Simulation of Wakes Behind Wind Farms

Acad Year
11/12

Project No. C032

SIMULATION OF WAKES BEHIND LARGE WIND
FARMS

Abdulqadir Aziz Singapore Wala

SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL AND AEROSPACE ENGINEERING
NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
Year 2011/2012
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Title Page

SIMULATION OF WAKES BEHIND LARGE WIND FARMS

SUBMITTED
BY
ABDULQADIR AZIZ SINGAPORE WALA

SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL AND AEROSPACE ENGINEERING

A final year project report
presented to
Nanyang Technological University
in partial fulfilment of the
requirements for the
Degree of Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical Engineering)
Nanyang Technological University

Academic Year 2011/2012

i

Abstract
Computational fluid dynamics simulations of wind turbines are an essential aspect of
wind turbine design. Also very important is the simulation of many turbines in arrays, as they
are arranged in wind farms. This allows for the understanding of the effect of upstream
turbines on downstream ones, allowing for planning of the most efficient placement of wind
turbines as well as understanding the aeroelastic loads on wind turbines for a more efficient
maintenance schedule.
Given the computationally intensive nature of accurate wind turbine simulations even
when using simple two-equation Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) models, simulations
of wind farms cannot be conducted through modeling the geometry of each wind turbine. Each
turbine needs to thus be simplified to a model that maintains the effects of the wind turbine on
the flow, while significantly reducing the size of the computational mesh required for the
simulation.
Since the far-wake structure of wind turbines are relatively steady in nature, actuator
disc models have become a popular choice for the simulation of wind farms. Actuator discs
model the blade forces of the wind turbines as pressure drops across infinitely thin discs.
However, to produce such a model, an aerodynamicist must know the blade forces. To this
effect, the Blade Element Momentum (BEM) theory has become a popular method to predict
the blade forces as input parameters for the actuator disc. However, being based on one-
dimensional theory and using two-dimensional airfoil data for its predictions, the BEM theory is
fraught with complications. Empirical corrections are often employed to make up for these, to
limited success.
Nevertheless, if direct rotor modeling and even accurate and detailed wind tunnel
experiments are used in the design process of wind turbines, this information can be used to
extract the blade force data needed for the actuator disc models. A complication is the
extraction of the axial and tangential induction factors required to model the variation of
pressure drop against local velocity for each actuator disc.
ii

Bak et al employed several methods to extract cross-sectional aerodynamic data from
wind turbines (Bak, Fuglsang, Sorensen, Madsen, Shen, & Sorensen, 1999). These included one
based on an inverse BEM method, by using blade force data to find the axial and rotational
induction factors of the blade element, and an actuator disc-based method, which used the
exact pressure drop for each specific wind speed to create a model of pressure drop against
local velocities. This report will investigate the accuracy of actuator disc models based on direct
rotor modeling data, by creating actuator discs through extraction of the induction factors
using the methods described earlier. The wake parameters from these models will then be
compared with traditional BEM-based actuator discs and a direct rotor model simulation. The
two present methods used were found to possess similarly high accuracies in wake prediction
in comparison to the direct rotor model, and displayed the ineffectiveness of an actuator disc
model based on a traditional BEM algorithm using 2-dimensional airfoil data. It is thus proven
that extraction of aerodynamic force data from direct modeling simulations or experiments can
be done in a manner useful to the prediction of the performance of a wind farm.

iii

Acknowledgements
Every endeavor requires inspiration and perspiration, and this project was no different.
My inspiration, has always been, and will always be, my spiritual leader, Dr Syedna
Mohammed Burhanuddin Saheb (TUS), who is my motivation and guiding light. He has taught
me to never hold back in the pursuit of knowledge, and this has given me clarity in my life. His
successor, Syedi wa Maulaya Aali Qadr Mufaddal Bhaisaheb Saifuddin (TUS) has been a shining
example and constant reminder that the true sign of knowledge and intelligence is humility.
Special thanks must be reserved for my project supervisor, Associate Professor Ng Yin
Kwee, who rather than stifle me with instructions and rigidity, encouraged me to be creative
and plan the project on my own. He constantly supported me with invaluable guidance and
advice, without which this project by no means would have been complete.
I would also like to thank my dad, who has shown me nothing but support and belief in
my abilities, and has spent many long hours worrying about the hours I have spent working, my
mum, who has shown me by example that no mountain is too high to scale, my beautiful wife,
Fatema, who has been a constant pillar of support, and my brother and his wife, Hozefa and
Ummehani, who have believed in me even more than I did myself.

iv

Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 1
2.0 Literature Review .............................................................................................................................. 4
2.1 Aerodynamics of Wind Turbines ................................................................................................... 4
2.1.1 Blade cross-sectional geometry and three-dimensional flow .............................................. 4
2.1.2 One-dimensional momentum theory ................................................................................... 5
2.1.3 Blade element momentum theory ........................................................................................ 8
2.1.4 Wind turbine wakes ............................................................................................................ 12
2.2 Rotor Modeling ........................................................................................................................... 13
2.2.1 Generalized actuator disk models ....................................................................................... 13
2.2.2 Direct modeling ................................................................................................................... 16
2.3 Experiments ................................................................................................................................ 18
3.0 Objectives and theoretical premise for project .............................................................................. 22
3.1 Development of simulation methodology for accurate actuator disc models ........................... 22
3.2 Inverse BEM Approach ................................................................................................................ 23
3.3 Actuator disc approach ............................................................................................................... 24
4.0 Computational Methodology .......................................................................................................... 25
4.1 Fluent computational fluid dynamics software .......................................................................... 25
4.2 Direct Modeling ........................................................................................................................... 25
4.2.1 Computational set-up ......................................................................................................... 25
4.2.2 Validation ............................................................................................................................ 30
4.2 Actuator disc models ................................................................................................................... 31
4.2.1 BEM based actuator disc model .......................................................................................... 32
4.2.2 Inverse BEM based actuator disc models ........................................................................... 32
4.2.3 Actuator disc based actuator disc model ............................................................................ 33
5.0 Results and Discussion .................................................................................................................... 34
5.1 Comparison of accuracy between direct rotor model and BEM theory ..................................... 34
5.2 Axial Velocity ............................................................................................................................... 35
5.2.1 Wake flow visualization ...................................................................................................... 35
5.2.2 Vertical profiles of axial velocity ......................................................................................... 39
v

5.2.3 Horizontal profiles of axial velocity ..................................................................................... 42
5.3 Turbulence Intensity ................................................................................................................... 45
5.3.1 Wake flow visualization ...................................................................................................... 45
5.3.2 Vertical profiles of turbulence intensity ............................................................................. 48
6.0 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 53
6.1 Project outcomes and objectives ................................................................................................ 53
6.2 Limitations of project .................................................................................................................. 54
6.3 Future work ................................................................................................................................. 54
7.0 References ....................................................................................................................................... 56
Appendix A ................................................................................................................................................ A-1
Appendix B ................................................................................................................................................ B-1

vi

List of Figures
Figure 1 Graph showing development and prognosis of total installed wind capacity in the
world from 1997-2020 (World Wind Energy Association, 2011) .................................................................. 1
Figure 2 Figure showing flow velocities and angle, angle of attack and airfoil pitch (Hansen,
2008) ............................................................................................................................................................. 4
Figure 3 Figure showing cylindrical control volume for axial momentum equation (Hansen,
2008) ............................................................................................................................................................. 5
Figure 4 Figure showing streamlines past the rotor and graphs showing axial velocity and
pressure upstream and downstream of the rotor (Hansen, 2008) .............................................................. 6
Figure 5 BEM algorithm for WT_perf design code (Maniaci, 2011) ............................................................ 12
Figure 6 Comparison of actuator disk without (dashed line) and with rotation (solid blue line),
actuator line (black dots) and experiments (red circles), in terms of time-averaged velocity
against height at several down stream positions. Reproduced from (Porte-Agel, Lu, & Wu, 2010) .......... 14
Figure 7 NREL UAE Phase VI turbine in the NASA Ames wind tunnel (Hand, et al., 2001) ......................... 19
Figure 8 Wind tunnel size for NREL UAE Phase VI Experiment (Simms, Schreck, Hand, &
Fingersh, 2001) ............................................................................................................................................ 19
Figure 9 NREL S809 airfoil section ............................................................................................................... 20
Figure 10 Distribution of blade cross-sectional chord length, c (m) against non-dimensionalized
rotor radius ................................................................................................................................................. 20
Figure 11 Distribution of blade pitch, () against non-dimensionalized rotor radius .............................. 21
Figure 12 Inverse BEM alogorithm for present study ................................................................................. 23
Figure 13 Computational gird intersecting the wind turbine blade ........................................................... 26
Figure 14 Computational gird intersecting the wind turbine blade in a closer view .................................. 27
Figure 15 Figure showing the computational grid adjacent to the blade ................................................... 27
Figure 16 Figure showing the computational grid around the blade tip .................................................... 28
Figure 17 Figure showing computational grid around the blade hub ........................................................ 28
Figure 18 Comparison of computed and experimental torques ................................................................. 30
Figure 19 Comparison of computed and experimental thrust ................................................................... 31
Figure 20 Radial discretization of actuator disc .......................................................................................... 32
Figure 21 Comparison of computed torques for CFD and BEM theory ...................................................... 34
Figure 22 Comparison of computed thrusts for CFD and BEM theory ....................................................... 35
Figure 23 Contour plot of axial velocity for wind speed of 7m/s ................................................................ 36
Figure 24 Contour plot of axial velocity for wind speed of 10m/s .............................................................. 36
Figure 28 Vertical profiles for axial velocity for wind speed of 7m/s ......................................................... 39
Figure 29 Vertical profiles for axial velocity for wind speed of 10m/s ....................................................... 40
vii

Figure 33 Horizontal profile of axial velocity for wind speed of 7m/s ........................................................ 42
Figure 34 Horizontal profile of axial velocity for wind speed of 10m/s ...................................................... 43
Figure 38 Contour plot of turbulence intensity for wind speed of 7m/s .................................................... 46
Figure 39 Contour plot of turbulence intensity for wind speed of 10m/s .................................................. 46
Figure 43 Vertical profiles for turbulence intensity for wind speed of 7m/s.............................................. 49
Figure 44 Vertical profiles for turbulence intensity for wind speed of 10m/s............................................ 50

viii

List of Symbols
Angle of attack of airfoil
Pitch angle of wind turbine blade, with respect to plane of rotation
Angle of relative wind at wind turbine blade cross-section, with respect to
plane of rotation
Wind turbine rotation speed
V
a
Air axial velocity at wind turbine
V
0
Freestream wind speed
V
rot
Relative wind rotation speed
a Axial induction factor
a Rotational induction factor
R Wind turbine rotor radius
D Wind turbine rotor diameter
r Local radius from rotor center
c Local true chord of rotor-cross sectional airfoil
C
l
Coefficient of lift of airfoil
C
d
Coefficient of drag of airfoil
C
n
Coefficient of force of airfoil normal to plane of wind turbine rotation
C
t
Coefficient of force of airfoil tangential to plane of wind turbine rotation
C
T
Coefficient of thrust of wind turbine
C
P
Coefficient of power of wind turbine
x Displacement in axial direction, normal to rotor plane, in the direction of wind
(position of rotor plane is at x=0)
z Displacement in upwards direction, from rotor centre (rotor centre is at z=0)

1

1.0 Introduction
Over the last two decades, many large wind turbines have been installed globally, and they
now contribute to 2.5% (World Wind Energy Association, 2011) of the global electricity supply.
This trend has been continually increasing and is expected to increase further, as shown in
Figure 1 below.

Figure 1 Graph showing development and prognosis of total installed wind capacity in the world from 1997-2020
(World Wind Energy Association, 2011)
Wind turbines are commonly grouped together in large wind farms. The reason for this is
that single wind turbines cannot generate enough power to be a useful producer of electricity,
and maintenance costs are reduced due to economies of scale. However, this results in wind
turbines operating in the wakes of other wind turbines. One of the problems that results from
this is reduced overall performance of the wind farm in comparison to a single wind turbine.
For example, (Neustadter & Spera, 1985) found that the power output for three turbines, each
separated by 7 rotor diameters was reduced by 10%. Another problem is the decrease in
lifespan of the rotors due to an increase in turbulence intensity in the wake. (Sanderse,
Aerodynamics of Wind Turbine Wakes, 2009)
2

Effective computational aerodynamic simulation of a wind turbine, and by extension, a
wind farm, is an elusive goal for many aerodynamicists. Of particular interest from
computational simulations of wind turbines are the aerodynamics of the wakes. Three
particular tasks were listed by (Sanderse, Aerodynamics of Wind Turbine Wakes, 2009) with
regard to the simulation of wind turbine wakes:
1. Calculating rotor performance and wind farm efficiency, requiring time-averaged
velocity profiles behind the turbines,
2. Calculating the blade loading of the turbines in the wakes of other turbines and
fluctuations in electrical energy output, requiring turbulence fluctuations and intensity
of the wake,
3. And calculating wake meandering, requiring large atmospheric eddies being taken into
account.
However, there are inherent difficulties associated with computations of wind farms,
including high computational costs due to the turbulent nature of the wind turbine wakes as
well as the rotation of the rotor, resulting in difficulties creating a suitable computational mesh.
(Sanderse, Aerodynamics of Wind Turbine Wakes, 2009)
While the computational methods theoretically exist to simulate the operation of
single wind turbines, the more accurate methods require a large computational cost to be
realized. These methods mostly involve direct modeling of a particular wind turbine, by means
of modeling its geometry and applying appropriate turbulence models such as RANS, DES or
LES. When considering the size of wind turbines and the Reynolds Number of the simulation, it
can be seen why such simulations would be computationally costly, especially since heavy
refinement of the computational mesh would be required close to the surfaces of the wind
turbine, to accurately compute the effects of the boundary layers. (Sanderse, van der Pijl, &
Koren, Review of CFD for wind-turbine wake aerodynamics, 2011)
To reduce the computational requirements of simulating wind turbines, several
models, generally classified as generalized actuator disk models, have been created to
accurately simulate the wind turbine, or the aerodynamic or aeroelastic effects of the wind
turbine, while keeping computational costs low. In these models, the aerodynamic properties
3

of the wind turbine are traditionally derived using momentum theory. While momentum
theory, can be used as part of an initial design stage of wind turbines, it is not highly accurate,
resulting in a flawed actuator disc design to begin with.
Of the generalized actuator disc models, it is still found that only the actuator disc
model allows for a simulation of a wind farm since the others are still too computationally
demanding (Sanderse, van der Pijl, & Koren, Review of CFD for wind-turbine wake
aerodynamics, 2011).
It shall thus be the purpose of this research to develop a methodology through which
accurate actuator disk models can be generated using aerodynamic data extracted from direct
modeling of wind turbines, then comparing this methodology to conventional momentum
theory-based actuator disc models.
4

2.0 Literature Review
2.1 Aerodynamics of Wind Turbines
2.1.1 Blade cross-sectional geometry and three-dimensional flow
The local angle of attack of a wind turbine blade is given by:

( 1 )
Where is the pitch of the airfoil, the angle between its chord and the plane of rotation, and
is the flow angle, given by

( 2 )
Where V
a
is the axial flow velocity, and V
rot
is the rotational velocity of the air.

Figure 2 Figure showing flow velocities and angle, angle of attack and airfoil pitch (Hansen, 2008)
Given that the blade is not dissimilar to a finite wing, tip vortices must exist. The
system of vortices introduces an axial velocity component opposite the direction of the wind,
and a tangential velocity component opposite the direction of blade rotation. The induced axial
velocity component is aV
a
,where a is the axial induction factor. The induced tangential velocity
component in the wake is 2ar where a is the tangential induction factor. Since there is no
rotation of the air upstream of the rotor, the induced tangential velocity within the rotor plane
is ar. is the angular velocity of the rotor, and r is the radial distance of the rotor from its
axis of rotation.
5

Knowing the two induction factors, the axial and rotational velocities of the air in the
rotor can be found:

( 3 )

( 4 )

With these, the angle of attack of the blade cross-sections can be found. If the lift and
drag characteristics of the blade cross-sections are known, the force distribution along the
blade, and thus power output and aeroelastic forces can be computed.
2.1.2 One-dimensional momentum theory
Employing the cylindrical control volume shown in Figure 3 below, the axial momentum
equation in integral form becomes:

( 5 )

Figure 3 Figure showing cylindrical control volume for axial momentum equation (Hansen, 2008)
The variations of pressure and velocity with axial distance both upstream and
downstream of the rotor is shown in Figure 4 below.
6

Figure 4 Figure showing streamlines past the rotor and graphs showing axial velocity and pressure upstream and
downstream of the rotor (Hansen, 2008)
Using the law of conservation of mass, the mass flow through the rotor can be found:

( 6 )
The law of conservation of axial momentum results in:

( 7 )
Using the law of conservation of energy, the shaft power, P, is equal to the loss of
kinetic energy in the air:
7

( 8 )
Since this power is equal to the power performed by the thrust T, on the disc:

( 9 )
Equating ( 8 ) and ( 9 ) gives us:

( 10 )
Substituting equation ( 3 ) into equation ( 10 ) then the equations for power ( 8 )and
thrust ( 7 ) gives:

( 11 )
and

( 12 )

The total kinetic energy of the air passing undisturbed through the same area as the
rotor, and its total momentum is equal to:

( 13 )
and

( 14 )
Non-dimensionalizing the power and thrust with respect to these, gives us the
coefficients of power and thrust:

( 15 )
and

( 16 )
8

To find the maximum power coefficient of the wind turbine, the derivative of the
coefficient of power with respect to the axial induction factor must be equated to zero. This
would give a value of C
P
=16/27 for a=1/3. This is called the Betz limit, the theoretical maximum
for an ideal wind turbine.
However, this one-dimensional momentum theory is not valid for values of a greater
than 0.4, because the velocity deficit in the wake would result in large shear forces between
the wake and freestream, causing eddies which transport momentum from the freestream into
the wake. Another obvious shortcoming is its inability to account for shear and turbulent
effects.
So far, the assumption has been that there is no rotation in the wake. However, most
wind turbines are single stage, having no stators or secondary contra-rotating rotors to keep
the flow steady.
With the definition of the rotational induction factor from equation 4, the azimuthal
velocity component in the wake is:

( 17 )
The optimal relationship between a and a is found to be:

( 18 )

It can thus be seen that the Betz limit is arrived when a=0, consistent with the
momentum theory. This was found to occur at an infinite rotational speed of the blades.
2.1.3 Blade element momentum theory
The blade element momentum theory (BEM theory) can be viewed as a refinement of
the one-dimensional momentum theory. Instead of using the momentum balance across the
whole cylindrical control volume, the momentum balances across many annular control
volumes are calculated. This is done using two-dimensional airfoil data for various blade cross-
sections. It is an iterative process, since the axial and rotational induction factors are unknown
9

for the blade cross-sections, thus the angle of attack is unknown. Hence, at every iteration, the
induction factors and the angle of attack is updated, requiring new values of lift and drag to be
determined from the airfoil lift curve.
The force coefficients normal and tangential to the rotor disc can be found from the lift
and drag curves using:

( 19 )

( 20 )

The solidity, , is defined as the area of the annular element covered by a B number of
blades:

( 21 )

Using momentum theory, it can then be found that:

( 22 )

( 23 )

The equations for the axial and rotational induction factors, a, and a, are:

( 24 )

( 25 )

10

The iterative method for deriving the blade forces thus involves an initial guess of a and
a, followed by finding and the appropriate lift and drag forces and then new values of a and
a which are sued in the following iterations until the difference in a and a between two
consecutive iterations are tolerably small, as defined by the aerodynamicist. Each control
volume is assumed independent, thus the procedure should be repeated for every discrete
annulus that the rotor is discretized into. This assumption of independent annular control
volumes is valid at lower values of a, but becomes inaccurate at higher values of a, due to the
mixing of the flows caused by increased wake turbulence and free shear effects (Hansen, 2008).
This can be rectified with empirical Glauert corrections, which will be discussed later.
Using these results, local loads on blade segments can be calculated. These results can
then be used to estimate fatigue and failure conditions for the turbine blades.
The BEM method shown thus far is based on the 1-dimensional mass and momentum
balance through annular stream tubes. This leads to obvious inaccuracies in the theory, which
does not account for the effects of blades of finite length, which result in tip and root vortices,
the finite number of blades which changes the vortex system in the near wake and the
significant free shear effects at larger axial induction factors. To correct for these, there are two
main corrections, one to correct for the infinite-blade assumption of the 1-dimensional theory,
and the other to correct for higher axial induction factors.
Prandtls tip loss factor
Prandtls tip loss factor is shown here without derivation, and the reader is directed to
Glauert, 1935 for a full derivation.
Equations ( 24 ) and ( 25 ) for a and a are replaced by:

( 26 )

( 27 )
F is computed as:
11

( 28 )
Where:

( 29 )
B is the number of blades, R is the radius of the rotor, r is the local radius of the annular control
volume, and is the local flow angle.
The tip loss factor corrects for the assumption of an infinite number of blades (Hansen,
2008). Alone, it will still have the limitation of inaccuracy at higher values of the axial induction
factor, a, due to mixing of flows arising from increased turbulence. This can be corrected
empirically using a Glauert correction.
Glauert correction for high axial induction factors
The corrections for high axial induction factors (high values of a) are empirical (Hansen,
2008). Thus, a number of different corrections have been proposed over the years, but they all
have the commonality of imposing different corrections for different values of a. They are all
classified as Glauert corrections. The equations described below are used in the WT_perf
design code by the National Wind Technology Centre in the United States. The tangential
induction factor, a, remains unchanged after this correction. More details of the model can be
found in Hibbs et al (Hibbs & Radkey, 1982):

{

( 30 )
WT_perf design code
The WT_perf design code was created by researchers at the National Wind Technology
Centre in the United States. The objective of this code was to provide researchers worldwide
with a simple program capable of BEM computations. It was developed as an open source
code, thus allowing researchers the flexibility of implementing their own algorithms and
modifications. The algorithm used in the WT_perf design code is described in the flow chart in
12

Figure 5. The radial center of the blade elements are regarded of representative of the
sectional forces.

Figure 5 BEM algorithm for WT_perf design code (Maniaci, 2011)
The iterations do not use any form of relaxation, unless under-relaxation is needed to
handle divergence. Over-relaxation is unnecessary due to the quick convergence of the
algorithm, usually converging in a few iterations (Maniaci, 2011). The typical tolerance and
maximum number if iterations for the certification tests run with the WT_perf code are 10e
-5

and 5 respectively.
2.1.4 Wind turbine wakes
The wake of a wind turbine is the region of airflow behind the wind turbine. This is
further subdivided commonly into the near-wake and far-wake regions (Vermeer, Sorensen, &
Crespo, 2003). In the near wake region, shear stresses are generally very high due to the large
difference in velocity between flow in the wake and outside of it. The number of blades can be
13

discriminated, and tip vortices are clearly present. More than 1-2 rotor diameters downstream,
these effects become less discernible, and the flow properties are more axisymmetric, self-
similar and Gaussian. Turbulence effects are dominant, coming from three sources:
atmosphere, rotor blades and tip-vortex breakdown. In wind farm setups, downstream wind
turbines lie in the far wake region of upstream ones. In the far wake, large-scale effects such as
wake meandering are important, as are the effects of topology on the wake. (Sanderse, van der
Pijl, & Koren, Review of CFD for wind-turbine wake aerodynamics, 2011)
2.2 Rotor Modeling
2.2.1 Generalized actuator disk models
In the generalized actuator disk models, the computation of the boundary layers (and
by extension the computational resources required to accurately resolve it) is circumvented by
modeling the effects of the turbine itself on the airflow. The wind turbine is represented by a
body force, averaged over a disk, line or surface. The turbine is modeled using the momentum
balance expressed in the Navier-Stokes equations. In cylindrical coordinates and integral form,

( 31 )

The last term, the force term, results in a discontinuity in pressure. This is formulated in
different ways to result in the different generalized actuator disk models. In addition, a good
model should also introduce the turbulence generated by the blades.
Actuator Disk Model
The actuator disk model is a disk that represents the rotor plane. The force, f, is
equivalent to the thrust produced by the rotor. This can either be modeled as the average
thrust over the whole disk (uniformly loaded), or piecewise concentric thrusts (non-uniformly
loaded). Generally, the thrust is enforced as a pressure drop, which is equivalent to the thrust
divided by the area it is applied on. Since the model assumes an infinite number of rotors, the
force is equivalent to the time-averaged effect of the force on the blade. This was practiced by
(Raichle, Melber-Wilkending, & Himisch, 2008) and (Ammara, Leclerc, & Masson, 2002) using
the following equation:
14

( 32 )
Where the surface force, f
s
, is equal to the blade force, f
r
, multiplied by B number of blades
divided by the circumference of the circle the element covers.
While turbulence effects on the rotor would be inherent in the modeling of the rotor
force, turbulence generated by the rotor is also dispersed into the wake, which is not explicitly
simulated by the actuator disk. This turbulence can be added at the disk location. However, in
comparison with wake turbulence (due to shear) and atmospheric turbulence, its effect is small
(Sanderse, van der Pijl, & Koren, Review of CFD for wind-turbine wake aerodynamics, 2011).
Another effect not simulated by the original actuator disk model is rotational effects,
which will have an effect on wind shear, and thus wake turbulence. Porte-Agel et al (Porte-
Agel, Lu, & Wu, 2010) showed that this would have an effect on both time-averaged velocity
and turbulence intensity in the wake, as shown in Figure 6 below.

Figure 6 Comparison of actuator disk without (dashed line) and with rotation (solid blue line), actuator line (black
dots) and experiments (red circles), in terms of time-averaged velocity against height at several down stream
positions. Reproduced from (Porte-Agel, Lu, & Wu, 2010)
15

The main method used to determine the blade forces required to model the actuator
disk is the blade element momentum method, which, as described earlier, uses an iterative
method that utilizes information from the lift curve slopes of the airfoils at various segments to
determine the local annular momentum balance. The BEM theory will be explained in detail
later in this report. This method has been the more common method, probably because it is
the least computationally intensive method. The BEM method to determine the rotor
properties poses a very one-dimensional problem that can be resolved very quickly in an
iterative process. This indeed was used in LES simulations by Porte-Agel et al (Porte-Agel, Lu, &
Wu, 2010) and Wolton (Wolton, 2008). Ammara et al (Ammara, Leclerc, & Masson, 2002)
applied a BEM-generated actuator disk concept to simulate a coned rotor. Simulations by
Sorenson et al (Sorensen & Kock, A model for unsteady rotor aerodynamics, 1995) used a
similar approach, but the force was averaged over the whole disk, as compared to one that is
dependent on radial position. Studies could not be found that compare the number of
concentric actuator disks used in a non-uniformly loaded actuator disk to the accuracy of the
simulation.
A study by Harrison et al (Harrison, Batten, & Bahaj, 2010) showed increased accuracy
of wake predictions when using an actuator disc discretized into concentric discs as compared
to a uniform one for application in tidal stream turbines.
Another possible method to determine the blade forces has been through direct
modeling. This was done by Hartwanger et al (Hartwanger & Horvat, 2008). In this case, time-
averaged velocity and pressure information was extracted just upstream and downstream of
the rotor. These were then directly used to model the actuator disk pressure drop and
rotational velocity. However, it is unclear how the planes from which data was extracted were
chosen. It is probable that planes too close to the surface of the rotor would be affected by the
boundary layer on the rotor, while planes too far away would not give reliable information on
the flow just upstream and downstream of the rotor. Furthermore, the planes would be at
different distances from the rotor surfaces, due to twist and taper of the rotor, further
exacerbating the problem.
16

Actuator Line Model
The actuator line model is an extension of the non-uniformly loaded actuator disk,
developed by (Sorensen & Shen, Numerical modeling of wind turbine wakes, 2002). The
difference is that in the actuator disk model, the blade forces are time-averaged over the whole
rotor disk, while in the actuator line model, the blade forces are not time-averaged, and remain
as line forces. This means that distinct tip vortices can be computed, for more accurate flow
visualization.
However, this unsteady modeling of the rotor results in an increase in computational
costs, which restricts its use to single wake LES simulations, while most LES wind farm wake
simulations are still performed using actuator disk modeling.
2.2.2 Direct modeling
Direct modeling is performed by modeling the entire rotor of the wind turbine, with a
body-fitted grid. Ideally, this would be the best method to represent the rotor for
computations of wakes behind wind turbines and wind farms, since the rotor is represented
completely, rather than just its assumed effects on the flow. However, there are many
problems associated with modeling the rotor directly.
Firstly, direct modeling is computationally very expensive. Direct modeling requires
that the boundary layers formed be adequately resolved to give an accurate representation of
transition, separation and stall effects (Sanderse, van der Pijl, & Koren, Review of CFD for wind-
turbine wake aerodynamics, 2011), which have direct impact on the aerodynamic forces of the
blades. This requires a high mesh resolution near surfaces, especially with high Reynolds
numbers.
Secondly, generating a mesh of sufficient quality to resolve the flow is not trivial.
(Sanderse, van der Pijl, & Koren, Review of CFD for wind-turbine wake aerodynamics, 2011).
This can be achieved using a chimera (overset) grid, in which a separate grid is made for the
moving surfaces, and the grid is overlapped onto a background grid, and these communicate
with each other. Another method commonly used is a sliding mesh approach, in which the
rotor resides within a cylindrical or spherical fluid domain. The rotor is stationary with respect
to this domain, and the domain itself moves, communicating with the cells in the stationary
17

domain. The last method commonly used is that of the moving reference frame. In this
method, the mesh would be similar to that of the sliding mesh approach. This method is
simpler than the sliding mesh approach, given that the flow field rotates, and not the rotor. The
unsteady flow thus becomes a steady one with respect to the rotating frame of reference. This
reduces computational costs and simplifies post-processing (Sagol, Reggio, & Ilinca, 2012).
Potsdam et al (Potsdam & Mavripilis, 2009) compared structured, unstructured and structured
chimera grids to find no significant difference in their accuracies. However, the ease of creation
of the chimera grid, without the need to re-mesh the whole domain, needs to be weighed
against the grid-adaptation and refinement that can be achieved with regular grids.
Lastly, the high grid resolution limits the turbulence models that can effectively be
applied to direct modeling to RANS. Large Eddy Simulation (LES) (Lesieur & Metais, 1996)
models are too complex for such applications, and even the fastest supercomputers would not
be able to satisfactorily solve the simulation within a short enough time frame. Detached Eddy
Simulation (DES) (Spalart, Detached-Eddy Simulations, 2009) models have been used before by
Johansen et al (Johansen, Sorensen, Schreck, & Michelsen, 2002). however, no significant
improvement was found over RANS in predicting blade characteristics. Similar comparisons
were carried out by Sorensen et al (Srensen, Johansen, & Conway, 2004) who concluded that
while there was no significant difference in predicting the blade characteristics, the DES was
significantly better for flow visualization. Benjanirat et al (Benjanirat & Sankar, 2003)
performed simulations using the Bladwin-Lomax (Bladwin & Lomax, 1978), Spalart-Almaras
(Spalart & Allmaras, A one-equation turbulence model for aerodynamic flows, 1994) and k-
(Launder & Spalding, 1974) models and found that the models were reasonably accurate in
predicting normal forces of the blades, but sensitive to near-wall modeling in terms of chord-
wise forces. Sagol et al (Sagol, Reggio, & Ilinca, 2012) compared the k- (Launder & Spalding,
1974), Renormalization Group (RNG) k- (Yakhot & Orszag, 1986), Realizable k- (Shih, Liou,
Shabbir, Yang, & Zhu, 1995) and k- Shear Stress Transformation (SST) (Menter, 1994) models
and concluded that the k- SST model was the most accurate for the application of direct
modeling of wind turbines.
The simulations by Hartwanger et al (Hartwanger & Horvat, 2008), mentioned earlier,
made use of the k- turbulence model. The k- SST model has been proven to be more popular
18

among aerodynamicists for the direct modeling of rotors. Indeed, it was also used in
simulations of wind turbines by (Le Pape & Lecanu, 2004) and in simulations for helicopter
rotor performance by (Le Pape & Beaumier, 2003).
Bak et al (Bak, Fuglsang, Sorensen, Madsen, Shen, & Sorensen, 1999) made use of
direct modeling to attain airfoil aerodynamic properties of wind turbine blades. This was done
using simulations with the k- SST turbulence model. The lift and curve slope derived for the
airfoil cross sections, which were specific to the flows found in wind turbines, could be used to
form more accurate actuator disc models through a more accurate BEM computation. Two
methods were used to derive the airfoil characteristics, the first of which was an inverse BEM
method. In this, the already known forces from the simulation were used (as compared to
forces being taken from lift and drag curves) and the axial and tangential induction factors
computed iteratively. In the second method, the forces, both axial and tangential, were placed
into an actuator disc. The resultant axial and induction factors, based on the speed of the
airflow at the disc, were used to compute the wind speeds and angle of attack. Both methods
were found to be in good agreement.
2.3 Experiments
Many experiments have been conducted by researchers to learn about wind turbine
aerodynamics. With the many problems inherent in CFD simulations of wind turbines,
experiments remain the only means of attaining absolutely accurate results. Of particular
interest is the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Unsteady Aerodynamics
Experiment (UAE). This involved testing wind turbines both in wind tunnel and field conditions.
The results have been collated, arranged and made available to researchers.
In the NREL UAE Phase VI experiment (Hand, et al., 2001), a 10.058m diameter, 2-
bladed rotor was tested in the NASA-Ames 24.4m by 36.6m wind tunnel, as shown in Figure 7
and Figure 8. The wind tunnel has a turbulence intensity of 0.5%. The blades of the wind
turbine are twisted and tapered, and measurements include the coefficient of pressure
distribution at certain span sections, thrust, torque, and blade root flap bending moment. This
makes it an excellent validation case for CFD analyses, and will be simulated for this project.
19

Figure 7 NREL UAE Phase VI turbine in the NASA Ames wind tunnel (Hand, et al., 2001)

Figure 8 Wind tunnel size for NREL UAE Phase VI Experiment (Simms, Schreck, Hand, & Fingersh, 2001)
20

The experiments were conducted for a wide range of wind speeds, and the rotor speed
was controlled at 72rpm. The blades were composed entirely of the NREL S809 airfoil shown in
Figure 9, from 1.257m span to the blade tip. It transitions from a cylindrical shape to the NREL
S809 airfoil from 0.883m to 1.257m, although little is known about this transition and the form
of the blade tip, so some degree of assumption is necessary. The blade taper and pitch for a 3
pitch at the tip are shown in Figure 10 and Figure 11 respectively.

Figure 9 NREL S809 airfoil section

Figure 10 Distribution of blade cross-sectional chord length, c (m) against non-dimensionalized rotor radius
-0.15
-0.1
-0.05
0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
C
h
o
r
d

l
e
n
g
t
h

(
m
)

Non-dimensionalized rotor radius (r/R)
21

Figure 11 Distribution of blade pitch, () against non-dimensionalized rotor radius

0
5
10
15
20
25
30
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
P
t
i
c
h

(
)

Non-dimensionalized rotor radius (r/R)
22

3.0 Objectives and theoretical premise for project
3.1 Development of simulation methodology for accurate actuator
disc models
Actuator disc models are the only method available currently for an accurate
simulation of the wakes behind wind turbines in a large wind farm. Current research, however,
centers on the simplest application of the actuator disc model, where the parameters are
based on the simple but inaccurate BEM theory. Research has barely brushed the possibility of
using direct modeling, or experimental results (both in much the same way) to attain a more
accurate actuator disc model.
This is likely to be due to the fact that direct modeling and experiments are both very
time consuming and expensive, compared to using the BEM theory, which can deliver a result
in seconds. However, the applications of direct modeling and actuator disc models are
dissimilar. Direct modeling can be used to optimize the design and understand the
aerodynamic and aeroelastic properties of a single wind turbine. Actuator disc models, on the
other hand, can be used to optimize wind turbine placement in wind farms, understand the
maintenance requirements for the wind farm, and possibly be used to design wind turbines for
subsequent arrays after the first, that are optimized to operate in the wake of upstream
turbines. This would create a far more efficient wind farm, decreasing costs and increasing the
energy output from the wind farm.
Thus, the objective of this research is to develop a framework through which the
essential information can be passed from wind turbine manufacturers to wind farm operators,
for the accurate simulation of wind farms using the actuator disc model. The same framework
can be used by wind turbine manufacturers to work with wind farm operators and produce
wind turbines suited to their position within a wind farm.
This project will attempt to fulfill this objective using two approaches, similar to the
approaches used by Bak et al (Bak, Fuglsang, Sorensen, Madsen, Shen, & Sorensen, 1999) to
attain the airfoil characteristics for wind turbine blade cross sections, and will be elaborated on
in later sections. This will be carried out by means of first conducting a direct modeling of the
23

NREL UAE Phase VI rotor. The wakes of the actuator discs will be compared to the wakes of the
direct models as well as actuator discs developed using the BEM theory, and the accuracy of
the developed approach will be assessed.
3.2 Inverse BEM Approach
This approach will use the same BEM algorithm used in the WT_perf design code,
except that the forces extracted from the direct simulation will be used. Thus, there will be no
reference to the lift and drag curves, since the forces are already known. The algorithm is
summarized in Figure 12, was applied using Microsoft Excel and run for 50 iterations, and the
blade discretized into 20 sections of 5% span length. The radial center of this section will be
used to represent the sectional forces.

Figure 12 Inverse BEM alogorithm for present study
The extracted a will be directly used to form the relationship between pressure drop
and axial velocity as well as model the swirl velocity in the actuator disc. The same disc model
will be run for all wind speeds.
24

3.3 Actuator disc approach
In this approach, the pressure drops computed from the direct simulation and will be
run as fixed (not velocity-dependent) pressure drops in actuator discs specifically for each of
the wind speeds. The axial velocity will be extracted at each blade section at each wind speed,
which will be used to form an overall pressure drop against velocity model. This new model will
be used in the actuator disc run for all cases, which will be used for comparison.
The present study will only cover axial flows, and will not include a tangential force
component, like the one used in the simulations by Bak et al (Bak, Fuglsang, Sorensen, Madsen,
Shen, & Sorensen, 1999).

25

4.0 Computational Methodology
This section will highlight the mesh properties and boundary conditions used in all the
CFD computations in this project. 5 wind speeds were simulated, 7, 10, 15, 20 and 25 m/s.
These were all run for the specific case of 0 yaw and 0 coning angle of the wind turbine. The
pitch of the wind turbine at the blade tip was 3. The hardware used was a computer with an
Intel Xeon 5650 processor and 16GB of RAM. This enabled large simulations to be run quickly
by parallel processing among the 6 cores, which ran at 3.06GHz.
4.1 Fluent computational fluid dynamics software
The simulations were run on ANSYS Fluent 6.3.26. Fluent is an Eulerian, finite-volumes
based CFD software. As a commercial CFD tool, it is a powerful software used by many
industries, including aerospace, automotive and marine. It comes packaged with many
numerical solving methods and turbulence models, giving the user many options. It also has the
capability of parallel processing, allowing the user to perform larger simulations with multi-core
or network processors.
Fluent comes packaged with the grid generation software, Gambit, which was used to
model the computational meshes for this project.
4.2 Direct Modeling
4.2.1 Computational set-up
The direct modeling for this project used the multiple reference frames approach. In
this approach, the air in the wind tunnel would be computed in a stationary frame of reference,
while the flow field would rotate in the cylindrical control volume around the blade, simulating
a rotating blade. While many researchers have used a cylindrical domain for the farfield
boundary, it was not practiced in this project. Instead, the domain was shaped to match the
wind tunnel in which the experiment was conducted, for a more meaningful validation. Since
the experiment has a periodic symmetry of 180, a periodic simulation was run, using only one
blade and half the wind tunnel cross-sectional geometry, thus requiring only half the number of
mesh cells.
26

The computational mesh was composed of 2 primary fluid domains, the rotor zone and
the tunnel zone, and was entirely composed of an unstructured tetrahedral mesh. The rotor
zone had a radius of 5.5m, to allow a large enough gap between the blade tip and the edge of
the rotor zone so as to prevent interference with the fluid flow. The rotor zone also extended
0.15D upstream and 0.15D downstream of the rotor centroid. The mesh size was 8mm at the
rotor and expanded at a growth rate of 1.25 to a maximum size of 4cm, giving a total of
5,479,781 cells.

Figure 13 Computational gird intersecting the wind turbine blade
27

Figure 14 Computational gird intersecting the wind turbine blade in a closer view

Figure 15 Figure showing the computational grid adjacent to the blade
28

Figure 16 Figure showing the computational grid around the blade tip

Figure 17 Figure showing computational grid around the blade hub
The rotor domain extended to 18.3m in height, half the width of the NASA-Ames wind
tunnel, and from -12.2m to 12.2m from the rotor centroid in width, matching the height of the
29

NASA-Ames tunnel. The inlet and outlet boundaries were located at 10D form the rotor
centroid, to ensure the boundaries cannot significantly affect the flow. The mesh size grew
from 4cm at the boundary of the rotor zone at a rate of 1.4 to a maximum size of 73.8cm,
corresponding to the largest chord length in the rotor geometry. This resulted in a total of
3,185,465 cells in the tunnel zone. Thus, the total number of cells for the direct model was
8,665,246 cells.
The velocity inlet and outflow boundary conditions were applied to the inlet and outlet
boundaries respectively, no-slip wall condition for the tunnel walls and rotor, and periodic
condition for the boundaries of rotational symmetry. The rotor zone was given a rotational
speed of 72rpm, and the rotor given 0 rotational speed with respect to the adjacent rotor zone.
A k- SST turbulence model (without transitional flows) was applied. The reason the
transitional flows wall function was not applied was that it required a cell y+ of 1 to 10 to be
optimum, which was not the case for this simulation. Without transitional flows, a y+ of 30 to
300 was appropriate, which matched the y+ range of the rotor. The k- SST turbulence model
was chosen because of its proven accuracy in wind turbine simulations, resulting in its
popularity as a turbulence model for direct modeling simulations, most likely due to its high
accuracy in both near wall flows and flows away from the wall, as well as its ability to handle
rotational flows.
A steady-state simulation was first attempted. While the torque output was tolerably
accurate, within 10% of the experimental torque, the torque output was noisy, constantly
changing with every iteration. Thus, a pseudo-steady state method was employed for wind
speeds of 7m/s and 10m/s, whereby an unsteady simulation was run, but with a time step
equivalent to 1 revolution of the rotor. This allowed for a rather steady-state output, and the
results at every 10 revolutions from the 250
th
to 400
th
revolution were taken and averaged.
However, at 15m/s, this approach became inaccurate, exceeding a 15% deviation from
experimental torque. This was probably because of the onset of flow separation, which made
the flow more complex. The time step was reduced to a 2 rotation of the blade per time step.
After 9 rotor revolutions, the simulation was deemed to have converged, since the peaks and
troughs of the oscillations for the torque output were similar, and this provided enough time
for wind with 15m/s speed to reach the outlet boundary from the rotor and the rotor from the
30

inlet boundary. From here, the data from every 20 turn of the rotor was taken and averaged
for one rotor revolution. This was done to have an azimuthal average of the various rotor and
flow properties, such as coefficients of pressure and wake velocities. The large angle of 20
between each data set was used to simplify this averaging process, but small enough to ensure
a fair averaging process. A similar approach was practiced for the other wind speeds. The
simulations of wind speeds of 20m/s and 25m/s were deemed to have converged after 7 and 5
revolutions respectively and thus were run for 8 and 6 revolutions respectively.
4.2.2 Validation
The results of the simulation were validated against experimental results, and showed
good agreement. All torque and thrust values were tolerably accurate (within 12% of
experimental values) as shown in Figure 18 and Figure 19 respectively. In addition, force
coefficients normal to the chord at various cross sections (30%, 63% and 95% span sections)
were in similarly close agreement. The distribution of the coefficients of pressure for these
span sections were also compared for a pre-flow separation case (7m/s) and post-flow
separation case (25m/s) and found to be in close agreement. The comparisons of the force
coefficients and the coefficients of pressure distribution can be viewed in Appendix A.

Figure 18 Comparison of computed and experimental torques
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
5 10 15 20 25
T
o
r
q
u
e

(
N
.
m
)

Wind Speed (m/s)
NREL UAE Phase VI
CFD Predictions
31

Figure 19 Comparison of computed and experimental thrust

4.2 Actuator disc models
The actuator disc models were created with a similar domain size as the direct model,
for a fair comparison. The actuator disc is modeled in Fluent as a fan boundary condition.
However, this boundary condition can only create a uniform pressure drop across the disc,
which can vary with local axial velocity at the fan boundary. To create the actuator discs for this
study, many concentric fan boundaries were used, thus effectively discretizing the actuator disc
radially. The actuator disc models were also composed of tetrahedral unstructured meshes.
The mesh size on the actuator disc was equal to the sectional length, 5% of the blade span.
From here, the mesh was expanded to a maximum size of 0.5R (2.5145m) at a growth rate of
1.25. A diagram illustrating the radial discretization of actuator disc is shown in Figure 20.
800
1300
1800
2300
2800
3300
3800
4300
5 10 15 20 25
T
h
r
u
s
t

(
N
)

Wind Speed (m/s)
NREL UAE Phase VI
CFD Prediction
32

Figure 20 Radial discretization of actuator disc
Each discrete concentric actuator disc was given a pressure drop function of velocity,
modeled using a 4
th
order polynomial shown in equation ( 33 ).

( 33 )

where C
i
is the coefficient for each power of velocity.
4.2.1 BEM based actuator disc model
The BEM design code, WT_perf, was used to perform the BEM computations to find
out the forces on the blade sections. Since no lift or drag curves could be input for the
cylindrical section, the whole section was modeled as a hub. In addition, the transition section
from the cylindrical section to the blade proper was modeled as having the same airfoil as the
blade. The input file for the WT_perf code is shown in Appendix B.
To match the output from the program, the hub was modeled as a circular wall of 0.2R
radius. Thereafter, there were 16 concentric fan boundaries, with each pressure drop being
modeled with the 4
th
order polynomial shown in equation ( 33 )
4.2.2 Inverse BEM based actuator disc models
The inverse BEM model was created based on the algorithm explained in section 3.2
Inverse BEM Approach. Using this model, all sections of the blade could be modeled,
33

and so no wall was used to simulate the hub. Instead, 20 concentric fan boundaries were used,
with each pressure drop being modeled with the 4
th
order polynomial shown in equation ( 33 )
4.2.3 Actuator disc based actuator disc model
In this model, one set of actuator discs were created with a constant pressure drop,
independent of axial velocity, and simulated at their specific wind speeds to find the local axial
velocity at the actuator disc, with each pressure drop being modeled with the 4
th
order
polynomial shown in equation ( 33 )

34

5.0 Results and Discussion
5.1 Comparison of accuracy between direct rotor model and BEM
theory
To better understand the comparative accuracies between the actuator disc methods
presented in this report and one based on BEM theory, a comparison is done for the torques
and thrusts for the rotor attained by the two methods. These are presented in Figure 21 and
Figure 22.

Figure 21 Comparison of computed torques for CFD and BEM theory
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
5 10 15 20 25
T
o
r
q
u
e

(
N
.
m
)

Wind speed (m/s)
NREL UAE Phase VI
CFD Predictions
BEM
35

Figure 22 Comparison of computed thrusts for CFD and BEM theory
It can be seen that BEM theory is highly inaccurate, due to the fact that two-
dimensional airfoil data is used, which does not account for rotational effects of the rotor that
can suppress stall effects. Thus can give an idea of the inaccuracies associated with a BEM-
based actuator disc approach, will be better qualified and quantified in the coming sections.
5.2 Axial Velocity
5.2.1 Wake flow visualization
Contour plots of axial velocity in the wake are shown for each wind speed in figures 23
to 27, for the direct rotor model (DRM), actuator disc-based actuator disc model (ADM-AD),
inverse BEM-based actuator disc model (ADM-IB) and BEM-based actuator disc model (ADM-
BEM).
800
1300
1800
2300
2800
3300
3800
4300
5 10 15 20 25
T
h
r
u
s
t

(
N
)

Wind speed (m/s)
NREL UAE Phase VI
CFD Prediction
BEM
36

Figure 23 Contour plot of axial velocity for wind speed of 7m/s

37


38

It is clear from the contour plots that the two present methods, the actuator disc-based
actuator disc model (ADM-AD) and inverse BEM-based actuator disc model (ADM-IB) have
produced highly similar results. Furthermore, their wake structures appear to be similar to the
wakes from the direct rotor model (DRM), although less turbulent. The axial velocities appear
to be in similar range, but the contours contain less detail. They appear to be more accurate in
comparison to the BEM-based actuator disc model, ADM-BEM, which generally displays lower
axial velocities.
A possible explanation for the differences between the both the ADM-AD and the
ADM-IB and the DRM is the lack of tip vortices produced by the actuator disc model. Also, the
flows in the actuator disc models are purely axial, and no rotational flows were simulated. This
may have contributed to the less noisy and smoother contour lines. Lastly, some of the lacks of
detail in the actuator disc models may be due to the coarser mesh used in the actuator disc
models compared to the DRM, resulting in a much poorer resolution of detail.
39

5.2.2 Vertical profiles of axial velocity
To ensure a more meaningful, quantitative comparison, the vertical profiles of the non-
dimensionalized axial velocities, local velocities divided by the inlet velocity, from the rotor
center were plotted at 4, 6 and 8 rotor diameters downstream of the rotor (x/D = 4, 6 and 8
respectively), to compare the accuracy of the wakes and wake degradation. These profiles are
used to compute downstream rotor performances in wind farms, and thus are of great
importance. These are shown in figures 26 to 30 below.

Figure 28 Vertical profiles for axial velocity for wind speed of 7m/s
40


41


42

The ADM-AD and ADM-IB models have shown a similar performance, with relatively
accurate prediction of the wake velocities, significantly more accurate than the ADM-BEM
results. However, slight inaccuracies can be seen at the rotor hub and tip regions. This may
possibly be due to the lack of rotational flows in the actuator disc models, which could add
additional shear forces in the flow that would create a steeper velocity gradient. Another
possibility may be the need to refine the discretization of the actuator disc model into
concentric actuator discs near the hub and tip regions.
5.2.3 Horizontal profiles of axial velocity
Axial velocities along the axial direction for radii of 0R, 0.25R, 0.5R and 0.75R (z/R=0,
0.25, 0.5 and 0.75 respectively) at a 0 azimuth (12 0clock position) for each of the simulations
are compared and shown for each wind speed in figures 33 to 37.

Figure 33 Horizontal profile of axial velocity for wind speed of 7m/s
43


44


45

These profiles indicate that downstream wake degradation patterns in the ADM-AD
and ADM-IB models are similar to the DRM simulations, with very few variants. The high
accuracy in prediction of axial velocities even at large downstream distances from the rotor
indicates that the ADM-AD models and ADM-IB models will be highly successful in terms of
wind farm wake prediction. These results also indicate that the relative coarseness of the
meshes used in the actuator disc models do not affect the general flow physics adversely.
The profiles from the ADM-BEM simulations indicate a very low accuracy, which will
result in a highly inaccurate wind farm simulation, as these errors will be compounded in
downstream actuator discs.
5.3 Turbulence Intensity
5.3.1 Wake flow visualization
Contour plots of turbulence intensity in the wake are shown for each wind speed in
figures 38 to 42, for the direct rotor model (DRM), actuator disc-based actuator disc model
(ADM-AD), inverse BEM-based actuator disc model (ADM-IB) and BEM-based actuator disc
model (ADM-BEM).
46

Figure 38 Contour plot of turbulence intensity for wind speed of 7m/s

47


48

It is immediately apparent that both the ADM-AD and ADM-IB methods do not produce
enough turbulence to replicate the DRM result. In fact, the turbulence for these two models
are almost non-existent. This can possibly be attributed to the fact that rotational flows were
not simulated, and that the actuator discs do not simulate tip vortices, which can cause
shearing effects and eventual mixing, which result in turbulence. Also, the lack of any physical
wall means that boundary layer turbulence cannot develop.
Indeed it is likely to be the flat circular wall used to model the hub of the rotor in the
ADB-BEM model, which has resulted in the high levels of turbulence in those simulations.
However, this is not comparable with the turbulence from the DRM simulation, as the location
and intensity differs. Thus, it is likely that turbulent source terms must be included in the ADM-
AD and ADM-IB models to create a similarity with the actual flow.
5.3.2 Vertical profiles of turbulence intensity
To ensure a meaningful, quantitative comparison of axial velocities for the purposes of
wind farm wake simulation (for placement optimization, performance prediction and loads
49

prediction), axial velocity profiles at 4, 6 and 8 rotor diameters downstream of the rotor (x/D =
4, 6 and 8 respectively) were compared, in figures 43 to 47.

Figure 43 Vertical profiles for turbulence intensity for wind speed of 7m/s
50


51


52

These profiles confirm that the present methods do not produce enough turbulence to
accurately simulate the wind turbine. Using a wall boundary condition for the hub, as used in
the ADM-BEM method, produces too much turbulence, and does not generally follow the same
pattern as the DRM simulations. It is noticeable that above the rotor, turbulence from the
three actuator disc models are similar and higher that the DRM simulations. This is likely to be
due to the relative coarseness of the actuator disc meshes, which are not refined enough to
accurately simulate the wind tunnel wall boundary layer.
It is likely that turbulence source terms are needed to accurately account for the
turbulence generated by the rotor. The rotor is seen to develop more turbulence at the tip at
higher velocities, and the source terms need to account for this as well.

53

6.0 Conclusion
6.1 Project outcomes and objectives
Two methods of creating actuator disc models have been presented, both involving the
extraction of axial induction factors for discrete blade segments and blade forces directly from
a direct rotor modeling of a wind turbine. The first method, ADM-AD, involved using a fixed
pressure drop across the actuator disc for each wind speed, finding the local velocity normal to
the actuator disc for each blade segment, and using the data to form a pressure drop against
velocity profile, for a more general actuator disc. The second method, ADM-IB, used the BEM
algorithm, but with the fixed blade force data, to find the axial induction factor, based on which
the pressure drop against velocity profile for the actuator disc was formulated. The actuator
discs were made up of 20 discrete segments to increase the accuracy of the actuator disc.
Results showed little difference between the results of the ADM-AD and ADM-IB
methods. This was to be expected, since previous work by Bak et al (Bak, Fuglsang, Sorensen,
Madsen, Shen, & Sorensen, 1999) showed good agreement between similar two methods for
formulating airfoil lift and drag coefficients. More significant was the high accuracy of
prediction of axial velocity in the wake, even at large distances downstream of the rotor, in
comparison to the direct rotor model (DRM). In addition, this accuracy was significantly higher
than for the actuator disc constructed using a traditional BEM method (ADM-BEM). This shows
that the availability of direct rotor modeling results, or detailed experimental results both of
which would likely be produced at a design stage of a commercial wind turbine, can increase
the accuracy in which wind farm simulations are conducted. This can allow for far more
efficient placement of wind turbines in wind farms, as well as accurate prediction of blade
aeroelastic loads for a more cost-effective maintenance schedule.
However, prediction of turbulence intensity in both the ADM-AD and ADM-IB models
were highly inaccurate. This is due to the fact that the actuator disc forms only a pressure
discontinuity, and has no physical presence in the flow. These low turbulence intensities from
the ADM-AD and ADM-IB models may have been compounded by the fact that the present
study did not include rotational flows. Rotational flows may increase the shear in the wake to a
level that increases the turbulence intensity. From previous literature, it can be concluded that
54

this is unlikely to be enough, and turbulence source terms would be needed in the actuator disc
to improve accuracy. However Sanderse et al noted in their review of wind turbine wake
aerodynamics that in the case of an atmospheric boundary layer, the turbine-generated
turbulence would be insignificant compared to atmospheric turbulence (Sanderse, van der Pijl,
& Koren, Review of CFD for wind-turbine wake aerodynamics, 2011). This needs to be
investigated with present models using atmospheric boundary layers.
Overall, this project was successful in producing accurate actuator disc representations
of the NREL Phase VI wind turbine by means of extraction of aerodynamic data from the direct
rotor CFD model. This success suggests that accurate and detailed experimental results would
be well suited to produce even more accurate actuator disc models for wind farm wake
simulation.
6.2 Limitations of project
All research has shortcomings, but effective assessment of these will allow the
discerning scientist or engineer to formulate better conclusions. One shortcoming of this
project was the assumption that the wake from the DRM simulation was an accurate
representation of the actual wind turbine wake. This is a safe assumption, since not only overall
torque and thrust data was highly accurate, but blade sectional force distribution and the local
cross-sectional coefficient of pressure distribution were found to be accurate. While this is an
intuitively safe assumption, this could not be validated due to the lack of particle image
velocimetry (PIV) or anemometry data.
In future, it is hoped that more experiments such as the NREL UAE phase VI will be
conducted, with a wide and detailed variety of data that includes detailed wake profiles. This
would allow for better validation of CFD data.
6.3 Future work
Present research focused on only axial flows for the actuator disc models. However,
this is by design, rather than a shortcoming, to reduce the number of variables. The work
presented here can be extended in several directions, including:
55

1. Exploring the relationship between the number of blade segments used and the
accuracy of the actuator disc model, and if a suitable coarse but accurate model can be
created.
2. Exploring the same models presented here including rotational flows, to assess the
accuracy of the new model, with the added parameter of rotational velocity of the
wake.
3. Exploring the addition of turbulence source terms in the actuator disc models
presented to improve prediction of wake turbulence.
4. Investigating the effect of outdoors simulation, using the atmospheric boundary layer,
to assess the viability of the models in a true wind farm setting.
5. Comparing the accuracy of the present models in arrays, with experimental results
involving similar wind turbine arrays.
It is the hope of this author that such studies and more will result in highly accurate
wind farm wake simulations, for more efficient and cheaper wind farms in the future.

56

7.0 References
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Differential/Actuator-Disk Method for the Aerodynamic Analysis of Wind Farms.
Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, 124(4), 345-356.
Bak, C., Fuglsang, P., Sorensen, N. N., Madsen, H. A., Shen, W., & Sorensen, J. (1999). Airfoil
Characteristics for Wind Turbines. Riso National Laboratory, Technical University of
Denmark. Roskilde, Denmark: Riso National Laboratory. Riso-R-0165 (EN).
Benjanirat, S., & Sankar, L. N. (2003). Evaluation of turbulence models for the prediction of
wind turbine aerodynamics. 41st Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit. Reno,
Nevada, USA: AIAA. AIAA-2003-0517.
Bladwin, B. S., & Lomax, H. (1978). Thin Layer Approximation and Algebraic Model for
Separated Turbulent Flow. 16th American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics,
Aerospace Sciences Meeting. Huntsville, Alabama: AIAA. AIAA-1978-257.
Glauert, H. (1935). Airplane Propellers. In W. F. Durand, Aerodynamic Theory, Vol IV (pp. 169-
360). Berlin, Germany: Springer Verlag.
Hand, M. M., Simms, D. A., Fingersh, L. J., Jager, D. W., Cotrell, J. R., Schreck, S., et al. (2001).
Unsteady Aerodynamics Experiment Phase VI: Wind Tunnel Test Configurations and
Available Data Campaigns. Golden, Colarado: National Renweable Energy Laboratory.
NREL/TP-500-29955.
Hansen, M. O. (2008). Aerodynamics of Wind Turbines (2nd ed.). London, UK: Earthscan.
Harrison, M. E., Batten, W. M., & Bahaj, A. S. (2010). A Blade Element Actuator Disc Approach
Applied to Tidal Stream Turbines. OCEANS 2010. Seattle, Washignton, USA: IEEE.
Hartwanger, D., & Horvat, A. (2008). 3D Modeling of a Wind Turbine Using CFD. NAFEMS
Conference, (pp. 1-14). Chaltenham, United Kingdom.
Hibbs, B., & Radkey, R. L. (1982). Small Wind Energy Conversion Systems (SWECS) Rotor
Performance Model Comparison Study. Pasadena, California: Rockwell International
Corporatio.
Johansen, J., Sorensen, N. N., Schreck, S., & Michelsen, J. A. (2002). Detached-eddy simulation
of flow around the NREL phase IV blade. Wind Energy, 5, 185-197.
Launder, B. E., & Spalding, D. B. (1974). The Numerical Computation of Turbulent Flows.
Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 3(2), 269-289.
57

Le Pape, A., & Beaumier, P. (2003). Numerical Optimization of Helicopter Rotor Performance In
Hover. 29th European Rotorcraft Forum. Friedrichshafen, Germany.
Le Pape, A., & Lecanu, J. (2004). 3D Navier-Stokes Computations of a Stall-Regulated Wind
Turbine. Delft. Netherlands: ONERA.
Lesieur, M., & Metais, O. (1996). New Trends in Large-Eddy Simulations of Turbulence. Annual
Review of Fluid Mechanics, 28, 45-82.
Maniaci, D. C. (2011). An investigation of WT_perf convergence issues. 49th AIAA Aerospace
Sciences Meeting including the New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition.
Orlando, Florida, USA: AIAA. AIAA 2011-150.
Menter, F. R. (1994). Two-Equation Eddy Viscosity Turbulence Models for Engineering
Applications. AIAA Journal, 32(8), 1598-1605.
Neustadter, H., & Spera, D. (1985). Method for evaluating wind turbine wake effects for wind
farm performance. Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, 107, 240-243.
Porte-Agel, F., Lu, H., & Wu, Y.-T. (2010). A large-eddy simulation framework for wind energy
applications. The Fifth International Symposium on Computational Wind Engineering.
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
Potsdam, M. A., & Mavripilis, D. J. (2009). Unstructured Mesh CFD Analysis of the NREL Phase
VI Rotor. 47th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting Including The New Horizons Forum
and Aerospace Exposition (pp. 1-18). Orlando, Florida: AIAA. AIAA 2009-1221.
Raichle, A., Melber-Wilkending, S., & Himisch, J. (2008). A New Actuator Disk Model for the TAU
Code and Application to a Sailplaine with a Folding Engine. Notes on Numerical Fluid
Mechanics and Multidisciplinary Design, 96, 52-61.
Sagol, E., Reggio, M., & Ilinca, A. (2012). Assessment of Two-Equation Turbulence Models and
Validation of the Performance Characteristics of an Experimental Wind Turbine. ISRN
Mechanical Engineering, 2012, 1-10.
Sanderse, B. (2009). Aerodynamics of Wind Turbine Wakes. Energy Research Centre of the
Netherlands.
Sanderse, B., van der Pijl, S., & Koren, B. (2011). Review of CFD for wind-turbine wake
aerodynamics. Wind Energy, 14(7), 799-819.
Shih, T.-H., Liou, W. M., Shabbir, A., Yang, Z., & Zhu, J. (1995). A New k-[epsilon] Eddy Viscosity
Model for High Reynolds Number Turbulent Flows. Computers & Fluids, 24(3), 227-238.
58

Simms, D., Schreck, S., Hand, M., & Fingersh, L. J. (2001). NREL Unsteady Aerodynamics
Experiment in the NASA-Ames Wind Tunnel: A Comparison of Predictions to
Measurements. Golden, Colarado: National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Sorensen, J. N., & Kock, C. W. (1995). A model for unsteady rotor aerodynamics. Journal of
Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, 58, 259-275.
Sorensen, J. N., & Shen, W. Z. (2002). Numerical modeling of wind turbine wakes. Journal of
Fluids Engineering, 124(2), 393-399.
Srensen, N., Johansen, J., & Conway, S. (2004). CFD Computations of Wind Turbine Blade
Loads During Standstill Operation. Roskilde, Denmark: Ris.
Spalart, P. R. (2009). Detached-Eddy Simulations. Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, 41, 181-
202.
Spalart, P. R., & Allmaras, S. R. (1994). A one-equation turbulence model for aerodynamic
flows. La Recherche Aerospatiale, 1(1), 5-21.
Vermeer, L. J., Sorensen, J. N., & Crespo, A. (2003). Wind turbine wake aerodynamics. Progress
in Aerospace Sciences, 39, 467-510.
Wolton, P. R. (2008). Wind farm wake prediction using CFD. MSc Thesis, University of Colarado,
Department of Mechanical Engineering.
World Wind Energy Association. (2011). World Wind Energy Report 2011. Bonn, Germany:
World Wind Energy Association.
Yakhot, V., & Orszag, S. A. (1986). Renormalization Group Analysis of Turbulence. I. Basic
Theory. Journal of Scientific Computing, 1(1), 3-51.
A-1

Appendix A
Further validation of the direct rotor modeling was conducted by comparing blade
cross-sectional normal force coefficients with results derived from the experiment. These are
the coefficients of the forces normal to the chord line at the blade cross section. These are
shown for three cross sections, at 30%, 63% and 95% span locations, as compared in figures A-1
to A-3 below.

Figure A- 1 Coefficients of normal force at 30% span
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
5 10 15 20 25
C
o
e
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
t

o
f

N
o
r
m
a
l

F
o
r
c
e

Wind Speed (m/s)
CFD prediction
NREL UAE Phase VI
A-2


While some slight deviations exist, the force distribution was found to largely and
accurately agree with experimental data.
In addition, the coefficient of pressure distribution at each of these span segments
were compared for wind speeds of 7m/s and 25m/s, as shown in figures A-4 and A-5 below.
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
5 10 15 20 25
C
o
e
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
t

o
f

N
o
r
m
a
l

F
o
r
c
e

Wind Speed (m/s)
CFD prediction
NREL UAE Phase VI
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
5 10 15 20 25
C
o
e
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
t

o
f

N
o
r
m
a
l

F
o
r
c
e

Wind Speed (m/s)
CFD prediction
NREL UAE Phase VI
A-3

Figure A- 4 Coefficient of pressure distribution at wind speed of 7m/s

Figure A- 5 Coefficient of pressure distribution at wind speed of 25m/s
A-4

The computed distributions of coefficient of pressure show good agreement with
experimental results, adding to the validity of the direct rotor modeling simulations.
B-1

Appendix B
The following lines of code form the input file for the WT_perf code.
----- WT_Perf Input File -----------------------------------------------------
WT_Perf UAE_PhaseVI input file. UAE Phase 6 turbine (Non-dimen, Metric, Space, BEM).
Compatible with WT_Perf v3.04.00a-mlb.
----- Input Configuration ----------------------------------------------------
True Echo: Echo input parameters to "<rootname>.ech"?
False DimenInp: Turbine parameters are dimensional?
True Metric: Turbine parameters are Metric (MKS vs FPS)?
----- Model Configuration ----------------------------------------------------
16 NumSect: Number of circumferential sectors.
50 MaxIter: Max number of iterations for induction factor.
1.0e-5 ATol: Error tolerance for induction iteration.
1.0e-5 SWTol: Error tolerance for skewed-wake iteration.
----- Algorithm Configuration ------------------------------------------------
True TipLoss: Use the Prandtl tip-loss model?
False HubLoss: Use the Prandtl hub-loss model?
True Swirl: Include Swirl effects?
True SkewWake: Apply skewed-wake correction?
True IndType: Use BEM induction algorithm?
True AIDrag: Use the drag term in the axial induction calculation?
B-2

True TIDrag: Use the drag term in the tangential induction calculation?
True TISingularity Use the singularity avoidance method in the tangential-
induction calculation?
----- Turbine Data -----------------------------------------------------------
2 NumBlade: Number of blades.
5.029 RotorRad: Rotor radius [length].
0.2 HubRad: Hub radius [length or div by radius].
0.0 PreCone: Precone angle, positive downwind [deg].
0.0 Tilt: Shaft tilt [deg].
0.0 Yaw: Yaw error [deg].
10.0 HubHt: Hub height [length or div by radius].
16 NumSeg: Number of blade segments (entire rotor radius).
RElm Twist Chord AFfile PrntElem
0.225 18.215 0.1083 1 True
0.275 21.972 0.1439 1 True
0.325 16.979 0.1389 1 True
0.375 13.636 0.1338 1 True
0.425 11.174 0.1288 1 True
0.475 9.260 0.1238 1 True
0.525 7.888 0.1187 1 True
0.575 6.822 0.1136 1 True
B-3

0.625 6.057 0.1086 1 True
0.675 5.480 0.1035 1 True
0.725 5.025 0.0985 1 True
0.775 4.625 0.0935 1 True
0.825 4.245 0.0884 1 True
0.875 3.881 0.0833 1 True
0.925 3.527 0.0783 1 True
0.975 3.172 0.0732 1 True
----- Aerodynamic Data -------------------------------------------------------
1.2250000 Rho: Air density [mass/volume].
1.464e-05 KinVisc: Kinematic air viscosity
0.000 ShearExp: Wind shear exponent (1/7 law = 0.143).
True UseCm: Are Cm data included in the airfoil tables?
False UseCpmin: Are Cp,min data included in the airfoil tables?
1 NumAF: Number of airfoil files.
"airfoils/unsteadyaeroexp/s809_cln.dat" AF_File: List of NumAF airfoil files.
----- I/O Settings -----------------------------------------------------------
False UnfPower: Write parametric power to an unformatted file?
True TabDel: When generating formatted output (OutForm=True), make
output tab-delimited (fixed-width otherwise).
B-4

True OutNines: Output nines if the solution doesn't fully converge to the
specified tolerences.
True Beep: Beep on exit.
True KFact: Output dimensional parameters in K (e.g., kN instead on N)
True WriteBED: Write out blade element data to "<rootname>.bed"?
False InputTSR: Input speeds as TSRs?
True OutMaxCp: Output conditions for the maximum Cp?
"mps" SpdUnits: Wind-speed units (mps, fps, mph).
----- Combined-Case Analysis -------------------------------------------------
0 NumCases: Number of cases to run. Enter zero for parametric analysis.
WS or TSR RotSpd Pitch Remove following block of lines if NumCases is zero.
----- Parametric Analysis (Ignored if NumCases > 0) --------------------------
3 ParRow: Row parameter (1-rpm, 2-pitch, 3-tsr/speed).
2 ParCol: Column parameter (1-rpm, 2-pitch, 3-tsr/speed).
1 ParTab: Table parameter (1-rpm, 2-pitch, 3-tsr/speed).
True OutPwr: Request output of rotor power for formatted output?
True OutCp: Request output of Cp for formatted output?
True OutTrq: Request output of shaft torque for formatted output?
True OutFlp: Request output of flap bending moment for formatted output?
True OutThr: Request output of rotor thrust for formatted output?
3, 3, 0 PitSt, PitEnd, PitDel: First, last, delta blade pitch (deg).
B-5

72, 72, 0 OmgSt, OmgEnd, OmgDel: First, last, delta rotor speed (rpm).
7, 25, 1 SpdSt, SpdEnd, SpdDel: First, last, delta speeds.

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