Distinct Turbulent Regions in the Wake of a Wind Turbine and Their Inflow-Dependent Locations: The Creation of a Wake Map

Ingrid Neunaber, Michael Hölling, Richard J. A. M. Stevens, Gerard Schepers and Joachim Peinke
Additional contact information
Ingrid Neunaber: LHEEA (UMR 6598-CNRS), École Centrale de Nantes, 44300 Nantes, France
Michael Hölling: Institute of Physics and For Wind, University of Oldenburg, 26129 Oldenburg, Germany
Richard J. A. M. Stevens: Physics of Fluids Group, Max Planck Center Twente for Complex Fluid Dynamics, University of Twente, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands
Gerard Schepers: Wind Energy and Institute of Engineering, Hanzehogeschool Groningen, 9747 AS Groningen, The Netherlands
Joachim Peinke: Institute of Physics and For Wind, University of Oldenburg, 26129 Oldenburg, Germany

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 20, 1-20

Abstract: Wind turbines are usually clustered in wind farms which causes the downstream turbines to operate in the turbulent wakes of upstream turbines. As turbulence is directly related to increased fatigue loads, knowledge of the turbulence in the wake and its evolution are important. Therefore, the main objective of this study is a comprehensive exploration of the turbulence evolution in the wind turbine’s wake to identify characteristic turbulence regions. For this, we present an experimental study of three model wind turbine wake scenarios that were scanned with hot-wire anemometry with a very high downstream resolution. The model wind turbine was exposed to three inflows: laminar inflow as a reference case, a central wind turbine wake, and half of the wake of an upstream turbine. A detailed turbulence analysis reveals four downstream turbulence regions by means of the mean velocity, variance, turbulence intensity, energy spectra, integral and Taylor length scales, and the Castaing parameter that indicates the intermittency, or gustiness, of turbulence. In addition, a wake core with features of homogeneous isotropic turbulence and a ring of high intermittency surrounding the wake can be identified. The results are important for turbulence modeling in wakes and optimization of wind farm wake control.

Keywords: wind turbine wake; turbulence; turbulence decay; homogeneous isotropic turbulence; wake map (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: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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