Large eddy simulations of idealized atmospheric boundary layers using Nalu-Wind

Conference · Tue Mar 03 04:00:00 EST 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1452/1/012078· OSTI ID:1606324

Kaul, Colleen M. ^[1]; Ananthan, Shreyas ^[2]; Churchfield, M J. ^[3]; Mirocha, Jeff D. ^[4]; Berg, Larry K. ^[1]; Rai, Raj K. ^[1]

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1. BATTELLE (PACIFIC NW LAB)
2. United States Department of Energy
3. National Renewable Energy Laboratory
4. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Accurate prediction of wind plant performance relies, in part, on properly characterizing the turbulent atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) flow in which wind turbines operate. Large eddy simulation (LES) is a powerful tool for simulating ABLs because it resolves the largest, most energetic scales of three-dimensional turbulent motions. Yet LES predictions are well known to depend on modeling choices such as grid resolution, numerical discretization schemes, and closures for unresolved scales of turbulence. Here, we evaluate how these choices influence predictions of ABL winds using Nalu-Wind, a wind-specific fork of the open-source, generalized, unstructured, massively parallel flow solver NaluCFD/Nalu.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1606324
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-145775
• Country of Publication: United Kingdom
• Language: English