Wind Turbine Wake Investigation Using the Hybrid VBM-CFD Method
摘要
Due to the ever-increasing demand for energy and the climate crisis, the energy transition towards renewable energies, and in particular the use of wind energy, is experiencing a remarkable increase. However, the extraction of kinetic energy from the wind stream creates a turbulent, low-speed zone downstream of a working wind turbine. Turbines operating in this wake produce less power and are subject to greater structural mechanical loads. The aim of this study is to develop an accurate tool for predicting the wake generated by wind turbines in a wind farm. A hybrid model combining Blade Element Momentum Theory (BEM) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) equations has been developed to simulate the effect of the aerodynamic forces of the rotor on the flow. The Na-vier-Stokes equations were approached using the turbulent 3D Reynolds Average method and the modified k-ε model. A script describing the actuator disc method, originally developed for helicopters, was adapted to work with wind turbine rotors via a user-defined function (UDF). The proposed BEM-CFD method was applied to the experimental MEXICO wind turbine for wind speeds of 10 m/s, 15 m/s and 24 m/s. Both the near-wake and far-wake results obtained showed a significant degree of agreement with the experimental data.