• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.16 no.8 s.113
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• pp.864-871
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• 2006

In the development of electricity generating wind turbines for wind farm application, only two types have survived as the methods of power regulation; stall regulation and full span pitch control. The main purpose of this paper is to experimentally identify the characteristics of noise emission of wind turbines according to the power regulation types. The sound measurement procedures of IEC 61400-11 are applied to field test and evaluation of noise emission from each of 1.5 MW and 660 kW wind turbines (WT) utilizing the stall regulation and the pitch control for the power regulation, respectively. Apparent sound power level, wind speed dependence, third-octave band levels and tonality are evaluated for both of WTs. It is observed that equivalent continuous sound pressure levels (ECSPL) of the stall control type of WT continue to increase with increasing wind speed whereas those of the pitch control type of WT show less correlation with wind speed. These observed characteristics are believed to be due to the different airflow patterns around the blade between the stall regulation and the pitch control types of WT; the airflow on the suction side of blade in the stall types of WT are separated at the high wind speed. It is also found that the 1.5 MW WT using the stall control emits lower sound power than 660 kW one using the pitch control at wind speeds below 8m/s, whereas sound power of the former becomes higher than that of the latter in the wind speed over 8m/s. This wind-speed dependence of sound power leads to the very different noise omission characteristics of WTs depending on the seasons because the average wind speed in summer is lower than 8m/s whereas that in summer is higher. Based on these experimental observations, it is proposed that, in view of environmental noise regulation, the developer of wind farm should give enough considerations to the choice of power regulation of their WTG based on the weather conditions of potential wind farm locations.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.29 no.7
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• pp.448-457
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• 2010

Vibrations and wave propagations in waveguide structures can be analysed efficiently by using waveguide finite element (WFE) method. The WFE method only models the 2-dimensional cross-section of the waveguide with finite elements so that the size of the model and computing time are much less than those of the 3-dimensional FE models. For cylindrical shells or pipes which have simple cross-sections, the external coupling with fluids can be treated theoretically. For waveguides of complex cross-sectional geometries, however, numerical methods are required to deal with external fluids. In this numerical approach, the external fluid is modelled by the boundary elements (BEs) and connected to WFEs. In order to validate this WFE/BE method, a pipe submerged in water is considered in this study. The dispersion diagrams and point mobilities of the pipe simulated are compared to those that theoretically obtained. Also the acoustic powers radiated from the pipe are predicted and compared in both cases of air and water as an external medium.