Auralization of Wind Turbine Noise Using Physics-Based Emission and Propagation Models

The problem of noise annoyance that is due to the characteristics of wind turbine noise such as amplitude modulation is an important factor against the building of wind farms. It would thus be beneficial to predict the noise that is generated by the wind turbines in the design phase itself. The auralization tool discussed in this article synthesizes the noise generated by wind turbine blades with the help of trailing edge noise and turbulent inflow noise models. The parabolic equation is used to include propagation effects associated to the ground impedance and the temperature and wind speed gradients. The effect of scattering due to atmospheric turbulence in the acoustic signal is added to this synthesis tool. To achieve a convincing signal of the environment of the wind turbine, pre-recorded background noise can be added to the time signals. The resulting signal corresponds to a wind turbine noise in an outdoor environment which can be used readily. The influence of the various parameters on the perception and annoyance due to wind turbine noise can be studied in detail using this tool.