Aero/hydrodynamics of wind and hydrokinetic turbines

Dr. Matthew Barone
Wind and Water Power Technologies Department
Sandia National Laboratories

ABSTRACT
Wind energy is an increasingly vital component of the electricity generation system in the United States. As of late 2009, the total installed capacity of wind generated power in the U.S. was over 35,000 MW, representing over 3% of the nation’s total electricity generation capacity. By contrast, the marine hydrokinetic industry, which involves development of in-stream current turbine and wave power devices, is in its infancy in the U.S. This talk focuses on the aero- and hydrodynamics of both wind and hydrokinetic turbines, from the perspective of ongoing Department of Energy research programs at Sandia National Laboratories. The history and current status of wind turbine rotor aerodynamics is reviewed, and remaining research challenges involving complex flow phenomena and aero-acoustic rotor noise are described. In contrast to wind turbines, where the 3-bladed upwind rotor configuration dominates the market, a “preferred” hydrokinetic turbine configuration has yet to be identified. The diversity of proposed configurations opens up new research opportunities for hydrodynamic analysis and design. An overview of these research areas is given, along with a description of hydrodynamic performance model development efforts at Sandia.