Unraveling the Mysteries of Turbulence Transport in a Wind Farm
A true physical understanding of the mysteries involved in the recovery process of the wake momentum deficit, downstream of utility-scale wind turbines in the atmosphere, has not been obtained to date. Field data are not acquired at sufficient spatial and temporal resolutions to dissect some of the...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2015-06-01
|
| Series: | Energies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/8/7/6468 |
| _version_ | 1818035789283459072 |
|---|---|
| author | Pankaj K. Jha Earl P. N. Duque Jessica L. Bashioum Sven Schmitz |
| author_facet | Pankaj K. Jha Earl P. N. Duque Jessica L. Bashioum Sven Schmitz |
| author_sort | Pankaj K. Jha |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | A true physical understanding of the mysteries involved in the recovery process of the wake momentum deficit, downstream of utility-scale wind turbines in the atmosphere, has not been obtained to date. Field data are not acquired at sufficient spatial and temporal resolutions to dissect some of the mysteries of wake turbulence. It is here that the actuator line method has evolved to become the technology standard in the wind energy community. This work presents the actuator line method embedded into an Open source Field Operation and Manipulation (OpenFOAM) large-eddy simulation solver and applies it to two small wind farms, the first one consisting of an array of two National Renewable Energy Laboratory 5 Megawatt (NREL 5-MW) turbines separated by seven rotor diameters in neutral and unstable atmospheric boundary-layer flow and the second one consisting of five NREL 5-MW wind turbines in unstable atmospheric conditions arranged in two staggered arrays of two and three turbines, respectively. Detailed statistics involving power spectral density (PSD) of turbine power along with standard deviations reveal the effects of atmospheric turbulence and its space and time scales. High-resolution surface data extracts provide new insight into the complex recovery process of the wake momentum deficit governed by turbulence transport phenomena. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T07:00:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c7e21ff80a7d4a0a8f04b54fe77b6b4b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1996-1073 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T07:00:38Z |
| publishDate | 2015-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Energies |
| spelling | doaj.art-c7e21ff80a7d4a0a8f04b54fe77b6b4b2022-12-22T01:58:20ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732015-06-01876468649610.3390/en8076468en8076468Unraveling the Mysteries of Turbulence Transport in a Wind FarmPankaj K. Jha0Earl P. N. Duque1Jessica L. Bashioum2Sven Schmitz3Department of Aerospace Engineering, the Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USAApplied Research Group, Intelligent Light, Rutherford, NJ 07070, USADepartment of Aerospace Engineering, the Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USADepartment of Aerospace Engineering, the Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USAA true physical understanding of the mysteries involved in the recovery process of the wake momentum deficit, downstream of utility-scale wind turbines in the atmosphere, has not been obtained to date. Field data are not acquired at sufficient spatial and temporal resolutions to dissect some of the mysteries of wake turbulence. It is here that the actuator line method has evolved to become the technology standard in the wind energy community. This work presents the actuator line method embedded into an Open source Field Operation and Manipulation (OpenFOAM) large-eddy simulation solver and applies it to two small wind farms, the first one consisting of an array of two National Renewable Energy Laboratory 5 Megawatt (NREL 5-MW) turbines separated by seven rotor diameters in neutral and unstable atmospheric boundary-layer flow and the second one consisting of five NREL 5-MW wind turbines in unstable atmospheric conditions arranged in two staggered arrays of two and three turbines, respectively. Detailed statistics involving power spectral density (PSD) of turbine power along with standard deviations reveal the effects of atmospheric turbulence and its space and time scales. High-resolution surface data extracts provide new insight into the complex recovery process of the wake momentum deficit governed by turbulence transport phenomena.http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/8/7/6468wake turbulencewake recoveryturbulence transportactuator line methodlarge-eddy simulation |
| spellingShingle | Pankaj K. Jha Earl P. N. Duque Jessica L. Bashioum Sven Schmitz Unraveling the Mysteries of Turbulence Transport in a Wind Farm Energies wake turbulence wake recovery turbulence transport actuator line method large-eddy simulation |
| title | Unraveling the Mysteries of Turbulence Transport in a Wind Farm |
| title_full | Unraveling the Mysteries of Turbulence Transport in a Wind Farm |
| title_fullStr | Unraveling the Mysteries of Turbulence Transport in a Wind Farm |
| title_full_unstemmed | Unraveling the Mysteries of Turbulence Transport in a Wind Farm |
| title_short | Unraveling the Mysteries of Turbulence Transport in a Wind Farm |
| title_sort | unraveling the mysteries of turbulence transport in a wind farm |
| topic | wake turbulence wake recovery turbulence transport actuator line method large-eddy simulation |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/8/7/6468 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT pankajkjha unravelingthemysteriesofturbulencetransportinawindfarm AT earlpnduque unravelingthemysteriesofturbulencetransportinawindfarm AT jessicalbashioum unravelingthemysteriesofturbulencetransportinawindfarm AT svenschmitz unravelingthemysteriesofturbulencetransportinawindfarm |