Wake modeling and simulation of a real scale wind turbine using large eddy simulation and dynamic adaptive mesh...

Area of Science:

• Renewable Energy Systems
• Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
• Aerodynamics

Background:

• Wind energy is a rapidly growing sector with significant global potential.
• Advancements in computational fluid dynamics are crucial for simulating real-scale wind turbines.
• Understanding turbine-generated wakes and their impact on efficiency is vital for wind farm design.

Purpose of the Study:

• To apply Large Eddy Simulation (LES) to a full-scale NREL 5 MW wind turbine.
• To investigate wind turbine wakes, wind-turbine interactions, and wake effects in turbine arrays.
• To analyze spatial and temporal flowfield information for enhanced energy production efficiency.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Large Eddy Simulation (LES) with a block-structured, dynamically refined mesh.
• Simulated a full-scale NREL 5 MW wind turbine.
• Compared simulation results with existing numerical data and NREL experimental data.

Main Results:

• The simulation showed lower recovery velocities in the near wake compared to previous studies, attributed to geometric simplifications.
• Most simulated profiles showed less than 10% difference compared to other numerical results.
• Power generation predictions had a difference of approximately 3.5% when validated against NREL experimental data.

Conclusions:

• LES is a viable tool for providing detailed flowfield information around large wind turbines.
• The study validates the accuracy of LES for predicting wind turbine performance and wake characteristics.
• Findings contribute to improved understanding and optimization of wind energy production efficiency, particularly in turbine arrays.