Effects of wind turbine rotor tilt on large-scale wind farms

Kasper, J.H.; Stevens, R.J.A.M.

doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2767/9/092072

Effects of wind turbine rotor tilt on large-scale wind farms

J.H. Kasper, R.J.A.M. Stevens, J. Phys. Conf. Ser., 2767, 092072 (2024).

Main finding

In the upstream aligned farm, uniform +20 and -20 degrees tilt raise total aerodynamic power by 11% and 8% relative to no tilt, despite roughly 10% first-row loss; downstream rows benefit from wake deflection. In the staggered upstream farm, both tilt signs reduce total performance because baseline direct-wake losses are already lower and deflection does not repay cosine/misalignment loss.

Row-averaged turbine power under rotor tilt for aligned and staggered farm layouts — **How to read the figure.** Row power normalised by the first row, for zero tilt and plus or minus 20 degrees. In the aligned farm (left) tilted rotors lose power in the first row but gain downstream through wake deflection; in the staggered farm (right) both tilt directions sit at or below the untilted case throughout. Open the full-resolution figure. Figure 4. J.H. Kasper and R.J.A.M. Stevens (2024). No separate licence is stated here; consult the original publication and credited source before reuse.

Why this matters

Supports strong layout dependence of tilt control and short-ranged upstream/downstream farm interaction.

Research context

Tilt changes rotor-normal extraction, vertical wake displacement, streamwise vortices, and farm-wake structure. Whether that repays the first-row misalignment loss depends on downstream rotor placement.

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