A coupled mesoscale–microscale framework for wind resource estimation and farm aerodynamics

Abstract This study discusses the development of a coupled mesoscale–microscale framework for wind resource estimation and farm aerodynamics. WINDWYO is a computational framework for performing coupled mesoscale–microscale simulations. The framework is modular, automated and supports coupling of different mesoscale and microscale solvers using overset or matched grids. The modular nature of the framework and the support for overset grids allows the independent development of mesoscale and microscale solvers and the efficient coupling between the codes. The performance of the framework is evaluated by coupling Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model with three microscale computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes of varying complexity. The solvers used are: (i) UWake: a blade element model with free-vortex wake, (ii) Flowyo: large eddy simulation code with actuator line/disk parametrization of the wind turbine and (iii) HELIOS: detached eddy simulation code with full rotor modeling and adaptive mesh refinement. Power predictions and wake visualization of single turbine and off-shore Lillgrund wind farm in uniform and turbulent inflow are used to demonstrate the capabilities of the framework.

[1]  J. Gordon Leishman,et al.  Stability, Consistency and Convergence of Time-Marching Free-Vortex Rotor Wake Algorithms , 2001 .

[2]  William C. Skamarock,et al.  A time-split nonhydrostatic atmospheric model for weather research and forecasting applications , 2008, J. Comput. Phys..

[3]  Jens Nørkær Sørensen,et al.  Numerical Modeling of Wind Turbine Wakes , 2002 .

[4]  Christopher Gundling,et al.  Comparison of Wind Turbine Wakes in Steady and Turbulent Inflow , 2012 .

[5]  Wei Yu,et al.  Wind Energy Simulation Toolkit (WEST): A Wind Mapping System for Use by the Wind-Energy Industry , 2006 .

[6]  Jonathan W. Naughton,et al.  A Study of the Sensitivity of Wind Turbine Response to Inflow Temporal and Spatial Resolution , 2012 .

[7]  B. Jonkman.  Turbsim User's Guide: Version 1.50 , 2009 .

[8]  J. Smagorinsky,et al.  GENERAL CIRCULATION EXPERIMENTS WITH THE PRIMITIVE EQUATIONS , 1963 .

[9]  M. Selig,et al.  A 3-D stall-delay model for horizontal axis wind turbine performance prediction , 1998 .

[10]  Lance Manuel,et al.  Large-eddy simulation of stable boundary layer turbulence and estimation of associated wind turbine loads , 2014 .

[11]  Maureen Hand,et al.  NREL Unsteady Aerodynamics Experiment in the NASA-Ames Wind Tunnel: A Comparison of Predictions to Measurements , 2001 .

[12]  A. Jameson,et al.  Lower-upper Symmetric-Gauss-Seidel method for the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations , 1988 .

[13]  N. Troldborg.  Actuator Line Modeling of Wind Turbine Wakes , 2009 .

[14]  U. Schumann.  Subgrid Scale Model for Finite Difference Simulations of Turbulent Flows in Plane Channels and Annuli , 1975 .

[15]  Branko Kosovic,et al.  Subgrid-scale modelling for the large-eddy simulation of high-Reynolds-number boundary layers , 1997, Journal of Fluid Mechanics.

[16]  Jayanarayanan Sitaraman,et al.  Prediction of Wind Turbine Performance and Wake Losses using Analysis Methods of Incremental Complexity , 2011 .

[17]  S. E. Haupt,et al.  A preliminary study of assimilating numerical weather prediction data into computational fluid dynamics models for wind prediction , 2011 .

[18]  Stefano Leonardi,et al.  A large-eddy simulation of wind-plant aerodynamics , 2012 .

[19]  Pierangelo Masarati,et al.  Coupled CFD/Multibody Analysis of NREL Unsteady Aerodynamic Experiment Phase VI Rotor , 2011 .

[20]  Jens Nørkær Sørensen,et al.  Actuator Line Simulation of Wake of Wind Turbine Operating in Turbulent Inflow , 2007 .

[21]  J. Mann.  The spatial structure of neutral atmospheric surface-layer turbulence , 1994, Journal of Fluid Mechanics.

[22]  J. Dudhia,et al.  Examining Two-Way Grid Nesting for Large Eddy Simulation of the PBL Using the WRF Model , 2007 .

[23]  J. Cleijne.  Results of Sexbierum Wind Farm: double wake measurements , 1992 .

[24]  J. Lundquist,et al.  Implementation of a Nonlinear Subfilter Turbulence Stress Model for Large-Eddy Simulation in the Advanced Research WRF Model , 2010 .