Effect of turbine nacelle and tower on the near wake of a utility-scale wind turbine

Super-large-scale particle image velocimetry using natural snowfall is used to investigate the influence of nacelle and tower generated flow structures on the near-wake of an operational 2.5 MW wind turbine. The measurement provides the velocity field over the entire rotor span in a plane centered behind the support tower, revealing a region of accelerated flow around the nacelle and a reduction in velocity behind the tower, causing asymmetry in...