Characterizing the coherent structures in large eddy simulations of aligned windfarms

Abstract

The present work studies the large coherent structures in large eddy simulations of windfarms using proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) method. In order to evaluate the effect of wind turbines on coherent structures, we consider three cases. One is a reference flow of a neutral atmospheric boundary layer and the other two are periodic and developing aligned windfarms. The number of wind turbines is large, 16 × 12 for periodic windfarm, and 12 × 12 for developing windfarm. The simulations are run for a long time in order to generate a sufficient database for POD analysis. In all cases, elongated streamwise counter rotating roll structures, covering 1 or 2 turbines in spanwise direction, are identified as the dominant POD mode. Another pattern, varying in streamwise direction, also appears in all the three cases.