skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Implementation of a generalized actuator disk wind turbine model into the weather research and forecasting model for large-eddy simulation applications

Journal Article · · Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4861061· OSTI ID:1237535
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4]
  1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
  2. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)
  3. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
  4. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States); National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

A generalized actuator disk (GAD) wind turbine parameterization designed for large-eddy simulation (LES) applications was implemented into the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. WRF-LES with the GAD model enables numerical investigation of the effects of an operating wind turbine on and interactions with a broad range of atmospheric boundary layer phenomena. Numerical simulations using WRF-LES with the GAD model were compared with measurements obtained from the Turbine Wake and Inflow Characterization Study (TWICS-2011), the goal of which was to measure both the inflow to and wake from a 2.3-MW wind turbine. Data from a meteorological tower and two light-detection and ranging (lidar) systems, one vertically profiling and another operated over a variety of scanning modes, were utilized to obtain forcing for the simulations, and to evaluate characteristics of the simulated wakes. Simulations produced wakes with physically consistent rotation and velocity deficits. Two surface heat flux values of 20 W m–2 and 100 W m–2 were used to examine the sensitivity of the simulated wakes to convective instability. Simulations using the smaller heat flux values showed good agreement with wake deficits observed during TWICS-2011, whereas those using the larger value showed enhanced spreading and more-rapid attenuation. This study demonstrates the utility of actuator models implemented within atmospheric LES to address a range of atmospheric science and engineering applications. In conclusion, validated implementation of the GAD in a numerical weather prediction code such as WRF will enable a wide range of studies related to the interaction of wind turbines with the atmosphere and surface.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344
OSTI ID:
1237535
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-639893
Journal Information:
Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, Vol. 6, Issue 1; ISSN 1941-7012
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (44)

Quantifying the Impact of Wind Turbine Wakes on Power Output at Offshore Wind Farms journal August 2010
Atmospheric stability affects wind turbine power collection journal January 2012
Lamar Low-Level Jet Program Interim Report report January 2004
The Influence of Stable Boundary Layer Flows on Wind Turbine Fatigue Loads
  • Sim, Chungwook; Basu, Sukanta; Manuel, Lance
  • 47th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting including The New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2009-1405
conference June 2012
Research Needs For Wind Resource Characterization journal April 2009
Review of computational fluid dynamics for wind turbine wake aerodynamics journal February 2011
A preliminary study of assimilating numerical weather prediction data into computational fluid dynamics models for wind prediction journal April 2011
An Introduction to Boundary Layer Meteorology book January 1988
Turbulence statistics of a Kelvin–Helmholtz billow event observed in the night-time boundary layer during the Cooperative Atmosphere–Surface Exchange Study field program journal October 2001
Atmospheric Disturbances that Generate Intermittent Turbulence in Nocturnal Boundary Layers journal February 2004
A field study of the wake behind a 2 MW wind turbine journal January 1988
Air flow behind wind turbines journal March 1999
Lidar Investigation of Atmosphere Effect on a Wind Turbine Wake journal November 2013
A numerical study of the effects of atmospheric and wake turbulence on wind turbine dynamics journal January 2012
Optimal turbine spacing in fully developed wind farm boundary layers journal April 2011
Observations of wind turbine wakes and surface roughness effects on wind flow variability journal January 1990
The Windy Commons? journal May 2010
Simulating impacts of wind farms on local hydrometeorology journal April 2011
Crop Wind Energy Experiment (CWEX): Observations of Surface-Layer, Boundary Layer, and Mesoscale Interactions with a Wind Farm journal May 2013
A Large-Eddy Simulations of Wind-Plant Aerodynamics
  • Churchfield, Matthew; Lee, Sang; Moriarty, Patrick
  • 50th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting including the New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2012-537
conference November 2012
Atmospheric and Wake Turbulence Impacts on Wind Turbine Fatigue Loadings
  • Lee, Sang; Churchfield, Matthew; Moriarty, Patrick
  • 50th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting including the New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2012-540
conference November 2012
Implementation of a Nonlinear Subfilter Turbulence Stress Model for Large-Eddy Simulation in the Advanced Research WRF Model journal November 2010
Transition and Equilibration of Neutral Atmospheric Boundary Layer Flow in One-Way Nested Large-Eddy Simulations Using the Weather Research and Forecasting Model journal March 2013
Implementation and Evaluation of Dynamic Subfilter-Scale Stress Models for Large-Eddy Simulation Using WRF* journal January 2012
An Immersed Boundary Method for the Weather Research and Forecasting Model journal March 2010
An Immersed Boundary Method Enabling Large-Eddy Simulations of Flow over Complex Terrain in the WRF Model journal December 2012
Local and Mesoscale Impacts of Wind Farms as Parameterized in a Mesoscale NWP Model journal September 2012
Mesoscale Influences of Wind Farms throughout a Diurnal Cycle journal July 2013
A numerical study of three-dimensional turbulent channel flow at large Reynolds numbers journal April 1970
Three-dimensional numerical study of turbulence in an entraining mixed layer journal October 1974
Large-eddy simulation of atmospheric boundary layer flow through wind turbines and wind farms journal April 2011
Analysis of wake states by a full‐field actuator disc model journal December 1998
Flow visualization using momentum and energy transport tubes and applications to turbulent flow in wind farms journal January 2013
Nested Mesoscale Large-Eddy Simulations with WRF: Performance in Real Test Cases journal October 2012
Testing and comparison of lidars for profile and turbulence measurements in wind energy journal May 2008
Performance of a Wind-Profiling Lidar in the Region of Wind Turbine Rotor Disks journal March 2012
High-Resolution Doppler Lidar for Boundary Layer and Cloud Research journal March 2001
Implications of Small-Scale Flow Features to Modeling Dispersion over Complex Terrain journal March 1996
Design specifications for the development of the initial validation software (Version 3.0) for processing of NWTC 80-Meter meteorological tower data report February 2000
General Circulation Experiments with the Primitive Equations: i. the Basic Experiment* journal March 1963
Light detection and ranging measurements of wake dynamics part I: one-dimensional scanning journal January 2010
The Effect of Wind-Turbine Wakes on Summertime US Midwest Atmospheric Wind Profiles as Observed with Ground-Based Doppler Lidar journal July 2013
Wind Energy Handbook book May 2011
Discrete spectral peak estimation in incoherent backscatter heterodyne lidar. I. Spectral accumulation and the Cramer-Rao lower bound journal January 1993

Similar Records

Investigating wind turbine impacts on near-wake flow using profiling lidar data and large-eddy simulations with an actuator disk model
Journal Article · Thu Aug 27 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy · OSTI ID:1237535
+4 more
Meso- to microscale modeling of atmospheric stability effects on wind turbine wake behavior in complex terrain
Journal Article · Thu Feb 17 00:00:00 EST 2022 · Wind Energy Science (Online) · OSTI ID:1237535
+3 more
Multi-scale simulations of wind farm performance with complex terrain and weather events
Journal Article · Thu Jul 18 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Journal of Physics. Conference Series · OSTI ID:1237535
+4 more

Related Subjects

17 WIND ENERGY
large eddy simulations
turbulent flows
wind turbines
atmospheric turbulence
turbulence simulations