A Wake Modeling Paradigm for Wind Farm Design and Control

Carl R. Shapiro, Genevieve M. Starke, Charles Meneveau and Dennice F. Gayme
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Carl R. Shapiro: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Genevieve M. Starke: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Charles Meneveau: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Dennice F. Gayme: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 15, 1-19

Abstract: Wake models play an integral role in wind farm layout optimization and operations where associated design and control decisions are only as good as the underlying wake model upon which they are based. However, the desired model fidelity must be counterbalanced by the need for simplicity and computational efficiency. As a result, efficient engineering models that accurately capture the relevant physics—such as wake expansion and wake interactions for design problems and wake advection and turbulent fluctuations for control problems—are needed to advance the field of wind farm optimization. In this paper, we discuss a computationally-efficient continuous-time one-dimensional dynamic wake model that includes several features derived from fundamental physics, making it less ad-hoc than prevailing approaches. We first apply the steady-state solution of the model to predict the wake expansion coefficients commonly used in design problems. We demonstrate that more realistic results can be attained by linking the wake expansion rate to a top-down model of the atmospheric boundary layer, using a super-Gaussian wake profile that smoothly transitions between a top-hat and Gaussian distribution as well as linearly-superposing wake interactions. We then apply the dynamic model to predict trajectories of wind farm power output during start-up and highlight the improved accuracy of non-linear advection over linear advection. Finally, we apply the dynamic model to the control-oriented application of predicting power output of an irregularly-arranged farm during continuous operation. In this application, model fidelity is improved through state and parameter estimation accounting for spanwise inflow inhomogeneities and turbulent fluctuations. The proposed approach thus provides a modeling paradigm with the flexibility to enable designers to trade-off between accuracy and computational speed for a wide range of wind farm design and control applications.

Keywords: wake models; large-eddy simulation; wind farm design; wind farm control; state estimation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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