A Method to Precisely Measure Wind Turbine Pressure Disturbances, Including Noise

Abstract

Complex noises sources are not easily measured when the conditions constantly change. Wind turbines are an example of these challenging sources. Some say it’s like magic; now you hear them and now you don’t. Sound comes and goes and changes with distance, temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, wind shear, thermal inversion, sound absorption, etc. Its annoyance and detectability may also be masked by various forms of intermittent background noise. There is also unwanted noise inherent with the measurement system itself, such as wind screen noise that needs to be separated from the sources of interest. These need to be identified such that only clean records where artifacts are not present are chosen and the sources of interest are analyzed. Being variables, many may, at times, have a cumulative effect on the sources, increasing their presence.  Different receptors (humans and animals) react differently with different types of noise. Receptors that live under these conditions tend to experience annoyance.