| Onshore wind farms can experience a wide variety of wind conditions, even in simple or flat terrain, as a result of diurnal and seasonal changes in stability in the atmospheric boundary layer. At a farm in Southwestern Ontario, a commercial-sized wind turbine operates in close proximity to a meteorological mast capable of quantifying the inflow parameters of the approaching wind profile. The turbine's steel supporting tower has been instrumented with an optical strain gauge array measuring longitudinal deformation at multiple elevations. Wind conditions have been classified into two major profile types on the basis of two key inflow parameters: vertical wind shear and horizontal turbulence intensity. The resulting effects of changing profile on turbine power production and tower structural response have been characterized across changing operating conditions and wind speeds. |
