Turbulence Intensity Calculation For Al-Shehabi Site in Iraq

ISSN (Print) : 2320 – 3765
ISSN (Online): 2278 – 8875
International Journal of Advanced Research in Electrical,

Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering
(An ISO 3297: 2007 Certified Organization)
Vol. 4, Issue 9, September 2015
Turbulence Intensity Calculation for Al-

Shehabi Site in Iraq
Firas A. Hadi1, Sura T. Nassir2, Rawnak A. Abdulwahab3
Assistant Chairman of Physicists, Dept. of Wind Energy, Ministry of Science and Technology, Baghdad, Iraq1
Physicist, Dept. of Wind Energy, Ministry of Science and Technology, Baghdad, Iraq2
Senior Physicist, Dept. of Wind Energy, Ministry of Science and Technology, Baghdad, Iraq3
ABSTRACT: The Turbulence Intensity "TI" is a very important factor in determining the performance and
productivity of the wind turbines. Also, the appropriate turbine class for that site depending on the turbulence intensity
of the winds in the studied area.To assess the category of a wind turbine at a site, data from an open space area are
collected and analyzed. The data were collected from a tower installed at Al-Shehabi site, as the open space. The result
for this area is compared with the standard NTM in order to calculate the turbulence intensity atAl-Shehabi site for the
year2013; the calculations were achievedusing Computer code for Optimum Wind Farm Design (COWFD).
KEYWORDS: wind energy, ambient turbulence intensity, IEC61400, wind turbine category
I. INTRODUCTION
Wind energy is the most promising energy source which is believed to play an important role in global power supply in
the 21stcentury. Wind energy is the least cost type of renewable energy technology, yet it is a huge source and according
to the reports from United Nations, the total potential for wind energy alone can satisfy the electricity world demand by
20 times.[1]
In the past few years, the economics of wind energy has improved dramatically in many developed countries, such that
it is now the least expensive option among all energy technologies. Wind Energy has developed very fast in the last
decade. Compared with traditional energy sources, wind energy has a number of benefits and advantages. Unlike fossil
fuels that emit harmful gases and nuclear power that generates radioactive wastes, wind power is a clean and
environmentally friendly energy source. Modern wind turbines size and power output were hardly imaginable only a
few years ago. Generation of electrical energy from wind can be economically achieved only where a significant wind
resource exists.[2]For any wind turbine, the power and energy output increases dramatically as the wind speed
increases. Therefore, the most cost effective wind turbines are located in the windiest area. Wind speed is affected by
local terrain and increases with height above the ground, so wind turbines are usually mounted in tall towers.[3]
II. METEOROLOGICAL PARAMETER (TURBULENCE INTENSITY)
Turbulence intensity is the standard deviation of the wind speed within a time step divided by the mean wind speed
over the same time step. Turbulence intensity (TI) is a measure of the gustiness of the wind. High turbulence is
associated with increased wind turbine system wear and increased operation and maintenance (O&M) costs. At lower
wind speeds, the calculated turbulence intensity is higher. However, the higher turbulence at low wind speeds is not a
concern because of the low power available at those low wind speeds. Turbulence at higher winds speeds is of greater
interest and concern to wind turbine.[4]
In wind energy, the turbulence is evaluated by the turbulence intensity. The turbulence intensity is calculated by
dividing the standard deviation of a 10 minute wind speed measurement by the mean wind speed:
= (1)
Copyright to IJAREEIE DOI: 10.15662/IJAREEIE.2015.0409042 7619

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ISSN (Online): 2278 – 8875


where is the standard deviation of wind speed variations about the mean wind speed , due to this definition can
become infinitely large when the wind speed reaches zero.
According to IEC61400-1 edition 2, NTM for small wind turbine states that the expected standard deviation of
longitudinal wind σ1, should be given by [2]:
( ⁄ )
= + ∆ (2)
where, I15 =is the assumed turbulence intensity at a mean wind speed of 15m/s.
a= is a slope parameter.
Vhub = is the wind speed at hub height averaged over 10min, see Table 1.
These parameters have a constant value of I15 =18% and 16% for class A and B respectively, where
a =2 for class A.
a=3 for class B (see Table1).
The term ∆ in Eq. (2) is a modification which let the model correspond to different percentile values.
∆ = 2( − 1)I (3)
where,
= is the hub-height longitudinal wind velocity standard deviation.
I = is the characteristic value of hub-height turbulence intensity at a 10 min average wind speed of 15 m/s and a
function of turbine class (see Table 1).
p = is determined from the normal probability distribution function which corresponds to p = 0 for the 50thpercentile,
and p = 1.28 for the 90thpercentile, and p =1 for the 84thpercentile which defines the characteristic turbulence intensity.
Table 1: IEC 61400-1 1999 Edition 2
The expected 10 minutes mean turbulence intensity, is given by normalizing Eq. (2) overVhub.According to IEC61400-1
edition 3, NTM for large wind turbine states the expected standard deviation σ1 is described based on an approximation
of the 90thpercentile of the standard deviation of the longitudinal wind speed:[2]
(90 ) = (0.75 + 5.6 ⁄sec ) (4)
While the distribution value of the 50thpercentile standard deviation of the large wind turbine, is given as guidance by
the following expression.[4]
(50 ) = (0.75 + 3.75 ⁄sec )(5)
Where, Iref= is the representative value of hub-height turbulence intensity at a 10 min average wind speed of 15m/s and
a function of turbine class (see Table 2).

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Table 2: IEC 61400-1 2005 Edition 3
The expected 10 minutes mean turbulence intensity is given by normalizing σ90 and σ50over Vhub, as following:[5]
= (6)
= (7)
Here, σ50 is bin-average of measured 10min value; σ90is bin-average of 10min values calculated from σave and σσby the
following equation assuming IEC 61400-1 edition 2:[5]
= + (8)
Here, σσis 10min standard deviation bin-average values. In IEC 61400-1 edition 3, Eq. (9) represented as:[5]
= + 1.28 (9)
Ambient turbulence intensity in IEC 61400-1 edition 2 given by the representative value for a set of 10-minute time
steps, each bin as the averaged value plus standard deviation of turbulence intensity, as follows:[2]
= + (10)
Also, the ambient turbulence intensity in IEC61400-1 edition 3 is the representative turbulence intensity, for a set of
10min time steps, is equal to the 90thpercentile of the turbulence intensity values. Assuming a normal distribution of
these values, it represents the mean value plus 1.28 times standard deviations. The mean turbulence intensity is the
mean value of all of the turbulence intensity data at a particular wind speed.[2]
= + 1.28 (11)
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Al-Shehabi was selected as an open space site to study turbulence intensity effects. Fig. 1 shows its position on Iraq
map. Data was collected from meteorological station for the year 2013 at 10m above ground level.

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Fig. 1 Iraq satellite image to indicate the area of study
The Fig.2 shows that wind rose divided into 12 sectorsexplained the distribution of frequency, speed and energy in
different directions. Wind at this location blowing mostly from the northeastern, and northern directions, in addition to
winds blowing from other directions.
Fig.2 Wind rose diagram for Al-Shehabi 2013, 10m height
The standard deviation of wind speed is plotted as a function of mean wind speed, in both Figs. 3(a)-(b). The red dots
represent each of calculated value. A linear regression is calculated, with the use of the least square method, and
drawn as a pink color line through all of the points.
The calculated standard deviation are compared to the NTM given by Eq.(2), where the orange, black and green lines
represents the three turbine classes A, B and C respectively (see Figs.3(3)-(b)), such that the turbine classes in the left
graph represent the 90thpercentile, while the turbine classes in the three right graph represent the 50thpercentile

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(a)90th% Standard deviation as a function of (b) 50th% Standard deviation as a function of ̅ which
̅ whichbelongs to Al-Shehabisite for LWT- 2013. belongs to Al-Shehabi site for LWT- 2013.
Fig.3Standard deviation as a function of ̅ which belongs to Al-Shehabi site for SWT
Figs. 4(a)-(b) show the results of turbulence intensity TIgiven by Eq. (1) in red dots.The calculated mean and
representative TI (TI50 and TI90) by Eqs.(4)-(5), where the orange, green and black lines in Figs. 4(a)–(b) represent the
90thand 50thNTM percentile, respectively and represent the three turbine categories A, B and C, respectively.
(a) 90th%turbulence intensity as a function of ̅ which intensity as a function of which belongs toAl-Shehabi site
belongsAl-Shehabi site for LWT-2013(b) 50th%turbulence for LWT-2013
Fig. 4 Turbulence intensity as a function of mean wind speed belongs to Al-Shehabi site for large wind turbine
In Fig. 5, the distribution of turbulence intensity, TIv, is shown in yellow bars divided into intervals with bin size of
5%. The left y-axis denotes the relative frequency of occurrence of TIvwithin different intervals. The maximum value
of x-axes is taken to be (120% )for convenience.
The highest frequency of turbulence intensity is located in the range of (5-10%) with majority of frequency
measurements arranged as(5-15%), for the years 2013. The cumulative frequency of turbulence is given on the right y-
axis as a total number of elements.

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Fig.5Frequency of turbulence intensity and its cumulative as a function of

turbulence intensity which belongs to Al-Shehabi site
The distributions (frequency) of TI as a function of mean wind speed can be seen in Fig. 6, representing by green bars
binned with intervals of 1m/s. The frequency of turbulence intensity is given on the y-axis as a total number of
elements in each wind speed interval. The highest frequency of turbulence intensity occurs at wind speed interval (1-2)
m/s with value 24% for 2013.
Fig. 6TI as a function of ̅ which belongs to Al-Shehabi site
Now, it is possible to find turbulence intensity at each sector, the plots of TI as a function of wind speed in 8 sectors for
Al-Shehabi sites are shown in Fig.7.

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ISSN (Online): 2278 – 8875

Fig.7 Representative turbulence intensity (Irep) at different directions, Al-Shehabi (2013)

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After computing Irep-s for each sector as shown in Fig. 7, now it could be possible to compute totalIrep at wind speed
10m/sec for Al-Shehabi site. As expected from proceeding calculations, the results show that Irep for both locations,
Irep= 0.160978 (see Table 3)
Table 3:Irep_s and Irep for 8 sectors at wind speed 10m/sec for Al-Shehabi site
Item/ Sector No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Irep_s% 17.6 16.0 49.0 0.0 18.0 20.3 31.1 0.0
Freq_s% 36.1 31.4 3.5 3.2 4.7 6.5 2.7 3.3
No. of Samples 12712 11056 1247 1138 1668 2303 943 1149
Irep_total= 0.1609
The power curve measurement at a test site must include a measure of the turbulence level to permit a possible
correction to the power curve. The effects of turbulence on wind turbine power curves are estimated in Fig.8. It is
obvious that there is no change in the theoretical power curves of the two sites, because turbulence intensity at these
sites is not high enough to make change in the theoretical power curves.
Fig. 8Effect of turbulence intensity on power curve at two sites
IV. CONCLUSION
The observations from Al-Shehabi site show that the turbulence characteristics of terrain has no deviation from what is
estimated by the NTM, as it is defined for the standard LWT and SWT classes, and that is beyond the roughness of the
site. Turbulence makes no changes to the output power from a wind turbine, at the same time increases fatigue load and
little periodic maintenance, which has no effect on the turbine life and no increasing makes no turbine total cost.
REFERENCES
[1] Muhammad, S. H. (2012), "Investigating whether the turbulence model from existing small wind turbine standards is valid for
rooftop sites", M.Sc. Thesis, School Of Engineering And Energy, Murdoch University, Australia.
[2] Firas A. H. (2014), "Constructing A Mathematical Statistical Model for Wind Energy in Iraq Using Different Weibull
Distribution Functions", Ph.D. Thesis, Department of Physics, Al-Nahrain University, Iraq.
[3] Mohammed A. S., Ayad A. A., Firas A. H. “Ambient Turbulence Intensity Calculation for Al-Nasiriyah Province in Iraq”,
Iraqi Journal of Science, Vol.55, No.2A, pp.561-571, 2014.
[4] Manwell, J., McGowan, J., and Rogers A. (2002) "Wind Energy Explained", John Wiley & Sons Ltd, West Sussex, England

ISSN (Print) : 2320 – 3765
ISSN (Online): 2278 – 8875


[5] Carpman, N. (2011),"Turbulence Intensity in Complex Environments and its Influence on Small Wind Turbines", M.Sc. Thesis.
Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Department of Earth Sciences, Sweden.
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. FirasAbdulrazzaqHadi received the B.Sc. in Science of Physics and M.Sc. in
Astronomy
(Image Processing) from Baghdad University, then Ph.D. in Physics from Al-Nahrain University
in 2015. During 2003-2015, he stayed in Ministry of Science and Technology , Iraq, to
study GIS, Remote Sensing, also wind energy
Sura T. Nassir, B.Sc. Atmospheric science/ college of science/Al-MustansiriyaUniversity (2012).

M.Sc. Atmospheric science/college of science / Al-MustansiriyaUniversity (2014).
Physist in renewable energy directorate, Ministry of Science and Technology (2015).E-mail:
Rawnak A. Abdulwahab received the B.Sc. inAstronomy Science and M.Sc. in Physics from
Baghdad University. During 2009-2015, she stayed in Ministry of Science and Technology,
Iraq, to study GIS, Remote Sensing, also wind energy

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ISSN (Print) : 2320 – 3765

ISSN (Online): 2278 – 8875

International Journal of Advanced Research in Electrical,

Vol. 4, Issue 9, September 2015