Wake meandering of a model wind turbine operating in two different regimes

Abstract

The flow behind a model wind turbine under two different turbine operating regimes (region 2 for turbine operating at optimal condition with the maximum power coefficient and 1.4-deg pitch angle and region 3 for turbine operating at suboptimal condition with a lower power coefficient and 7-deg pitch angle) is investigated using wind tunnel experiments and numerical experiments using large-eddy simulation (LES) with actuator surface models for turbine blades and nacelle. Measurements from the model wind turbine experiment reveal that the power coefficient and turbine wake are affected by the operating regime. Simulations with and without a nacelle model are carried out for each operating condition to study the influence of the operating regime and nacelle on the formation of the hub vortex and wake meandering. Statistics and energy spectra of the simulated wakes are in good agreement with the measurements. For simulations with a nacelle model, the mean flow field is composed of an outer wake, caused by energy extraction by turbine blades, and an inner wake directly behind the nacelle, while for the simulations without a nacelle model, the central region of the wake is occupied by a jet. The simulations with the nacelle model reveal an unstable helical hub vortex expanding outward toward the outer wake, while the simulations without a nacelle model show a stable and columnar hub vortex. Because of the different interactions of the inner region of the wake with the outer region of the wake, a region with higher turbulence intensity is observed in the tip shear layer for the simulation with a nacelle model. The hub vortex for the turbine operating in region 3 remains in a tight helical spiral and intercepts the outer wake a few diameters further downstream than for the turbine operating in region 2. Wake meandering, a low-frequency large-scale motion of the wake, commences in the region of high turbulence intensity for all simulations with and without a nacelle model, indicating that neither a nacelle model nor an unstable hub vortex is a necessary requirement for the existence of wake meandering. However, further analysis of the wake meandering and instantaneous flow field using a filtering technique and dynamic mode decomposition show that the unstable hub vortex energizes the wake meandering. The turbine operating regime affects the shape and expansion of the hub vortex, altering the location of the onset of the wake meandering and wake meander oscillating intensity. Most important, the unstable hub vortex promotes a high-amplitude energetic meandering which cannot be predicted without a nacelle model.

Publication Title

Physical Review Fluids

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