Theoretical analysis of wind flow characteristics to investigate the mass and momentum parameters using a novel computational fluid dynamics-based approach

Abstract

In this article, an experimental study of a wind turbine in a wind tunnel is performed. The objective has been to present a novel analytical computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-based approach through considering the residual levels of the mass and momentum parameters under effect of different air flow characteristics surrounding the wind turbine, which have an effect on the power losses, turbine’s performance and the economic viability. The involved decision variables are considered to be the wind velocity, the pressure and the turbulence. Evaluation of the convergence showed that the residual level for the maximum method is estimated to be approximately 10–1 to 10–3 times higher than the root mean square. Results also concluded that between two studied turbulence models, the turbulence eddy frequency is found to be more efficient compared with turbulence kinetic energy. In higher iterations compared with the initial iterations, a significant difference between the pressure and the Cartesian velocity components has occurred and the residual level of the velocity components indicated a more efficient convergence compared with the pressure. The overall environmental analysis concluded that on the basis of the CFD residual values, it would be possible to adequately determine the CFD efficiency of the wind energy system in a wind tunnel. It has been demonstrated that, among different decision variables, velocity components of the mass and momentum parameters and the turbulence eddy frequency were determined to produce further accurate results in comparison with the pressure and the turbulence kinetic energy.