Wind-turbine wake effects on the rate of accumulation of fatigue damage in overhead conductors

TL;DR

This study investigates how wind turbine wakes affect fatigue damage in overhead conductors using wind-tunnel experiments, fiber-optic strain sensing, and fatigue analysis, challenging existing safety distance guidelines.

Contribution

It provides empirical data on wake effects on conductor fatigue, suggesting that smaller separation distances than current guidelines may be safe under certain conditions.

Findings

Fatigue damage depends on conductor height and spacing.

Wake increases vibration amplitude but not mean strain at critical points.

Reduced damage observed at lower heights and closer spacings.

Abstract

Guidance relating to the safe distance within which overhead conductors (OHCs) should not be built with respect to a wind turbine, and vice versa, varies from country to country. In the United Kingdom the recommendation is that OHCs are not installed within three rotor diameters (3D) of wind turbines due to concerns over wake-induced fatigue. To assess the physical basis for this recommendation, wind-tunnel experiments were conducted using a scaled wind turbine placed upstream of an instrumented conductor, in conditions representative of forested terrain. The conductor was equipped with distributed fibre-optic strain sensing based on Rayleigh backscattering, providing spatially resolved measurements at 2.6 mm resolution. Three conductor heights and four turbine-conductor spacings were tested, together with a no-turbine baseline, while maintaining a constant incident wind speed of 7 m/s. The results identify a critical region near the clamp where mean strain is maximised. Neither mean nor fluctuating strain at this location increased substantially due to the presence of the turbine wake. Strain fluctuations were dominated by aeolian vibration, with the wake increasing vibration amplitude whilst reducing its characteristic frequency. Rainflow counting fatigue analysis shows that damage accumulation depends strongly on conductor height. While fatigue damage rates increase when the conductor is fully immersed in the wake, reduced damage rates are observed for lower heights and closer spacings. These results suggest that, under forested atmospheric conditions, conductor-turbine separations smaller than the current 3D guidance may be feasible provided the conductor is not fully immersed in the turbine wake.