The WindEEE Research Institute has confirmed the successful installation of a short-range 3D WindScanner, based on ZephIR’s Continuous Wave Lidar, and supplied by the Wind Energy Department of the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) to study turbulence effects for wind turbines, buildings, and structures. The organizations believe it to be  the first deployment of its kind, using the ‘best in class’ 3D wind-system generating wind dome, WindEEE, and a 3D scanning wind lidar measurement sensor, ZephIR / WindScanner.

The upper plenum in the WindEEE facility shows the fans that will generate directional wind.

“Our vision has always been to be a global leader in wind research and innovation, making a global contribution to the resilience of structures,” said Professor Horia Hangan, Director of the WindEEE Research Institute at University of Western Ontario, Canada. “WindEEE, our tornado generating wind dome, is now home to the world’s leading measurement system, the WindScanner scanner which is based on equally novel ZephIR Lidar Technology. We look forward to communicating the further results from our work as we progress with leading research and educational programs at Western University.”

Top left: WindEEE facility in Ontario, Canada. Top Right: Inside the WindEEE facility where WindScanner is installed. Bottom left: Flow modelling of the tornado systems that can be generated in WindEEE and measured by WindScanner. Bottom right: DTU Wind Energy WindScanner with ZephIR.

The Wind Engineering, Energy and Environment (WindEEE) Dome is the world’s first hexagonal wind tunnel. Its large scale structure (25-m diameter for the inner dome and 40-m diameter for the outer return dome) allows for wind simulations over extended areas and complex terrain. WindEEE allows manipulating inflow and boundary conditions to reproduce, at large scales and under controlled conditions, the dynamics of real wind systems. By manipulating the outflow and direction of its fans, the facility can produce time-dependent, straight, sheared, or swirl winds of variable direction. This allows physically simulating a large variety of wind fields such as boundary layers, portions of hurricanes, tornados, downbursts, low-level currents or gust fronts.

WindScanner’s remote sensing wind measurement method with integrated synchronized 3-axis beam steering and scanning systems, provide detailed full-scale real atmospheric wind and turbulence measurements. A ZephIR Continuous Wave Lidar has been installed to measure the first of three time-and-space beam synchronized systems. These are required to measure in the most accurate way possible the variety of the 3D wind conditions generated by WindEEE.

This combination of state-of-the-art technologies will help the industry understand more about the vulnerability to turbulence of wind turbines, wind farms, and other buildings and structures. With increasing rotor diameters of wind turbines the turbulent effects produced become increasingly significant in the operations, maintenance, and performance of modern wind farms. ZephIR, WindScanner and WindEEE are facing this challenge now head-on and the project has been described as ‘the necessary quantum leap forward in wind research’.

ZephIR Continuous Wave Lidar
www.zephirlidar.com
WindScanner 3D Short-Range Scanners
www.windscanner.dk
WindEEE Research Institute
www.eng.uwo.ca/windeee