The third printing of the 1993 book “Windkraftanlagen” (Wind Turbines) was issued by B.G. Teugner of Stuttgart in the spring of 1996. The book, edited by Robert Gasch, began as course notes for Gasch’s popular course on wind turbine design for engineering students at the Technische Universität in Berlin. Many of the book’s 15 authors are either graduates of or are members of TU-Berlin’s Aerospace Institute.
Please note that the literal translation of windkraftanlagen is “wind power plants.” However the term wind power plant has a different meaning in English than in German, that is, a collection or array of wind turbines. Windkraftanlagen is more akin to “wind generator” or “wind turbine” in English.
Windkraftanlagen is one of the most complete, and certainly the most up-to-date engineering texts on wind energy available in any language. Reflecting the target audience of engineering students and Gasch’s background in structural dynamics, the book leans heavily toward mathematical formulas and their derivations.
While the German is difficult for those with only a rudimentary knowledge of the language, the equations, charts, and other illustrations in Windkraftanlagen are comprehensible for students of engineering or physics. English speakers will find the German-English lexicons in the appendices of Jens-Peter Molly’s Windenergie and Erich Hau’s Windkraftanlagen helpful companions to Gasch’s Windkraftanlagen.
The 390-page paperback contains all the formulas, vector diagrams, and aerodynamic theory a budding wind engineer should ever need. Endnotes close each chapter allowing readers to track source material or pursue additional study.
The book is richly illustrated with literally hundreds of line drawings, graphs, schematics, block diagrams, cross-sections, and black & white photographs. Many of the illustrations, especially those of wind turbines built in Germany, have not appeared previously in English language books on wind energy.
Windkraftanlagen edited by Robert Gasch, 3rd Auflage with index, 1996, ISBN 3-519-26334-3, 6 inches by 9 inches, paperback, can be ordered for DM 64, 474 Austrian shillings, or 64 Swiss Francs, from B.G. Tuebner; Industriestrasse 15; D-70565 Stuttgart; Germany; phone: +49 711 78 901 50; fax: +49 711 78 901 10.
