Wake structure analysis of a wind turbine under various atmospheric flow conditions and its application for mid-fidelity calibration

Abstract

Abstract A coupled Actuator Line Method (ALM) Large Eddy Simulation (LES) is used to simulate the wake structure of an isolated wind turbine. The wake centre position, boundary, and dynamics downstream of the wind turbine is determined under different atmospheric flow conditions, including neutral, stable, and unstable stratification. The wake centre lateral displacement and autocorrelation are seen to be affected by the atmospheric flow conditions. Finally, the instantaneous wake structure is then used as reference to improve the accuracy of mid-fidelity approach.