CFD analysis of local influences in offshore wind measurements employing a floating LiDAR system

Abstract

Abstract In the present work, the CFD modeling of neutral and stable atmospheric boundary layers regarding the horizontal homogeneity condition is discussed to assess the impact of local influences in wind measurements made by a Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) remote sensor installed at an offshore site. The LiDAR will be mounted on a real floating, production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel, 200 km far from the coast, and the simulations serve as preliminary study for the impact of the geometry presence, in the air flow and in the measurements taken by the LiDAR. The reproduction of the homogeneity condition is discussed and the impacts of the presence of the ship structure are quantified considering the scanning scheme of the LiDAR. Turbulence is modeled with the k-ε and k-ω models for the neutral case, and k-ε with a modification following the Monin-Obukhov Similarity Theory for the stable boundary laye. By carrying out simulations with empty and blocked (i.e., with the FPSO installed) domains, we show that the effect of the platform is local and only significant at small heights. The neutral and stable cases show similar deviations (≤ 2 %) between the velocity fields in the blocked and empty domains. The neutral case shows locally a little more impact than the stable case, and the reason for that is discussed. We also found that the LiDAR scanning scheme could attenuate the impacts of the flow distortion in comparison with direct punctual measurements.