A Comparative Analysis of Actuator-Based Turbine Structure Parametrizations for High-Fidelity Modeling of Utility-Scale Wind Turbines under Neutral Atmospheric Conditions

Abstract

This study compared the efficacy of the actuator line and actuator surface models in carrying out large-eddy simulations of a utility-scale wind turbine. A large-eddy simulation with the actuator surface and line models was employed to study the wake flow and power production of the turbine. While both the actuator models were employed for the blade representation, the nacelle was modeled using the actuator surface approach. Both of the actuator models demonstrated agreement in the mean velocity field, power production, and turbulence kinetic energy of the wake flow. Comparing the wake flow, power production, and turbulence kinetic energy results, it was found that the mean discrepancy between the two models was 0.6%, 0.3%, and 2.3%, respectively. Despite the minor discrepancies, both actuator models accurately captured the hub vortex in the wake of the nacelle, evidenced by an energy peak in wind speed spectra at f/fω≈0.34.