Enhancing wind power
A new apparatus will help researchers develop wind turbine designs without building full-scale prototypes. Given the massive size of today’s turbines, building test models at full size is not feasible, yet scaling down these models causes inaccurate predictions of their capabilities. However, it is possible to reproduce the full-scale dynamics by placing the scaled-down models inside a container of highly pressurized air.

A team composed of Marcus Hultmark, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, Forrest Meggers, assistant professor of architecture and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, and Elie Bou-Zeid, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, will build a test facility that uses a pressurized air tank and can accurately capture the physics of full-scale turbines. The apparatus will be housed on Princeton’s nearby Forrestal Campus.

“The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Transformative Technology Fund gives Princeton the capacity to invest in truly innovative and highly promising research — research that is often considered too forward-looking for traditional funding mechanisms,” said Dean for Research Pablo Debenedetti, the Class of 1950 Professor in Engineering and Applied Science and professor of chemical and biological engineering. “This year’s selected proposals are outstanding in terms of the quality of the science and engineering as well the potential to benefit humanity through practical benefits to human health and the environment.”

More information can be found on the ACEE website here.