Validation of a coupled atmospheric–aeroelastic model system for wind turbine power and load calculations

Abstract

The optimisation of the power output of wind turbines requires the consideration of various aspects including turbine design, wind farm layout and more. An improved understanding of the interaction of wind turbines with the atmospheric boundary layer is an essential prerequisite for such optimisations. With numerical simulations, a variety of different situations and turbine designs can be compared and evaluated. For such a detailed analysis, the output of an extensive number of turbine and flow parameters is of great importance. In this paper a coupling of the aeroelastic code FAST (fatigue, aerodynamics, structures, and turbulence) and the large-eddy simulation tool PALM (parallelised large-eddy simulation model) is presented. The advantage of the coupling of these models is that it enables the analysis of the turbine behaviour, among others turbine power, blade and tower loads, under different atmospheric conditions. The proposed coupling is tested with the generic National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) 5 MW turbine and the operational eno114 3.5 MW turbine. Simulating the NREL 5 MW turbine allows for a first evaluation of our PALM–FAST coupling approach based on characteristics of the NREL turbine reported in the literature. The basic test of the coupling with the NREL 5 MW turbine shows that the power curve obtained is very close to the one when using FAST alone. Furthermore, a validation with free-field measurement data for the eno114 3.5 MW turbine for a site in northern Germany is performed. The results show a good agreement with the free-field measurement data. Additionally, our coupling offers an enormous reduction of the computing time in comparison to an actuator line model, in one of our cases by 89 %, and at the same time an extensive output of turbine data.