Applied Machine Learning to Study the Movement of Air Masses in the Wind Farm Area

Abstract

Modeling the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) in the area of a wind farm using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods allows us to study the characteristics of air movement, the shading effect, the influence of relief, etc., and can be actively used in studies of local territories where powerful wind farms are planned to be located. The operating modes of a wind farm largely depend on meteorological phenomena, the intensity and duration of which cause suboptimal operating modes of wind farms, which require the use of modern tools for forecasting and classifying precipitation. The methods and approaches used to predict meteorological phenomena are well known. However, for designed and operated wind farms, the influence of meteorological phenomena on the operating modes, such as freezing rain and hail, remains an urgent problem. This study presents a multi-layered neural network for the classification of precipitation zones, designed to identify adverse meteorological phenomena for wind farms according to weather stations. The neural network receives ten inputs and has direct signal propagation between six hidden layers. During the training of the neural network, an overall accuracy of 81.78%, macro-average memorization of 81.07%, and macro-average memorization of 75.05% were achieved. The neural network is part of an analytical module for making decisions on the application of control actions (control of the boundary layer of the atmosphere by injection of silver iodide, ionization, etc.) and the formation of the initial conditions for CFD modeling. Using the example of the Ulyanovsk wind farm, a study on the movement of air masses in the area of the wind farm was conducted using the initial conditions of the neural network. Digital models of wind turbines and terrain were created in the Simcenter STAR-CCM+ software package, version 2022.1; an approach based on a LES model using an actuating drive disk model (ADM) was implemented for modeling, allowing calculation with an error not exceeding 5%. According to the results of the modeling of the current layout of the wind turbines of the Ulyanovsk wind farm, a significant overlap of the turbulent wake of the wind turbines and an increase in the speed deficit in the area of the wind farm were noted, which significantly reduced its efficiency. A shortage of speed in the near and far tracks was determined for special cases of group placement of wind turbines.

Keywords

• wind farm
• mathematical modeling
• computational fluid dynamics
• atmospheric boundary layer
• neural network
• machine learning