Wind Turbine Noise: Theoretical and Experimental Study

Wind turbine acoustical noise is a relevant element to be considered and studied because of the growing interest in renewable energies. The environmental impact of these structures in the surrounding areas is deeply investigated, especially on the acoustical and the landscape point of view. This paper is mainly devoted to the integration between analytical, experimental and software analysis on noise production and propagation, in the framework of a single turbine or a wind farm. The results of a measurement campaign in an operating wind farm are reported and used to tune the model and software parameters, in order to validate the theoretical assumptions. In particular, the point like source and other assumptions are verified by means of comparison between experimental and simulated data. The noise mapping is also pursued in the framework of acommercial predictive software, exploiting the possibility to monitor the behaviour of noise in a complex area, in terms of number of sources, propagation, absorption, terrain orography, etc., such as a wind farm.