An Exergy Based Approach to Noise Prevention in Wind Turbines: Concept and Preliminary Assessment

Unsustainable human activities and practices are polluting water supplies and emitting to the atmosphere greenhouse gases as well as compounds that erode the earth\'s protective ozone layer. The potential impact on human health and economic costs associated with global warming have motivated scientists and engineers to seek sustainable technologies. One such technology is the wind turbine, which harnesses energy from the wind. However, a significant hindrance preventing the widespread use of wind turbines is the noise they produce. This study examines flow over an object and the consequent noise generation produced by this flow-structure interaction. Flow over a cylinder has been chosen as the benchmark. The aim of this study is to correlate three main characteristic parameters of the system, namely, the generated sound pressure level, the exergy destroyed, and the normal flow velocity). The main motivation for this work is to relate the exergy destruction to the noise generated in the flow to improve understanding and to provide a correlation can be utilized to reduce or minimize the noise of wind turbines.