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Title: Unraveling the Mysteries of Turbulence Transport in a Wind Farm

Abstract

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. In conclusion, high-resolution surface data extracts provide new insight into the complex recovery process of the wake momentum deficitmore » governed by turbulence transport phenomena.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [1]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States). Dept. of Aerospace Engineering
  2. Intelligent Light, Rutherford, NJ (United States). Applied Research Group
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Wind and Water Technologies Office (EE-4W)
OSTI Identifier:
1348917
Grant/Contract Number:  
EE0005481
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Energies
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 8; Journal Issue: 7; Journal ID: ISSN 1996-1073
Publisher:
MDPI AG
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
17 WIND ENERGY; wake turbulence; wake recovery; turbulence transport; actuator line method; large-eddy simulation

Citation Formats

Jha, Pankaj K., Duque, Earl P. N., Bashioum, Jessica L., and Schmitz, Sven. Unraveling the Mysteries of Turbulence Transport in a Wind Farm. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.3390/en8076468.
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Jha, Pankaj K., Duque, Earl P. N., Bashioum, Jessica L., & Schmitz, Sven. Unraveling the Mysteries of Turbulence Transport in a Wind Farm. United States. https://doi.org/10.3390/en8076468
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Jha, Pankaj K., Duque, Earl P. N., Bashioum, Jessica L., and Schmitz, Sven. Fri . "Unraveling the Mysteries of Turbulence Transport in a Wind Farm". United States. https://doi.org/10.3390/en8076468. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1348917.
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@article{osti_1348917,
title = {Unraveling the Mysteries of Turbulence Transport in a Wind Farm},
author = {Jha, Pankaj K. and Duque, Earl P. N. and Bashioum, Jessica L. and Schmitz, Sven},
abstractNote = {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. In conclusion, high-resolution surface data extracts provide new insight into the complex recovery process of the wake momentum deficit governed by turbulence transport phenomena.},
doi = {10.3390/en8076468},
journal = {Energies},
number = 7,
volume = 8,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Jun 26 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Fri Jun 26 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}
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https://doi.org/10.3390/en8076468
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Works referenced in this record:

A Numerical Study of Atmospheric and Wake Turbulence Impacts on Wind Turbine Fatigue Loadings
journal, February 2013

  • Lee, S.; Churchfield, M. J.; Moriarty, P. J.
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Turbulent Flow Properties Around a Staggered Wind Farm
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Implications of Stably Stratified Atmospheric Boundary Layer Turbulence on the Near-Wake Structure of Wind Turbines
journal, September 2014

Solution of the implicitly discretised fluid flow equations by operator-splitting
journal, January 1986

Turbulent Flow Inside and Above a Wind Farm: A Wind-Tunnel Study
journal, November 2011

  • Chamorro, Leonardo P.; Porté-Agel, Fernando
  • Energies, Vol. 4, Issue 11
  • DOI: 10.3390/en4111916

Reynolds number dependence of turbulence statistics in the wake of wind turbines: Reynolds dependence of wind turbine wakes
journal, September 2011

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Numerical study of the turbulent flow past an airfoil with trailing edge separation
journal, November 1983

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A numerical study of the effects of atmospheric and wake turbulence on wind turbine dynamics
journal, January 2012

Atmospheric Turbulence Effects on Wind-Turbine Wakes: An LES Study
journal, December 2012

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Simulation of wind turbine wakes using the actuator line technique
journal, February 2015

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Guidelines for Volume Force Distributions Within Actuator Line Modeling of Wind Turbines on Large-Eddy Simulation-Type Grids
journal, January 2014

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Numerical Modeling of Wind Turbine Wakes
journal, May 2002

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A Numerical Study of the Effects of Wind Direction on Turbine Wakes and Power Losses in a Large Wind Farm
journal, October 2013

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  • Energies, Vol. 6, Issue 10
  • DOI: 10.3390/en6105297

On Space-Time Resolution of Inflow Representations for Wind Turbine Loads Analysis
journal, June 2012

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  • Energies, Vol. 5, Issue 7
  • DOI: 10.3390/en5072071

The effects of mean atmospheric forcings of the stable atmospheric boundary layer on wind turbine wake
journal, January 2015

  • Bhaganagar, Kiran; Debnath, Mithu
  • Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, Vol. 7, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4907687

Turbulent Flow Inside and Above a Wind Farm: A Wind-Tunnel Study
journal, November 2011

  • Chamorro, Leonardo P.; Porté-Agel, Fernando
  • Energies, Vol. 4, Issue 11
  • DOI: 10.3390/en4111916

On Space-Time Resolution of Inflow Representations for Wind Turbine Loads Analysis
journal, June 2012

  • Sim, Chungwook; Basu, Sukanta; Manuel, Lance
  • Energies, Vol. 5, Issue 7
  • DOI: 10.3390/en5072071

Atmospheric Turbulence Effects on Wind-Turbine Wakes: An LES Study
journal, December 2012

  • Wu, Yu-Ting; Porté-Agel, Fernando
  • Energies, Vol. 5, Issue 12
  • DOI: 10.3390/en5125340

A Numerical Study of the Effects of Wind Direction on Turbine Wakes and Power Losses in a Large Wind Farm
journal, October 2013

  • Porté-Agel, Fernando; Wu, Yu-Ting; Chen, Chang-Hung
  • Energies, Vol. 6, Issue 10
  • DOI: 10.3390/en6105297

Implications of Stably Stratified Atmospheric Boundary Layer Turbulence on the Near-Wake Structure of Wind Turbines
journal, September 2014

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    Works referencing / citing this record:

    Do wind turbines pose roll hazards to light aircraft?
    journal, January 2018

    • Tomaszewski, Jessica M.; Lundquist, Julie K.; Churchfield, Matthew J.
    • Wind Energy Science, Vol. 3, Issue 2
    • DOI: 10.5194/wes-3-833-2018

    The Influence of Eroded Blades on Wind Turbine Performance Using Numerical Simulations
    journal, September 2017

    • Schramm, Matthias; Rahimi, Hamid; Stoevesandt, Bernhard
    • Energies, Vol. 10, Issue 9
    • DOI: 10.3390/en10091420

    Spatiotemporal Correlations in the Power Output of Wind Farms: On the Impact of Atmospheric Stability
    journal, April 2019

    • Tobin, Nicolas; Lavely, Adam; Schmitz, Sven
    • Energies, Vol. 12, Issue 8
    • DOI: 10.3390/en12081486
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