Harvesting wind energy from the complex urban environment using CFD approach

Abstract

Urban wind energy consists of the consumption of wind energy technology in applications to the urban and suburban environment. Wind energy in urban environments is challenging to predict, but current technologies, including wind tunnel and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tools, make it possible. Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methods holds potential for advancing wind energy resource assessment in a complex urban environment by modeling wind flow around dense urban obstacles. Horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs) predominantly dominate the renewable wind engineering industry, but vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) offer the potential to surpass HAWTs in urban environments. VAWTs can easily handle turbulent and unconventional wind and generate energy at lower speeds, beneficial for these locations. This paper mainly focuses on finding suitable placements for wind turbines in urban environments using the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tool. CFD simulations have evaluated the wind energy potential location on the Melbourne CBD, Victoria, Australia. The procedure of resource assessment includes the estimation of the average wind power available for energy production from the prevailing northerly wind directions on Melbourne CBD and the identification of optimal location for turbine installation.