| WIND TURBINES: TYPES, ECONOMICS AND DEVELOPMENT Gerard Martin (editor) Jeremie Roux (editor) New York: Nova Science Publishers, April 2010 |
Rating: 5.0 High |
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| ISBN-13: 978-1-60741-849-8 | ||||
| ISBN-10: 1-60741-849-5 | 322pp. | HC/LF/FCI | $160.00 | |
This collection of independent papers on various aspects of wind turbine development is an invaluable reference for anyone working on such development projects. It covers turbine design, simulation of airflows, interfaces to the power grid, and environmental effects.
Of course, it is far from comprehensive. Just as was true in my case, not all the papers will be applicable to everyone's interests. But overall, with the many references in each paper, it should at least be borrowed and consulted on a trial basis. Many will decide it is a keeper, despite the fact that not every paper it contains applies directly to their work.
The performance of a novel vertical axis wind turbine for applications in urban areas is examined in this chapter, in an effort to improve understanding of such technologies. In particular, several different blade technologies are examined, with numerical simulation using computational fluid dynamics to predict the fluid flow through the wind turbines. *
* * "The simulation results exhibit close agreement with a stream-tube momentum model. The results help improve understanding of the behaviour of vertical axis wind turbines, and are expected to be of benefit to designers." – Page 1 |
The only paper I studied closely was the first one.1 The others I skimmed. Therefore my Errata page derives mostly from this first paper. However, I can say two things about all the papers: They represent much work that is original and valuable; and they deserved another editing pass. This is doubly true since in several cases the authors are not from countries where English is a native language. Examples include Russia, France, Spain and Argentina. The volume as a whole I recommend with full marks; it is only its high cost that prevents me from rating it a keeper.
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