Spectra and Large Eddy Structures in the Double Log-Layer of a High Re Wind Turbine Array Boundary Layer

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanmoy Chatterjee ◽  
Yulia Peet
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Farm ◽  
Scaling Laws ◽  
Numerical Models ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Large Eddy ◽  
Eddy Structures ◽  
Large Wind ◽  
Theoretical Conceptualization

Wind Turbine Array Boundary Layer (WTABL) is a relatively simple, yet useful theoretical conceptualization to study very large wind farms in atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). In the current paper, we perform a high-fidelity LES investigation of a 3 × 3 wind turbine array in a WTABL framework, with a main focus on extending the work beyond the simple analytical model and providing a rigorous fundamental understanding of the dynamic behaviour of length scales, their scaling laws and the anisotropic structure of the energy containing eddies responsible for power generation from the wind turbines. This is accomplished by studying the components of energy and shear-stress spectra in the flow. This knowledge can potentially provide an efficient way to control the wind farm power output as well as serve as a stepping stone to design efficient low order numerical models for predicting farm power and dynamics at reduced computational expense.

scholarly journals Wake properties and power output of very large wind farms for different meteorological conditions and turbine spacings: A large-eddy simulation case study for the German Bight

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Maas ◽  
Siegfried Raasch
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Power Density ◽  
Boundary Layers ◽  
Power Output ◽  
German Bight ◽  
Wind Farm ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Eddy Simulation ◽  
Large Eddy ◽  
Large Wind

Abstract. Germany’s expansion target for offshore wind power capacity of 40 GW by the year 2040 can only be reached if large portions of the Exclusive Economic Zone in the German Bight are equipped with wind farms. Because these wind farm clusters will be much larger than existing wind farms, it is unknown how they affect the boundary layer flow and how much power they will produce. The objective of this large-eddy-simulation study is to investigate the wake properties and the power output of very large potential wind farms in the German Bight for different turbine spacings, stabilities and boundary layer heights. The results show that very large wind farms cause flow effects that small wind farms do not. These effects include, but are not limited to, inversion layer displacement, counterclockwise flow deflection inside the boundary layer and clockwise flow deflection above the boundary layer. Wakes of very large wind farms are longer for shallower boundary layers and smaller turbine spacings, reaching values of more than 100 km. The wake in terms of turbulence intensity is approximately 20 km long, where longer wakes occur for convective boundary layers and shorter wakes for stable boundary layers. Very large wind farms in a shallow, stable boundary layer can excite gravity waves in the overlying free atmosphere, resulting in significant flow blockage. The power output of very large wind farms is higher for thicker boundary layers, because thick boundary layers contain more kinetic energy than thin boundary layers. The power density of the energy input by the geostrophic pressure gradient limits the power output of very large wind farms. Because this power density is very low (approximately 2 W m−2), the installed power density of very large wind farms should be small to achieve a good wind farm efficiency.

scholarly journals FLOWSTAR-Energy: a high resolution wind farm wake model

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Stidworthy ◽  
David Carruthers
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Complex Terrain ◽  
Wind Farm ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Measured Data ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Offshore Wind Farm ◽  
Wake Model ◽  
Turbine Wake

Abstract. A new model, FLOWSTAR-Energy, has been developed for the practical calculation of wind farm energy production. It includes a semi-analytic model for airflow over complex surfaces (FLOWSTAR) and a wind turbine wake model that simulates wake-wake interaction by exploiting some similarities between the decay of a wind turbine wake and the dispersion of plume of passive gas emitted from an elevated source. Additional turbulence due to the wind shear at the wake edge is included and the assumption is made that wind turbines are only affected by wakes from upstream wind turbines. The model takes account of the structure of the atmospheric boundary layer, which means that the effect of atmospheric stability is included. A marine boundary layer scheme is also included to enable offshore as well as onshore sites to be modelled. FLOWSTAR-Energy has been used to model three different wind farms and the predicted energy output compared with measured data. Maps of wind speed and turbulence have also been calculated for two of the wind farms. The Tjaæreborg wind farm is an onshore site consisting of a single 2 MW wind turbine, the NoordZee offshore wind farm consists of 36 V90 VESTAS 3 MW turbines and the Nysted offshore wind farm consists of 72 Bonus 2.3 MW turbines. The NoordZee and Nysted measurement datasets include stability distribution data, which was included in the modelling. Of the two offshore wind farm datasets, the Noordzee dataset focuses on a single 5-degree wind direction sector and therefore only represents a limited number of measurements (1,284); whereas the Nysted dataset captures data for seven 5-degree wind direction sectors and represents a larger number of measurements (84,363). The best agreement between modelled and measured data was obtained with the Nysted dataset, with high correlation (0.98 or above) and low normalised mean square error (0.007 or below) for all three flow cases. The results from Tjæreborg show that the model replicates the Gaussian shape of the wake deficit two turbine diameters downstream of the turbine, but the lack of stability information in this dataset makes it difficult to draw conclusions about model performance. One of the key strengths of FLOWSTAR-Energy is its ability to model the effects of complex terrain on the airflow. However, although the airflow model has been previously compared extensively with flow data, it has so far not been used in detail to predict energy yields from wind farms in complex terrain. This will be the subject of a further validation study for FLOWSTAR-Energy.

scholarly journals Research on the Power Capture and Wake Characteristics of a Wind Turbine Based on a Modified Actuator Line Model

Energies ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 282
Author(s):  
Feifei Xue ◽  
Heping Duan ◽  
Chang Xu ◽  
Xingxing Han ◽  
Yanqing Shangguan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Output Power ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Wind Farm ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Line Model ◽  
Eddy Simulation ◽  
Large Eddy ◽  
Actuator Line Model

On a wind farm, the wake has an important impact on the performance of the wind turbines. For example, the wake of an upstream wind turbine affects the blade load and output power of the downstream wind turbine. In this paper, a modified actuator line model with blade tips, root loss, and an airfoil three-dimensional delayed stall was revised. This full-scale modified actuator line model with blades, nacelles, and towers, was combined with a Large Eddy Simulation, and then applied and validated based on an analysis of wind turbine wakes in wind farms. The modified actuator line model was verified using an experimental wind turbine. Subsequently, numerical simulations were conducted on two NREL 5 MW wind turbines with different staggered spacing to study the effect of the staggered spacing on the characteristics of wind turbines. The results show that the output power of the upstream turbine stabilized at 5.9 MW, and the output power of the downstream turbine increased. When the staggered spacing is R and 1.5R, both the power and thrust of the downstream turbine are severely reduced. However, the length of the peaks was significantly longer, which resulted in a long-term unstable power output. As the staggered spacing increased, the velocity in the central near wake of the downstream turbine also increased, and the recovery speed at the threshold of the wake slowed down. The modified actuator line model described herein can be used for the numerical simulation of wakes in wind farms.

scholarly journals Evaluation of the the wind farm wake parametrization with large-eddy simulations of wakes in WRF

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfredo Peña ◽  
Jeffrey Mirocha
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Wind Farm ◽  
Wrf Model ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Large Eddy Simulations ◽  
Disk Model ◽  
Mesoscale Models ◽  
Boundary Layer Height ◽  
Wind Speeds ◽  
Large Eddy

<p>Mesoscale models, such as the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, are now commonly used to predict wind resources, and in recent years their outputs are being used as inputs to wake models for the prediction of the production of wind farms. Also, wind farm parametrizations have been implemented in the mesoscale models but their accuracy to reproduce wind speeds and turbulent kinetic energy fields within and around wind farms is yet unknown. This is partly because they have been evaluated against wind farm power measurements directly and, generally, a lack of high-quality observations of the wind field around large wind farms. Here, we evaluate the in-built wind farm parametrization of the WRF model, the so-called Fitch scheme that works together with the MYNN2 planetary boundary layer (PBL) scheme against large-eddy simulations (LES) of wakes using a generalized actuator disk model, which was also implemented within the same WRF version. After setting both types of simulations as similar as possible so that the inflow conditions are nearly identical, preliminary results show that the velocity deficits can differ up to 50% within the same area (determined by the resolution of the mesoscale run) where the turbine is placed. In contrast, within that same area, the turbine-generated TKE is nearly identical in both simulations. We also prepare an analysis of the sensitivity of the results to the inflow wind conditions, horizontal grid resolution of both the LES and the PBL run, number of turbines within the mesoscale grid cells, surface roughness, inversion strength, and boundary-layer height.</p>

scholarly journals Dynamics of Large Scale Turbulence in Finite-sized Wind Farm Canopy using Proper Orthogonal Decomposition and a Novel Fourier-POD Framework

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanmoy Chatterjee ◽  
Yulia T. Peet
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Power Generation ◽  
Atmospheric Boundary Layer ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Wind Farm ◽  
Scaling Laws ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Orthogonal Decomposition ◽  
Pod Analysis ◽  
Proper Orthogonal

Large scale coherent structures in atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) are known to contribute to the power generation in wind farms. In the current paper, we perform a detailed analysis of the large scale structures in a finite sized wind turbine canopy using modal analysis from three dimensional proper orthogonal decomposition (POD). While POD analysis sheds light on the large scale coherent modes and scaling laws of the eigenspectra, we also observe a slow convergence of the spectral trends with the available number of snapshots. Since the finite sized array is periodic in the spanwise direction, we propose to adapt a novel approach of performing POD analysis of the spanwise/lateral Fourier transformed velocity snapshots instead of the snapshots themselves. This methodology not only helps in decoupling the length scales in the spanwise and the streamwise direction when studying the energetic coherent modes, but also provides a detailed guidance towards understanding the convergence of the eigenspectra. In particular, the Fourier-POD eigenspectra helps us illustrate if the dominant scaling laws observed in 3D POD are actually contributed by the laterally wider or thinner structures and provide more detailed insight on the structures themselves. We use the database from our previous large eddy simulation (LES) studies on finite-sized wind farms which uses wall-modeled LES for modeling the Atmospheric boundary layer laws, and actuator lines for the turbine blades. Understanding the behaviour of such structures would not only help better assess reduced order models (ROM) for forecasting the flow and power generation but would also play a vital role in improving the decision making abilities in wind farm optimization algorithms in future. Additionally, this study also provides guidance for better understanding the POD analysis in the turbulence and wind farm community.

scholarly journals Turbulence and entrainment length scales in large wind farms

2017 ◽  
Vol 375 (2091) ◽  
pp. 20160107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Søren J. Andersen ◽  
Jens N. Sørensen ◽  
Robert F. Mikkelsen
Keyword(s):  
Wind Farm ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Turbulent Structures ◽  
Length Scales ◽  
Self Organized ◽  
Reference Simulation ◽  
Large Eddy ◽  
Entrainment Process ◽  
Proper Orthogonal ◽  
Large Wind

A number of large wind farms are modelled using large eddy simulations to elucidate the entrainment process. A reference simulation without turbines and three farm simulations with different degrees of imposed atmospheric turbulence are presented. The entrainment process is assessed using proper orthogonal decomposition, which is employed to detect the largest and most energetic coherent turbulent structures. The dominant length scales responsible for the entrainment process are shown to grow further into the wind farm, but to be limited in extent by the streamwise turbine spacing, which could be taken into account when developing farm layouts. The self-organized motion or large coherent structures also yield high correlations between the power productions of consecutive turbines, which can be exploited through dynamic farm control. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Wind energy in complex terrains’.

scholarly journals Wind Turbine Performance in Very Large Wind Farms: Betz Analysis Revisited

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 1078 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob R. West ◽  
Sanjiva K. Lele
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Farm ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Thrust Coefficient ◽  
Turbine Performance ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Mean Kinetic Energy

The theoretical limit for wind turbine performance, the so-called Betz limit, arises from an inviscid, irrotational analysis of the streamtube around an actuator disk. In a wind farm in the atmospheric boundary layer, the physics are considerably more complex, encompassing shear, turbulent transport, and wakes from other turbines. In this study, the mean flow streamtube around a wind turbine in a wind farm is investigated with large eddy simulations of a periodic array of actuator disks in half-channel flow at a range of turbine thrust coefficients. Momentum and mean kinetic energy budgets are presented, connecting the energy budget for an individual turbine to the wind farm performance as a whole. It is noted that boundary layer turbulence plays a key role in wake recovery and energy conversion when considering the entire wind farm. The wind farm power coefficient is maximized when the work done by Reynolds stress on the periphery of the streamtube is maximized, although some mean kinetic energy is also dissipated into turbulence. This results in an optimal value of thrust coefficient lower than the traditional Betz result. The simulation results are used to evaluate Nishino’s model of infinite wind farms, and design trade-offs described by it are presented.

scholarly journals A survey of modelling methods for high-fidelity wind farm simulations using large eddy simulation

2017 ◽  
Vol 375 (2091) ◽  
pp. 20160097 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.-P. Breton ◽  
J. Sumner ◽  
J. N. Sørensen ◽  
K. S. Hansen ◽  
S. Sarmast ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wind Energy ◽  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Farm ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
High Fidelity ◽  
Atmospheric Conditions ◽  
Eddy Simulation ◽  
Current State ◽  
Terrain Effects ◽  
Large Eddy

Large eddy simulations (LES) of wind farms have the capability to provide valuable and detailed information about the dynamics of wind turbine wakes. For this reason, their use within the wind energy research community is on the rise, spurring the development of new models and methods. This review surveys the most common schemes available to model the rotor, atmospheric conditions and terrain effects within current state-of-the-art LES codes, of which an overview is provided. A summary of the experimental research data available for validation of LES codes within the context of single and multiple wake situations is also supplied. Some typical results for wind turbine and wind farm flows are presented to illustrate best practices for carrying out high-fidelity LES of wind farms under various atmospheric and terrain conditions. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Wind energy in complex terrains’.

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