From meso-scale to micro scale LES modelling: Application by a wake effect study for an offshore wind farm

Abstract

The object of the study is to present the first step of the development of a methodology that aims to merge the gap between meso scale and micro scale modelling. WRF simulations have been carried out in order to consider global wind conditions over a meso scale area of the future wind farm. A statistical analysis of the global wind data over several years has been carried out to initiate the work for the Saint Nazaire site. A focus was made on two wind regimes: the most common wind typical of the site's location and the extreme winds over the period. The WRF results were then used as initial conditions for a micro scale simulation carried out by a non-stationary large-eddy simulation (SOWFA) tool based OpenFOAM solver that computes the flow around 2 turbines. Turbulence statistics were computed and analyzed. Fields of skewness and flatness show found that the distribution of turbulence becomes more homogeneous after the second turbine, while turbulence intensity increases.