Experimental and numerical studies of a horizontal axis wind turbine performance over a steep 2D hill

Wind tunnel tests and Numerical simulations were done to study the effect of a steep two-dimensional (2D) hill on the performance of a horizontal axis wind turbine. Experiments were performed in the wind tunnel to measure the average vertical wind speed distribution over the hill and the load acted on the wind turbine at a number of locations over the hill. Flow over the 2D hill and wind turbine power coefficient were examined using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations where the wind turbine rotor was fully resolved. CFD simulations had a good agreement with wind tunnel test results, and current studies showed the great impact of the 2D hill on the performance of the wind turbine.