60秒科学:Wind Farmers Go To School On Fish

Wind Farmers Go To School On Fish
Designing wind farms with close packing of turbines, based on schooling¹ fish, could greatly increase efficiency, say researchers at a meeting of the Division of Fluid Dynamics² of the American Physical Society. Cynthia Graber reports.

The use of wind power continues to soar around the world. In 2008 the U.S. actually surpassed Germany as the world’s top producer of energy from wind. It might seem that there aren’t many improvements to make to what’s essentially³ a passive technology. But researchers at the California Institute of Technology say the way fish school will help create more efficient designs for wind farms. They presented their research at a meeting of the American Physical Society’s Division of Fluid Dynamics.

When fish swim, they leave little swirling⁴ vortices in their wake. By swimming together in a school, they can transfer energy to one another through these vortices. Wind behaves much as a liquid does. So the engineers have taken wind turbines that spin on vertical⁵ axes—these are different from the traditional horizontal wind turbine mostly in use today. On a computer, they’ve positioned the turbines close enough together that as one spins, it then directs the wind to its neighbor.

According to the computer model, this design could increase wind farm efficiency a hundred-fold. The next step for the researchers is to do a field test, trying out these fish dynamics on dry land.
 

1 schooling   

n.教育；正规学校教育

参考例句：

• A child's access to schooling varies greatly from area to area.孩子获得学校教育的机会因地区不同而大相径庭。
• Backward children need a special kind of schooling.天赋差的孩子需要特殊的教育。

2 dynamics   

n.力学，动力学，动力，原动力；动态

参考例句：

• In order to succeed,you must master complicated knowledge of dynamics.要取得胜利，你必须掌握很复杂的动力学知识。
• Dynamics is a discipline that cannot be mastered without extensive practice.动力学是一门不做大量习题就不能掌握的学科。

3 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

4 swirling   

v.旋转，打旋( swirl的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Snowflakes were swirling in the air. 天空飘洒着雪花。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• She smiled, swirling the wine in her glass. 她微笑着，旋动着杯子里的葡萄酒。 来自辞典例句

5 vertical   

adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置

参考例句：

• The northern side of the mountain is almost vertical.这座山的北坡几乎是垂直的。
• Vertical air motions are not measured by this system.垂直气流的运动不用这种系统来测量。