Large wind turbines are typically designed to operate in the upwind configuration, wherein the rotor is located upwind of the tower. However, as blades get larger there is increased possibility of blade-tower interference, and the use of robust and heavy blades that resist deformation could be expensive. A downwind rotor may offer a simple, cost-effective solution. A downwind rotor shows promise, but the optimal use of the concept will require an investigation into the impact of the tower shadow on the wind turbine loads and power. A Computational Fluid Dynamics tool solving for full Navier-Stokes equations is used to determine the detailed flow field developing around two-blade horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWT) in downwind and upwind configurations. The resulting flow field around the wind turbine is used to evaluate the noise radiating to the farfield using an acoustic analogy method. The influence of the variation of wind velocity and rotational speed of the rotor on the sound pressure level is analyzed.
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