Thesis Defense Announcement

The Herff College of Engineering announces the Final Thesis Defense of

Mario Hyman

for the Degree of Master of Science

on October 30, 2018 at 2:00 PM in Engineering Science Building, Room 222

Advisor: Mohd. Hasan Ali

Improved Modelling of Wind Turbines on Trains

ABSTRACT: Most wind powered electricity generation systems are stationary and heavily dependent on the speed and direction of the wind. Alternatively, the wind displaced by fast moving vehicles, in particular by trains is routinely available in locations worldwide. Previous research mainly aimed at designing wind turbine models that maximize the output potential of the system. However, there are significant limitations associated with those turbine models. For example, i) the total drag force acting on the moving train can be significantly increased, and consequently normal operation can be compromised. The traditional turbine models do not take this effect into consideration; ii) The potential for energy gain has been considered only during deceleration of the train. To overcome these inherent drawbacks of the existing models, this work aims to develop an improved and more realistic wind turbine model on the trains. Extensive simulations have been performed to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed turbine model. The performance of the proposed new turbine model has been compared with that of an existing model. The proposed improved model provides simulation accuracy and additional opportunities for real-time analysis of the moving trains