Turbulent Inflow Precursor Method with Time-Varying Direction for Large-Eddy Simulations and Applications to Wind Farms

Abstract

A major challenge in turbulence-resolving flow simulations is the generation of unsteady and coherent turbulent inflow conditions. Precursor methods have proven to be reliable inflow generators but are limited in applicability and flexibility especially when attempting to couple boundary-layer dynamics with large-scale temporal variations in the direction of the inflow. Here, we propose a methodology that is capable of providing fully developed turbulent inflow for time-varying mean-flow directions. The method is a generalization of a concurrent precursor inflow technique, in which a fully developed boundary-layer simulation that uses periodic boundary conditions is dynamically rotated with the large-scale wind direction that drives the simulation in the domain of interest. The proposed inflow method is applied to large-eddy simulations of boundary-layer flow through the Horns Rev wind farm when subjected to a sinusoidal variation in wind direction at the hourly time scale.