How Fast is Fast Enough? Industry Perspectives on the Use of Large-eddy Simulation in Wind Energy

Abstract

The use of graphics processing units (GPUs) has facilitated unprecedented performance gains for computational fluids dynamics in recent years. In many industries this has enabled the integration of large-eddy simulation (LES) in the engineering practice. Flow modelling in the wind industry though still primarily relies on models with significantly lower fidelity. This paper seeks to investigate the reasons why wind energy applications of LES are still an exception in the industrial practice. On that account, we present a survey among industry experts on the matter. The survey shows that the large runtimes and computational costs of LES are still seen as a main obstacle. However, other reasons such as a lack of expertise and user experience, the need for more validation, and lacking trust in the potential benefits of LES reveal that computational efficiency is not the only concern. Lastly, we present an exemplary simulation of a generic offshore wind farm using a GPU-resident Lattice Boltzmann LES framework. The example shows that the runtime requirements stated by a large part of the respondents can already now be fulfilled with reasonable hardware effort.