Some noise predictions for small wind turbines

In the FP7 SWIP project three small wind turbine designs have been considered. These include two Horizontal Axis machine with a rated power of 4 and 20 kW and a 2 kW Vertical axis configuration. These will be mounted at three pilot sites with supporting atmospheric modelling and measurements. This paper presents broadband aeroacoustic noise predictions. The prediction methods compare semi empirical predictions more usually used for large turbine applications) supported where appropriate by CFD flow calculations. In order to pursue mitigation measures for these scales of machines, the noise is analysed on a component basis and considered from the viewpoints of self noise and inflow noise. The vertical axis machine is shown to dominated by boundary layer noise whereas the horizontal axis machines are more susceptible to inflow noise. In this the modelling of the inflow turbulence spectrum is seen to be critical.