Determination of the acoustic source power levels of wind turbines

To facilitate Wind Energy Conversin System (WECS) licensing, it is recommended to obtain the immission-relevant sound power from the WECS, since this quantity fits into most recommendations for industrial installations. Measurements on small and medium-scale WECS show that rotor rotation speed is a more important parameter than the wind velocity with regard to the radiated noise. An acoustic telescope was used to identify noise sources on two medium-size wind turbines. The mechanical noise from the nacelle is mostly predominant but the trailing edge aerodynamic noise is not negligible. A prediction model for this type of noise, which leads to good agreement with experimental data was developed. A method to suppress turbulence signals around WECS is a set-up with twin microphones, using correlation techniques on both signals.