The near-wake development of a wind turbine operating in stalled conditions – Part 1: Assessment of numerical models

Abstract

This study comprehensively investigates the near-wake development of a model wind turbine operating at a low tip-speed ratio in stalled conditions. In the present paper, part 1, different ways of representing the turbine, which include a full geometrical representation and modeling by means of the actuator line method, and different approaches for the modeling of turbulence are assessed. The simulation results are compared with particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements from the MEXICO and New MEXICO experiments. A highly resolved numerical setup was created and a higher-order numerical scheme was applied to target an optimal resolution of the tip vortex development and the wakes of the blades. Besides the classical unsteady Reynolds-averaged methodology, a recently developed variant of the detached-eddy simulation (DES) was employed, which features robust shielding capabilities of the boundary layers and enhanced transition to a fully developed large-eddy simulation (LES) state. Two actuator line simulations were performed in which the aerodynamic forces were either evaluated by means of tabulated data or imposed from the averaged blade loads of the simulation with full blade geometry. The purpose is to distinguish between the effects of the force projection and the force calculation in the underlying blade-element method on the blade wake development. With the hybrid Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS)–LES approach and the geometrically fully resolved rotor blade, the details of the flow of the detached blade wake could be resolved. The prediction of the wake deficit also agreed very well with the experimental data. Furthermore, the strength and size of the blade tip vortices were correctly predicted. With the linear unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (URANS) model, the wake deficit could also be described correctly, yet the size of the tip vortices was massively overestimated. The actuator line method, when fed with forces from the fully resolved simulation, provides very similar results in terms of wake deficit and tip vortices to its fully resolved parent simulation. However, using uncorrected two-dimensional polars shows significant deviations in the wake topology of the inner blade region. This shows that the application in such flow conditions requires models for rotational augmentation. In part 2 of the study, to be published in another paper, the development and the dynamics of the early tip vortex formation are detailed.