Let it snow, let it flow – that's how researchers visualised for the first time how full-sized wind turbines interact with the surrounding air.
Jiarong Hong and his team from the University of Minnesota took advantage of some cold Minneapolis weather to research late-night snowstorms. They shone powerful searchlights through thick blankets of snowflakes to reveal large-scale turbulent flow structures that can't be replicated in small-scale lab experiments.
A better understanding of this flow could make turbines more efficient and reliable.
Journal reference: Nature Communications, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5216
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