rotors in confined flow
An analytical model for how wind and water turbines behave when the flow around them is constrained.
Turbines tested in wind tunnels and water channels, or deployed in tidal channels and rivers, do not see the same flow as a turbine in open air: the walls around them speed up the flow and change how much power they extract. Correcting for this “blockage” is essential both for interpreting experiments and for designing turbines for confined sites.
We developed an analytical model for rotors in confined flow that holds across operating regimes, from lightly loaded to heavily loaded rotors.
Paper: I. M. L. Upfal et al., Journal of Fluid Mechanics (2026). DOI · arXiv
Code: Howland-Lab/MITRotor