Experimental study on the influence of wind turbine / wind farm on sand-dusttransport

Wind energy development in sandy, Gobi, and desert regions presents significant advantages; however, the relationship between wind turbines/wind farms and dust transport remains unclear.This study pioneers the use of scaled single and multiple wind turbine models in a simulated aeolian environment within an atmospheric boundary layer wind tunnel.By employing particles of varying sizes and concentrations to represent sandstorms of different intensities, we investigate the impact of wind turbines/farms on dust transport and the effect of wind farm wakes on erodible surfaces.The results demonstrate that rotating turbine blades significantly obstruct dust transport, with tip vortices and the central vortex causing localized dust accumulationparticularly pronounced in upper tip vortex regions.Furthermore, dust accumulation occurs above wind farms, with the accumulation area expanding as particle size decreases.Operational wind farms promote dust deposition, with deposition rates decreasing as particle size increases.In the wake region, larger particles accumulate more readily, showing a positive correlation between accumulation and particle size.Additionally, large-scale wind farm wake effects effectively suppress dust emission.