A study of inflow parameters on the performance of a wind turbine in an atmospheric boundary layer

Khashayar Rahnamay Bahambary; Brian Fleck

Authors

Khashayar Rahnamay Bahambary Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 1H9, Canada
Brian Fleck Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 1H9, Canada

Keywords:

Actuator disk, Atmospheric boundary layer, wake recovery, Wind turbine, CFD

Abstract

In this research a CFD simulation of an isolated wind turbine using the actuator disk model is presented. Actuator disk models (AD) are among the most convenient methods of modelling a wind turbine. Using the principles of momentum theory, this approach replaces the rotor with an actuator disk that uniformly exerts force in the axial direction. This study employs an SST k-ω RANS-AD model to investigate the aerodynamics of a wind turbine located in a rough atmospheric boundary layer. This model is validated Using a set of wind tunnel data and is then used to investigate the effects of CFD inflow conditions, Power law and logarithmic profiles. The results show that despite the popularity of the logarithmic formulation, the power law profiles yield better results. Additionally, a study of the actuator disk thickness depicted that the thickness ratio is a relatively important factor that helps with convergence of the simulation and more attention should be paid to the value chosen for this parameter.