Next-Generation Wind Turbine Aerodynamics

Modern multi-megawatt wind turbines squeeze more energy from the wind than earlier designs by actively controlling two things: how fast the rotor spins relative to the wind (tip-speed ratio) and how the blades are pitched. This simulation models a variable-speed, variable-pitch turbine using the standard Cp(λ,β) aerodynamic power-coefficient curve. Sweep the wind speed slider to trace out a realistic power curve — from cut-in, through the maximum-power-tracking region, past the rated-power knee, into the pitch-regulated plateau, and up to cut-out — or disable auto-pitch to see what happens without that control.