Abstract
The aim of this work is to present a detailed code-to-code comparison of two Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) solvers. Corresponding experimental measurements are used as a reference to validate the quality of the CFD simulations. The comparison highlights the effects of solver order on the solutions, and it tries to answer the question of whether a high order solver is necessary to capture the main characteristics of a wind farm. Both solvers were used on different grids to study their convergence behavior. While both solvers show a good match with experimental measurements, it appears that the low order solver is more accurate and substantially cheaper in terms of computational cost.
Highlights
Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) is actively researched and used because it has the potential to explain wind farm phenomena and to predict effects that enable improved design and operation [1]
Both solvers were used on different grids to study their convergence behavior. While both solvers show a good match with experimental measurements, it appears that the low order solver is more accurate and substantially cheaper in terms of computational cost
A code-to-code-to-experiment comparison has been conducted for the two LES-ALM codes and wind tunnel experiments of three wake-interacting wind turbines
Summary
Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) is actively researched and used because it has the potential to explain wind farm phenomena and to predict effects that enable improved design and operation [1]. Notwithstanding the success of LES, there is still only a limited understanding of the actual accuracy of such numerical methods in representing the complex physical processes that govern wake-turbine interactions. The present paper presents a codeto-code comparison of two state-of-the-art LES-ALM (Actuator Line Method) codes with significantly different features. Numerical results of both solvers for different mesh resolutions are compared in this work. The objective is to evaluate the accuracy and uncertainty of LES for wind farm flows and possibly obtain indications for the future evolution of the numerical procedures. While the experiments provide benchmarks of integral quantities like power, thrust and mean wake profile, the code-to-code comparison can illustrate differences of other quantities like Reynolds shear stresses
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