Comparison of some wind turbine noise emission models coupled to BEM aerodynamics

Noise is an important design driver for onshore wind turbines. Therefore, there is a need to include validated noise prediction models within wind turbine and wind plant design procedures. However, the literature presents a multitude of different models and formulations, combined with a severe lack of publicly available experimental data. The present work presents a comparison between semi-empirical frequency-domain methods coupled to blade element momentum (BEM) aerodynamics, which is the typical approach used for the transient aeroelastic analysis of wind turbines. Among the various noise sources, only turbulent boundary layer – trailing edge and turbulent inflow noise models have been considered in the present analysis. The noise models are benchmarked in terms of emission spectra, highlighting differences and discrepancies. A time-domain Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings formulation is also coupled to the same BEM model, investigating its ability in predicting low frequency emissions. Thanks to this study, a few inconsistencies among published noise models are identified and reported.