Bulletin of the American Physical Society
69th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics
Volume 61, Number 20
Sunday–Tuesday, November 20–22, 2016; Portland, Oregon
Session G2: Wind Turbines: LES |
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Chair: James Brasseur, University of Colorado Room: A106 |
Monday, November 21, 2016 8:00AM - 8:13AM |
G2.00001: Fundamental Distinctions in Physics underlying Nonsteady Forcings of Wind Turbine Power vs. Drivetrain by Atmospheric Turbulence James Brasseur, Adam Lavely, Tarak Nandi Whereas the primary function of a wind turbine (WT) is the generation of electricity, wind farm profitability is decreased both by integrated losses in power and increases in premature failures of drivetrain components resulting from energetic nonsteady aerodynamic forcings of WT rotors by atmospheric and wake turbulence. Here we contrast the physics underlying dominant nonsteady atmospheric turbulence forcings of the bending moments in the WT rotor plane (torque/power) vs. the out-of-plane bending moments (OPBM) that underlie premature drivetrain component failure. Using an advanced actuator line model of the 5 MW NREL and the 1.5 MW GE wind turbine rotors embedded within a high-fidelity spectral LES of a typical daytime convective atmospheric boundary layer, we show that (1) the physics underlying large torque vs. OBPM fluctuations are associated with fundamentally different turbulence eddy characteristics and (2) nonsteady response centers on 4 characteristic time scales associated advection of eddies and load response of blades cutting through internal turbulence eddy structure. \textit{Supported by DOE. Computer resources by NSF/XSEDE.} [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, November 21, 2016 8:13AM - 8:26AM |
G2.00002: Wind-farms in shallow conventionally neutral boundary layers: effects of transition and gravity waves on energy budget Johan Meyers, Dries Allaerts Conventionally neutral boundary layers (CNBL) often arise in offshore conditions. In these situations the neutral boundary layer is capped by a strong inversion layer and a stably stratified free atmosphere aloft. We use large-eddy simulations to investigate the interaction between a CNBL and a large wind farm. Following the approach of Allaerts \& Meyers (2015) [1], a set of equilibrium CNBLs are produced in a precursor simulation, with a height of approx. 300, 500, and 1000m, respectively. These are used at the inlet of a large wind-farm with a fetch of 15 km, and 20 rows of turbines. We find that above the farm, an internal boundary layer (IBL) develops. For the two lower CNBL cases, the IBL growth is stopped by the overlying capping inversion. Moreover, the upward displacement of the CNBL excites gravity waves in the inversion layer and the free atmosphere above. For the lower CNBL cases, these waves induce significant pressure gradients in the farm. A detailed energy budget analysis of the CNBL is further presented. [1] Allaerts Dries, Meyers Johan (2015). Large eddy simulation of a large wind-turbine array in a conventionally neutral atmospheric boundary layer. Physics of Fluids 27 (6), art.nr. 065108 [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, November 21, 2016 8:26AM - 8:39AM |
G2.00003: Spectra and Large-Scale Structures in a Turbulent Boundary Layer Interacting with Wind Turbine Arrays Yulia Peet, Tanmoy Chatterjee Wind Turbine Array Boundary Layer is a relatively simple, yet useful theoretical conceptualization to study very large wind farms in an atmospheric boundary layer. In this talk, we investigate the length scales of eddies involved in the power generation in these very large, ``infinite'' wind farms by analyzing the spectra of the turbulent flux of the mean kinetic energy from Large Eddy Simulations (LES). A goal is to provide a fundamental understanding of the dynamic behavior, the size, the scaling laws and the anisotropic structure of the energy containing eddies responsible for power generation from the wind turbines. Large-scale structures with an order of magnitude bigger than the turbine rotor diameter are shown to have substantial contribution to wind power. The study is performed with a Spectral Element LES code with the recently implemented near-wall model and the actuator line model to represent the effect of rotating wind turbine blades. In this presentation, we also explore an idea of a ``multiscale'' wind farm, where larger and smaller turbines are arranged in a symbiotic way, with smaller turbines helping to harvest additional power from the wakes of the larger turbines, inspired by the findings of the spectral analysis in uniform wind farms. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, November 21, 2016 8:39AM - 8:52AM |
G2.00004: Boundary-layer flow and power output in large wind farms during transition from neutral to stable conditions Dries Allaerts, Johan Meyers In wind farms, power deficits are directly related to ambient turbulence levels. Power deficits will therefore increase during the transition from a daytime, conventionally neutral boundary layer (CNBL) to the stable boundary layer (SBL) at night. Besides turbulent decay, a multitude of effects occurs during this transition. For instance, low-level jets may cause strong winds at high elevations, while the velocity near the surface generally decreases. Consequently, Coriolis forces induce a change in wind direction, which alters the apparent wind-farm layout in streamwise direction. In this study, we perform LES of a large onshore wind farm in the late-afternoon transition from an equilibrium CNBL to a surface-cooled SBL. The results of two different cooling rates are compared with the wind-farm performance in the CNBL. The power output decrease during the transition, with faster decrease for stronger surface cooling. However, the initial decrease is dominated by the reduction in wind speed, and the relative power deficits do not increase. Further, considerable wake deflection occurs, and a spatially heterogeneous distribution of temperature and heat flux is observed. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, November 21, 2016 8:52AM - 9:05AM |
G2.00005: Yaw control for power optimization of an array of turbines: large eddy simulations Umberto Ciri, Mario Rotea, Stefano Leonardi Nowadays, advanced control systems are highly sought for the efficient operation of large clusters of wind turbines. The main objective is to mitigate wake interactions thus increasing annual energy production and/or limiting fatigue loads. Several control strategies have been proposed: generator torque, blade pitch angle and turbine yaw angle. Specifically, the introduction of a misalignment between the rotor plane and the wind direction (i.e. a non-zero yaw angle) causes the wake to laterally displace. Consequently, this phenomenon can potentially be exploited to avoid or reduce waked operations in aligned turbines configurations. However, the successful use of this strategy requires proper coordination between the individual machines in order to identify the optimal yaw angles. Because of the complex mechanisms which are expected to occur in this kind of flow, modeling inaccuracies may have a major impact on the results. As a consequence, a model-free approach is pursued, namely a Nested Extremum Seeking Control, coupled with Large-Eddy Simulations to assess the impact on performances of this control strategy, devise optimal settings and identify key interactions. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, November 21, 2016 9:05AM - 9:18AM |
G2.00006: A numerical investigation of the role of the turbine rotor scale and the nacelle on wake meandering Daniel Foti, Xiaolei Yang, Lian Shen, Fotis Sotiropoulos Recent analysis of a hydrokinetic turbine (Kang et al. J. Fluid Mech., 2014) and laboratory scale wind turbine (Foti et al. Phys. Rev. Fluids, 2016) reveal that the turbine nacelle has a considerable effect on the turbulence kinetic energy and wake meandering. However, the role of the nacelle on wake meandering for utility-scale wind turbines has not been fully investigated. In this work, a numerical investigation using large eddy simulations of four wind turbines with rotor diameters ranging from laboratory to utility scale reveals similar turbulent structures in the far wake and a comparable wake meandering Strouhal number regardless of rotor size. By reconstructing the wake meandering with three dimensional spatio-temporal filtering process, first proposed in Foti et al. (Phys. Rev. Fluids, 2016), the statistics of the dynamics of the wake meandering are quantified in terms of amplitude and wavelength. Results indicate that the wavelength of wake meandering can be properly scaled by rotor diameter of the turbines for both simulations with and without a nacelle model. The meandering amplitude, on the other hand, is larger for the simulation with a nacelle. This is further quantitative evidence that a nacelle model is imperative to accurately capturing wake meandering. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, November 21, 2016 9:18AM - 9:31AM |
G2.00007: Effect of nacelle on the wake meandering in Horns Rev wind farm Xiaolei Yang, Daniel Foti, Fotis Sotiropoulos Turbine wake meandering has considerable effects on the velocity deficit and turbulence intensity in the wake. However, the mechanism for wake meandering is still not well understood and low-order models cannot take into account the wake meandering effects accurately. A recent work by Kang, Yang and Sotiropoulos (Journal of Fluid Mechanics 744 (2014): 376-403) showed that the nacelle has a significant effect on the wake meandering of a hydrokinetic turbine. To examine the nacelle contributions to wake meandering and wake interactions in utility-scale wind farms, we simulate the atmospheric turbulent flow over the Horns Rev wind farm using large-eddy simulation with actuator type models. In a preliminary simulation on a coarse grid using actuator line model for turbine blades without a nacelle model, the computed power shows overall good agreement with field measurements. Fine grid simulations using an actuator surface model for turbine blades with and without a nacelle model are being carried out. The corresponding results will be presented with analysis on wake meandering dynamics using the technique proposed by Horward et al. (Physics of Fluids 27 (2015): 075103) and Foti et al. (Physical Review Fluids, accepted). [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, November 21, 2016 9:31AM - 9:44AM |
G2.00008: Performance of a wind turbine over a ridged terrain Christian Santoni, Umberto Ciri, Stefano Leonardi Performance of wind turbines is affected by their interaction with the topography. Low momentum flow from the terrain may impinge the turbine resulting in fatigue loads that may reduce durability. However, at the same time it may promote the transport of momentum and kinetic energy into the wake improving the power production on the downstream turbines. In order to address how the topography affects the flow, Large Eddy Simulations of a wind turbine located on a wavy surface are performed. The height variation of the topography is described by a sinusoidal wave. Two different amplitudes were considered, $0.10D$ and $0.05D$, where $D$ is the rotor diameter. The wavelength has been kept constant to $3D$. The effect of the relative position of rotor and terrain geometry was assessed by placing the turbine either at the crest or at the trough of the undulated wall. NREL-5MW turbine blades were modeled using the actuator line model whereas the tower, nacelle and topography using the immersed boundary method. A simulation of a wind turbine on a flat terrain was performed as reference case. The performance of the turbine was evaluated in terms of the power production and blade load fluctuations, as well as for the energy entrainment into the wake of the turbine. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, November 21, 2016 9:44AM - 9:57AM |
G2.00009: Unsteady Flow in Different Atmospheric Boundary Layer Regimes and Its Impact on Wind-Turbine Performance Iman Gohari, Artem Korobenko, Jinhui Yan, Yuri Bazilevs, Sutanu Sarkar Wind is a renewable energy resource that offers several advantages including low pollutant emission and inexpensive construction. Wind turbines operate in conditions dictated by the Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) and that motivates the study of coupling ABL simulations with wind turbine dynamics. The ABL simulations can be used for realistic modeling of the environment which, with the use of fluid-structure interaction, can give realistic predictions of extracted power, rotor loading, and blade structural response. The ABL simulations provide inflow boundary conditions to the wind-turbine simulator which uses arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian variational multiscale formulation. In the present work, ABL simulations are performed to examine two different scenarios: (i) A neutral ABL with zero heat-flux and inversion layer at 350m, in which the wind turbine experiences maximum mean shear; (2) A shallow ABL with the surface cooling-rate of -1 K/hr, in which the wind turbine experiences maximum mean velocity at the low-level-jet nose height. We will discuss differences in the unsteady flow between the two different ABL conditions and their impact on the performance of the wind turbine cluster in the coupled ABL-wind turbine simulations. [Preview Abstract] |
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