Wind Turbine Power Curve & Farm Wake Lab (2D)
2D wind-energy lab: the real Cp(λ,β) tip-speed-ratio power curve (Heier model), MPPT below rated wind speed, blade-pitch power limiting above it, and a Jensen-wake row of turbines with a live capacity-factor readout.
The 3D original is a scenic orbit-camera flythrough of a hillside wind farm — procedural terrain, spinning blades, drifting clouds — with a wind-speed slider that has no computed relationship to any output figure. This 2D companion replaces the scenery with the actual physics and control engineering behind a utility-scale turbine: a tip-speed-ratio-dependent power coefficient Cp(λ,β) from the standard Heier/Slootweg empirical model, Maximum Power Point Tracking below rated wind speed, blade-pitch power limiting above it, and a Jensen-wake model chaining a row of turbines so the farm's total output and capacity factor genuinely respond to how far apart the machines sit and how much wind each one steals from the next.
Cp(λ,β) = 0.5176·(116/λi − 0.4β − 5)·exp(−21/λi) + 0.0068λ with 1/λi = 1/(λ+0.08β) − 0.035/(β³+1) — the standard variable-speed, pitch-regulated turbine model. Below the rated wind speed (solved from a 450 W/m² specific-power target, ≈11.8 m/s here) the rotor holds λ at its optimum 8.1 with pitch fixed at 0°, matching real MPPT control; above it, rotor speed is capped so λ falls with wind speed and the pitch slider trades Cp for load relief exactly like a real pitch actuator. The farm row recovers each turbine's thrust coefficient from its Cp via actuator-disk theory (Cp = 4a(1−a)², Ct = 4a(1−a)) and applies the Jensen/Park deficit (1−√(1−Ct))·(r₀/(r₀+k·x))² at 5-rotor-diameter spacing, so downstream turbines visibly lose wind speed, power output and colour saturation — verified by construction: leaving pitch at 0° above rated speed triggers the overload badge exactly when electrical output would exceed the generator's rated capacity.
2D · HTML5 Canvas 2D · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install