Numerical Simulation of Ion Flow Field and Multi-Factor Influence of Rotating Wind Turbine Tip Corona Discharge Under Thundercloud Electric Field

Rotating wind turbines are more vulnerable to lightning strikes than static wind turbine, possibly due to the different distribution of tip corona charges. However, there is a lack of research on the characteristics of blade tip corona charge distribution. This paper establishes a simulation model of corona charge distribution of rotating wind turbine. The long gap discharge test of the scaled wind turbine is carried out to verify the effectiveness of the simulation model. The simulation results show that the corona current increases with the increase of wind turbine speed, which is consistent with the test results. When the wind turbine rotates, the corona charge will migrate to the arc trajectory through which the blade rotates, which greatly reduces the charge density accumulated at the blade tip. Compared with the static state, the electric field intensity of the blade tip is higher when the wind turbine rotates, which will make it easier for the blade tip to initiate the upward leader. Moreover, the influence of different factors on the corona charge distribution of rotating wind turbine is calculated, and the function relationship between the maximum electric field intensity of the wind turbine tip and the rotation speed is established.