Implementation and Validation of a Generalized Actuator Disk Parameterization for Wind Turbine Simulations Within the FastEddy Model

• Published in: Wind energy (Chichester, England) Vol. 27; no. 11; pp. 1353 - 1368
• Main Authors: Sanchez Gomez, M., Muñoz‐Esparza, D., Sauer, J. A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bognor Regis John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.11.2024; Wiley
• Subjects: Actuators; Agricultural technology; Atmospheric boundary layer; Atmospheric turbulence; Benchmarks; Boundary layers; Computational efficiency; Energy research; Graphics processing units; Large eddy simulation; large-eddy simulations; Parameterization; Simulation; Stability; Turbines; WIND ENERGY; Wind farms; Wind power; wind turbine modeling; Wind turbines
• ISSN: 1095-4244; 1099-1824
• DOI: 10.1002/we.2941

ABSTRACT Fast and accurate large‐eddy simulation (LES) of the atmospheric boundary layer plays a crucial role in advancing wind energy research. Long‐duration wind farm studies at turbine‐resolving scales have become increasingly important to understand the intricate interactions between large wind farms and the atmospheric boundary layer. However, the prohibitive computational cost of these turbulence‐ and turbine‐resolving simulations has precluded such modeling to be exercised on a regular basis. To that end, we implement and validate the generalized actuator disk (GAD) model in the computationally efficient, graphics processing unit (GPU)–resident, LES model FastEddy. We perform single‐turbine simulations under three atmospheric stabilities (neutral, unstable, and stable) and compare them against observations from the Scaled Wind Farm Technology (SWiFT) facility and other LES codes from the recent Wakebench turbine wake model benchmark. Our idealized LES results agree well with observed wake velocity deficit and downstream recovery across stability regimes. Turbine response in terms of rotational speed, generated power, torque, and thrust coefficient are well predicted across stability regimes and are consistent with the LES results from the benchmark. The FastEddy simulations are found to be at least two orders of magnitude more efficient than the traditional CPU‐based LES models, opening the door for realistic LES simulations of full wind plants as a viable standard practice.