Turbulence
You have probably
experienced how hailstorms or thunderstorms in particular, are associated
with frequent gusts of wind which both change speed and
direction.
In areas with a very uneven terrain surface,
and behind obstacles such as buildings there is similarly created
a lot of turbulence, with very irregular wind flows, often in
whirls or vortexes in the neighbourhood.
You can see an example of how turbulence
increases the fluctuations in the wind speed in the image, which you may
compare with the image on the previous page.Turbulence
decreases the possibility of using the energy in the wind effectively for
a wind turbine. It also imposes more tear and wear on the wind turbine, as
explained in the section on fatigue
loads. Towers for wind turbines are usually made tall enough to avoid
turbulence from the wind close to ground level.
