Synchronised WindScanner field measurements of the induction zone between two closely spaced wind turbines

Abstract

Field measurements of the flow interaction between the near wake of an upstream wind turbine and the induction zone of a downstream turbine are scarce. Measuring and characterising these flow features in wind farms under various operational states can be used to evaluate numerical flow models and design of control systems. In this paper, we present induction zone measurements of a utility-scale 3.5 MW turbine with a rotor diameter of 126 m in a two-turbine wind farm operating under waked and unwaked conditions. The measurements were acquired by two synchronised continuous-wave WindScanner lidars that could resolve longitudinal and lateral velocities by dual-Doppler reconstruction. An error analysis was performed to quantify the uncertainty in measuring complex flow situations with two WindScanners. This is done by performing a large-eddy simulation while using the same measurement layout, modelling the WindScanner sensing characteristics and simulating similar inflow conditions observed in the field. The flow evolution in the induction zone of the downstream turbine was characterised by performing horizontal-plane dual-Doppler scans at hub height. The measurements were conducted for undisturbed, fully waked and partially waked flows. Evaluation of the engineering models of the undisturbed induction zone showed good agreement along the rotor axis. In the full-wake case, the measurements indicated a deceleration of the upstream turbine wake due to the downstream turbine induction zone as a result of the very short turbine spacing. During a wake steering experiment, the interaction between the laterally deflected wake of the upstream turbine and the induction zone of the downstream turbine could be measured for the first time in the field. Additionally, the analyses highlight the affiliated challenges while conducting field measurements with synchronised lidars.