Concentrator effect of buildings on the energy production of Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWTs)

Abstract

This paper describes wind tunnel measurements carried out to determine the advantages of the concentrator effect of buildings as a way to improve wind energy production in cities. Measurements of flow velocity were taken with the use of hot wire anemometry above the rooftop of a 15 storey 1:80 scaled generic shaped building. This flow was affected by another building located upstream, with variable height. The measured data was analyzed to determine flow characteristics such as; velocity field, turbulence intensity, autocorrelation coefficients, RMS (root mean square) and PSD (power spectral density). The experiments showed increases in velocity of between 21 and 43% above the building rooftop. This increase was found to be maximized when the flow above the building is not affected by surrounding buildings. Thus, potential advantages of the location of wind turbines on building terraces were demonstrated.