Thursday 29 November 2012

Wind farm study aims for quiet achievement

www.abc.net.au
28 Nov 2012

Researchers are hoping a wind turbine experiment will give them greater insight into the noise problems some people complain about. An University of Adelaide team says it is investigating precisely how the turbines produce noise, especially in the low-frequency range. They hope they can produce findings which will improve wind farm design and noise control efforts. Associate Professor Con Doolan said many questions remained about noise sources, particularly in the low frequencies.

"We have a fair amount of knowledge around the noise generation mechanisms but, particularly in the low-frequency ranges, we don't know a lot about how they combine together", he said. "This project is aimed at getting to the bottom of what is creating the noise that can cause disturbance". The team will build a small wind turbine in the University's wind tunnel in Adelaide and use advanced techniques to measure aerodynamics and acoustic factors.

"If we can understand what's creating these sounds then we can advise governments about wind farm regulation and policy and make recommendations about the design of wind farms or the turbine blades to industry", Professor Doolan said.

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