Evolution of flow characteristics through finite-sized wind farms and influence of turbine arrangement

V. Sharma, G. Cortina, F. Margairaz, M.B. Parlange and M. Calaf

Renewable Energy, 2018, vol. 115, issue C, 1196-1208

Abstract: Evolution of flow characteristics through finite-sized wind farms and the influence of the wind-farm configuration on modulating this evolution is explored through numerical simulations. The principal aim for the study is to identify regions of flow-adjustment and flow equilibrium within the wind farm. Towards this aim, a suite of five large-eddy simulations (LES) of the neutral atmospheric boundary layer with extremely long streamwise domains are performed with embedded finite-sized wind farms of different streamwise and spanwise spacing. Three diagnostic variables, namely, the wind-farm induced effective surface roughness, the wake viscosity and the wake-expansion coefficient are computed using the LES-generated database and are used to characterize the flow. Computation of the diagnostic variables is relevant to the wind-energy community in different contexts ranging from parametrization of wind farms in weather and climate models, to wind-farm design and optimization based on wake-models and eddy-viscosity type Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes solvers. Results show that flow equilibrium is achieved in the ‘most dense’ configuration of sx≈8D,sy≈5D at approximately the 19th row. Results also indicate that the streamwise spacing plays a dominant role determining the rate at which flow-adjustment is achieved within the wind farm.

Keywords: ABL-wind farm interaction; Large-eddy simulation; Effective roughness; Wake viscosity; Wake-expansion coefficients (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:115:y:2018:i:c:p:1196-1208

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2017.08.075

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