASUREMENTS USING METEOROGICAL KITE

duration decreases with wind speed. Table 3, therefore, shows the same statistics fo
eight wake and six no- wake runs (Table 1) during which average wind speed was
the same, 6.5 m/s and 6.3 m/s, respectively.

Table 3. Number of kite events per hour and average period for all kites during w
and no- wake runs.

No wake runs Wake runs

Amplitude Events Per. Events Per.

class per hr sec. per hr sec.

0-1 m/s 4621 0.3 3559 0.3

1-2 m/s 3437 0.6 2659 0.6
2-3 m/s 726 2.3 730 2.0
3-4 m/s 245 6.4 234 4.8
4-5 m/s 113 13.6 119 8.5
5-6 m/s 58 25.2 64 14.3
6-7 m/s 26 41.9 34 25.5
7-8 m/s 9 70.4 17 40.2
8-9 m/s 3 70.7 0 66.9
9-10 m/s 1 75.6 3 72.2
10-11 m/s 0 3 81.1
11-12 m/s 0 2 80.1

The wake seems to red

amplitude events and, s
turbine seems to destr
producing more such e
Table 4 lists average eve
a wake run, 28. The w
effect of the up wind
chopping up mid rang
table.

Table 4. Number of e
hot film anemomete
with a wake affec

Run 24 - no wake Run 28 - in wake

Event Events Per. Events Per.

Amplitude per hr sec. per hr sec.

0-1 m/s 6463 0.6 5821 0.5

1-2 m/s 1101 2.6 1569 1.6
2-3 m/s 181 10.9 323 4.9
3-4 m/s 57 24.5 121 10.9
4-5 m/s 27 30.8 65 20.0
5-6 m/s 13 60.2 33 38.7
6-7 m/s 3 104.9 10 55.2
7-8 m/s 0 2 137.3
8-9 m/s 0 1 219.3

The method to estimat

where events are classif

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TURBINE WAKE MEASUREMENTS USING METEOROGICAL KITE

(Figure 3). Table 5 shows the total number of events in each of the five classes and
percentage in each class for wake and no- wake runs/Theoretical values, assuming t
all classes subtend equally large angles and that the kite basically moves in a pla
restricted by the kite string, are also given. The values in the last class, probably a res
of sticking potentiometers, are added to class two since most motions in this cl
resembled those in class two.

Figure 3. Spherical turbulence events with the probability of a kite entering the
event in four equal sectors. Hypothesized trajectories for the kite entering
each sector are shown.

Table 5. The number and percent of events in five classes and the theoretical value
assuming each class equally large. The values in class 5 are added to class 2.

Class Total number Percent Theoretical

type of events of events percent
Wake No wake Wake No wake

1 56400 49786 42.3 37.6 38.3

1 33341 38567 25.0 29.0 32.4
3 30910 29427 23.2 22.4 21.7
4 12649 14440 9.5 11.0 7.6
5 (23899) (15924) (12.0) (18.0)
Total 133273 132220 100.0 100.0 100.0

While no-wake values are closer to the theor

Class four values are used to estimate event siz
event almost perpendicularly above or below
estimate events size though the kite does not hav
the event has passed. The distances travelled in t
classes. Table 6 shows average event size for th
for eight amplitude classes. Apparently, wake
section sizes. Why this is so is not clear, maybe
cross wind size of events. Most of the expansi
wake events are rather circular, wake ones are m
Large amplitude up events, i.e. events with a sp

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TURBINE WAKE MEASUREMENTS USING METEOROGICAL KITE

size than large down events for wake runs while for no-wake runs, they are about
(not shown in the table). Events in the smallest class are rather spherical while
amplitude events can extend hundreds of meters in the down wind direction for no-
runs while during wake runs they rarely are longer than 50 m. While coinciding for
wake events, the centers of small and large events did not coincide during wake
This might indicate that in a wake, small and large events have different origins.

Table 6. Horizontal, vertical and total event cross wind radius for wake and
no wake runs as a function of event amplitude.

Event Wake runs event radius, m No wake runs event radius, m

amplitude Hor. Vert. Total Hor. Vert. Total

0-1 m/s 1.4 1.4 2.0 1.2 1.1 1.6

1-2 m/s 1.5 1.5 2.2 1.3 1.1 1.7
2-3 m/s 1.8 1.9 2.7 1.4 1.3 2.0
3-4 m/s 2.1 2.6 3.3 1.4 1.4 2.1
4-5 m/s 2.3 2.7 3.7 2.0 1.8 2.7
5-6 m/s 3.2 3.7 5.0 2.1 2.1 3.0
6-7 m/s 4.3 4.6 6.2 2.4 2.1 3.2
7-8 m/s 3.7 3.5 5.2 2.8 3.3 4.3

The shape of events, defined as

amplitude and that at 75%, showed
as should be expected (Daniels 19
small amplitude kite events occu
anemometer ones. The ratio betwee
same for kite and hot film anemometers. There was no conclusive difference in either of
these three event statistics between wake and no-wake events.

5. COMPARISON BETWEEN WAKE AND NO- WAKE KITE AND HOT FILM
ANEMOMETER WIND SPEEDS AND TURBINE BLADE FLAP

Flap and edge bending moments were recorded on each blade on turbine T4. Sin
blade flap statistics were very similar, only blade one was used. Edgewise
statistics were not used. One minute average, standard deviation, maximum
minimum flap were available for most runs. A rotational kite was constructed b
successive kite speeds from the eight periphery kites. This rotation takes
compared with a blade rotation of 42/60 = 7/10 sec. A corresponding serie
constructed for the hot film anemometers, but now using the mid level instrum
during a rotation. The second 20 Hz reading during a 1/10 second interval f
instrument was assumed to represent the reading after a 45 degree rotation. This
takes the same time as for the kite. Table 7 shows the number of one minut
observations and the correlation coefficient (R squared) between flap and kite #5
#4 if kite #5 did not fly), hot film anemometer #2, the rotational kite and the ro
hot film anemometer.

Rotationally sampled time series generally outperformed stationary sampling. This

indicates of course that the stress induced by the wind speed gradient is important. The
hot film anemometers were not affected by the wake during the first three runs and
correlations were very high, but during runs 25 to 28, when they were affected,
correlations dropped considerably. This is also true for the kites which correlate poorly
with blade flap during wake runs. The correlation is high during run 17 which might be
a result of only a partial kite wake. There was a kite wake during the beginning of run
28 which results in poor correlation. However, the wake moved away from the kites
during the run, and they correlated very well with blade flap for the last run.

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TURBINE WAKE MEASUREMENTS USING METEOROGICAL KITE

Table 7. Correlation between one minute average turbine T4 blade flap and kite
and hot film anemometer wind speeds.

Kite HFA Kite #5 HFA #2 Rot. kite Rot. HFA

Run 16 wake no wake 0.47/32 0.95/35 0.63/35 0.96/35

Run 17 wake no wake 0.88/44 0.95/47 0.90/46 0.96/47
Run 18 wake no wake 0.43/42 0.96/48 0.73/47 0.97/48
Run 19 no wake - 0.90/43 - 0.87/46
Run 20 no wake - 0.87/39 - 0/86/45 -
Run 21 no wake - 0.77/39 - 0.79/45 -
Run 22 no wake - 0.51/6 - 0.51/6
Run 25 wake wake 0.39/32 0.70/45 0.33/45 0.73/45
Run 26 wake wake 0.11/37 0.82/43 0.39/43 0.85/43
Run 27 wake wake 0.11/40 0.76/45 0.20/45 0.81/45
Run 28 no wake wake 0.21/28 0.76/30 0.51/30 0.80/30
Run 29 no wake no wake 0.94/39 0.86/45 0.97/45 0.90/45

Figure 4. Measured blade flap versus turbine power.

In order to compare 30 Hz flap data, available only for runs 27-29, w

data, one must know if they have a linear or a more complicate
Simultaneous wind speeds from kites, hot film anemometers and a con
anemometer showed no coherence or correlation to flap data. The only d
correlated to the flap was turbine power, which was, in turn, converted
using a power curve for a 180 kW turbine (Figure 4). As can be seen,
linear function of wind speed. New rotational time series were construc

Flap: With eight kites flying (not using the kite in the middle of the ar
would represent a 45 degree sector. A blade would move through
45*60/42/360 sec. At 30 Hz sampling, this corresponds to 5.36 flap readi
The flap reading used for a sector was the maximum of the five or six fl
while the blade was within the sector thus producing a 5 Hz wind sp
calculated from blade flap.

Kite: The larger of the two 10 Hz kite wind speeds during the time the
a 45 degree kite sector was used to construct a 5 Hz rotational kite wind

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TURBINE WAKE MEASUREMENTS USING METEOROGICAL KITE

Hot film anemometer: A corresponding series was constructed from the three hot
anemometers, but now one anemometer was used for two consecutive 45 degree sec
and the middle anemometer used twice during one revolution.

Attempts to correlate the time series failed as might be expected since turbul
events are only a few meters in size and the wind direction did not coincide perf
most of the time. Time synchronization was also missing. The three time series w
however, subjected to RFC analysis separately. For the two no wake runs, 28 and 29
and flap event statistics agreed remarkably well both for the period and the numb
events, which was not the case for the flap and the hot film anemometer (Dani
1995b).
For the wake run, 27, (Tables 8 and 9), the numbers of events and event periods show
an even better kite/flap agreement than for the no- wake runs in spite of the fact that only
five kites could be flown with single kites at the two lowest levels. On several occasions,
we could even observed the lower kite rotate in what probably was the blade tip vortex.

Table 8. Number of events for flap wind speed, rotational kite and rotational hot film
anemometer (HFA) for runs 27 and 29.

Run 27 - wake run Run 29 - no-wake run

Amplitude Nr. of events / hour Nr. of events / hour

class Flap Kite HFA Flap Kite HFA

0-1 m/s 522 732 1860 969 861 2565

1-2 m/s 1051 1109 1381 1468 1430 1405
2-3 m/s 901 717 757 815 902 498
3-4 m/s 689 574 444 672 845 125
4-5 m/s 523 466 245 617 717 40
5-6 m/s 543 373 107 434 489 13
6-7 m/s 444 344 37 289 190 2
7-8 m/s 401 291 9 209 73 0
8-9 m/s 352 262 5 114 28 0
9-10 m/s 221 186 0 86 7 0
10-12 m/s 162 137 0 59 1 0

Table 9. Event durations for fl

anemometer (HFA) for r

Run 27 - wake run Run 29 - no- wake run

Amplitude Period length, sec Period length, sec

class Flap Kite HFA Flap Kite HFA

0-1 m/s 0.7 0.8 0.5 0.3 0.5 0.5

1-2 m/s 0.3 0.4 0.9 0.3 0.4 1.9
2-3 m/s 0.4 0.5 1.9 0.4 0.6 4.9
3-4 m/s 0.5 0.8 3.2 1.1 1.3 17.7
4-5 m/s 0.7 1.2 7.5 2.1 2.2 70.5
5-6 m/s 1.2 1.6 17.5 3.2 4.0 137.0
6-7 m/s 1.7 2.1 59.6 4.2 10.5 146.0
7-8 m/s 2.5 2.8 139.6 5.6 24.7
8-9 m/s 3.8 4.0 180.7 10.1 78.3
9-10 m/s 5.3 7.0 - 14.5 114.3
10-11 m/s 11.7 11.7 - 26.8
11-12 m/s 44.5 42.5 - 83.1

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TURBINE WAKE MEASUREMENTS USING METEOROGICAL KITE

6. FAR WAKE STUDY

In order to investigate turbine far wakes, the kites were flow in a line perpendicular
the wind at nacelle height sixteen rotor diameters down wind of the turbines at locat
K3 (Figure 2). Mean kite wind direction was calculated for each 10 Hz sample and
readings arranged according to wind speed. If two adjacent kites were among the f
lowest speed kites and the speed deficiency was more than 20% as compared with t
mean, then a wake was defined at the kite with the lowest speed of the pair. The w
position was recorded together with the mean kite wind direction. The number of wa
at each kite is plotted for five wind directions, two degrees apart in Figure 5. This fig
shows, for example that for a wind direction of 185 degrees, the maximum number
wakes occurred at kite number 4 with a smaller maximum at kite 8. If the wind is

assumed to veer 6 degrees to the left after passing the turbines, then these two maxima
correspond to turbines assuming a six degree wake turn. For directions between 185 and
193 degrees, turbine projections coincide well with measured wake maxima. It is
therefore concluded that the turbine wake was still well developed sixteen rotor
diameters down wind during the run and the previously observed turning of the wake to
the left of the air motion was again present.

m Í85 deg

m i

I m 1280 4

é ^ 4 (?) /££)
é 320 4

^ ļ_ . _____
I 2240- '

ê 500 V - y'
tn I ' ' " ' 191 deg~
1 1280 1

Z 960 4 ' /vTT''

°è 640
320- ^
- ^^ ^ ^' ''
co ~ ^ 193 deg
I 480 -ļ '
Z 360 - ' / '1'
° 240 4 L^W/'
é 12o -
- !

6 5 4 1 2 3 7 8 9

Figure 5. Number of kite wak

spaced 15 m apart for five
T1 and T3 are shown assumi

Wind Engineering Vol. 19 No.

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TURBINE WAKE MEASUREMENTS USING METEOROGICAL KITE

7. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER

WORK

An array of 3 by 3 Tala kites 10 meters apart was flown on a number of occasions at

beach site with relatively smooth off-ocean winds. Wind speeds, measured by strai
gauges, and kite positions, calculated from kite string angles, were recorded at 10 Hz. A
nearby tower had three fast responding hot film anemometers sampling at 20 Hz. A 17
kW wind turbine with blade strain gauges sampled at 30 Hz operated down wind of the
kite array. Upwind turbines produced wakes in about half of the fourteen 45 minute run
Kite and anemometer mean wind speeds were reasonably close, but more frequent ki
speed calibrations would have been desirable. Kite standard deviations were twice as
large as hot film anemometer ones. The wake resulted in a doubling of the standar
deviations for both instruments and a turning of the wake air flow 5 to 10 degrees to th
left. Flying the kites at nacelle height along a line perpendicular to the wind direction
identified wakes from the turbines as far down wind as sixteen rotor diameters with a six
degree deviation to the left.
Kite and hot film anemometer wind speed data series were subjected to rain flow
count analysis (RFC) which identifies nested events. As a turbulence event approache
it is hypothesized that the kite moves to the event center and thereby measures th
maximum or minimum speed of the event as opposed to a fixed anemometer tha
measures the speed at some unknown distance from the event center. By doing so, the
kite should see more and larger events with a shorter period than a stationar
anemometer which is indeed found for both wake and no-wake runs. In the wake, th
kite registered fewer small amplitude events than without a wake, more mid range even
that lasted about half as long, and many more large amplitude events. Thus, the turbin
seems to destroy small events, chop up mid range events and create large events. Th
pattern was also evident in the hot film anemometer data. Without a wake, the cross win
size of circular events grew from about 2 meters for 1 m/s events to a maximum of 4
meters for 4 m/s events. With a wake, events were considerably enlarged particularly i
the vertical.

Without a wake, one minute average blade flap for a turbine down wind of the kites
correlated very well to kite and hot film anemometer winds, but with a wake, correlatio
dropped substantially, particularly for the kite. Rotational sampling, close to the turbin
rotational rate, correlated better than individual instruments. Kites correlated as well a
or slightly better than, the hot film anemometers.
Five Hz rotational time series had to be constructed in order to compare 30 Hz fla
data, available only for the last three runs, with kite and hot film anemometer data. Blad
flap was linearly related to turbine power which, in turn, was a linear function of win
speed in the wind speed range during the runs. This allowed flap to be converted to win
speed. There was no instantaneous correlation, possibly because the kites did not fl
exactly upwind of the turbine and time synchronization was missing. The number of kit
and flap RFC events and event durations as a function of event amplitude, coincide
remarkably well for no-wake runs, which was not the case for flap and the hot film
anemometer. During the wake run, the kite and flap statistics were even closer than
during the no-wake run in spite of the fact that fewer kites could be flown.
Thus, based on the admittedly limited data sets available, the strain gauged rotationa
kite should be a superior instrument to estimate blade flap at potential sites and to
calculate turbine life expectancy. A rotational kite estimates about three times more larg
turbulence events than a single kite which in turn estimates ten times more such event
than a hot film anemometer, which in turn probably estimates five times more events
than a good conventional anemometer. Thus, a conventional anemometer coul
underestimate the number of large turbulence events by two orders of magnitude.
The relative ease by which kite measurements can be made should make kite
turbulence research attractive and it is recommended that further studies be conducted
gain more insight into the nature of turbulence and independently verify event statisti
by using blade flap from other size turbines or data from a second set of kites downwin
of the first one. Testing during a variety of wind conditions and turbines would show i

Wind Engineering Vol. 19 No. 5 1995 301

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TURBINE WAKE MEASUREMENTS USING METEOROGICAL KITE

present results can be extended and repeated for a range of conditions. If so,
rotational kite would prove the ideal, if not the only, practical method to estimate t
life expectancies at potential sites.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Department of Meteorolog
University of Uppsala, Sweden and its chairman Dr Ulf Hogstrom for financ
moral support during the survey. Drs Ann Sofi Smedman, Hans Bergstrom and M
Lundin and Michael Magnusson were very supportive during the field work. I ex
gratitude to the Swedish Aeronautical Research Institute and Dr Jan-Ake Dah
supplying turbine data.

REFERENCES

Baker, R.W. and S.N. Walker, 1985: " Wake velocity deficit measurements at
Goodnoe Hills Mod-2 site", Report BPA 84-15, DOE/BP/29182-15.

Bergstrom, H. and U. Hogstrom, 1987 : "Calibration of a three-axial fiber film s

for meteorological turbulence measurements ", Dantec Information No. 5, 16-20.

Daniels, A., 1981: "Siting a fertilizing producing wind mill in Kahuku, Oahu", U
81-2, Dept. Meteor., Univ. Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96816, USA.

Daniels, A. and N. Oshiro, 1982: "Kahuku kite wind survey III: Turbulence Anal
UHMET 82-3, Dept. of Meteor., Univ. Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96816, USA.

Daniels, A. and T. Schroeder, 1988 : "Siting large wind turbines in Hawaii ", W
Engineering, 12, 5, 302-310.

Daniels, A., 1989: "Measurements of atmospheric salt concentrations in Hawaii

a Tala kite", Tellus, 4 IB, 196-206.

Daniels, A., 1993: "Turbulence measurements by anemometers, kites and turbin

strain ", J. Solar Energy Engineering, 115, 4, 228-230.

Daniels, A., 1995a: "Measuring atmospheric turbulence with the meteorological

submitted for publication.

Daniels, A., 1995b: "Discrete boundary layer turbulence events measured

meteorological kites", submitted for publication.

Hassan, G. and partners, 1989 : "Characteristics of wind turbine wake turbulen

its implications on wind farm spacing", Report ETSU WN 5096 to the En
Technology Support Unit, UK Department of Energy.

Hogstrom, U, D. Asimakopoulos, N. Kambezidis, C.D. Helmis and A. Sme

1988: "A field study of the wake behind a 2 MW wind turbine", Atmosp
Environment, 22, 803-820.

Wind Engineering Vol. 19 No. 5 1995 302

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