Large Eddy Simulations of Wake Flows Around a Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Under Complex Atmospheric Inflows

Abstract

This study performed numerical investigations of a floating offshore wind turbine under a complex atmospheric boundary layer inflow. The complex and realistic ABL inflow was generated by large eddy simulations, and wind turbine blades were modeled by the actuator line model. The platform motions were solved by potential theory. A baseline case with a uniform inflow condition was conducted to provide some comparable data. The difference of the aerodynamic power in the two inflow scenarios is minor, except that small bumps in the atmospheric scenario are observed. The yaw moment is significantly enhanced as a result of the lateral asymmetry of the atmospheric inflow on the rotor plane. A significant observation of this study is the large-scale wake meandering caused by the presence of atmospheric turbulence structures. In addition, the high-velocity atmospheric airflow enters in the wind turbine wakes, and its mixing with the low-velocity wakes leads to a faster wake recovery.