Open AccessEngineering Wake Induction Model For Axisymmetric Multi-Kite Systems
Author(s) -
Rachel Leuthold,
Curran Crawford,
Sébastien Gros,
Moritz Diehl
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of physics. conference series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.21
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1742-6596
pISSN - 1742-6588
DOI - 10.1088/1742-6596/1256/1/012009
Subject(s) - wake , aerodynamics , aerospace engineering , mechanics , thrust , rotational symmetry , radius , wingspan , physics , computer science , engineering , computer security
Multi-kite airborne wind energy systems (MAWES) fly two or more kites in a high-altitude orbit that allows a main tether to unroll a generator. An engineering wake induction model could simplify the (axisymmetric) aerodynamics of such an unsteady actuator-annulus with variable thrust-coefficient, flight-radius, and downwind-direction apparent velocity, in comparison to high-fidelity wake models. To the authors’ knowledge, existing engineering models do not predict the influence of variable flight radius. The goal of this paper is to synthesize a MAWES engineering model, a closed-form function approximating the axial induction factor ã, specifically at the kite mid-span, using linearized wake parameters, as available from a dynamics solver. A vortex tube model is used to construct a plausible approximation of the induction, which is then heavily simplified for computation tractability while retaining important flow physics.