A concurrent precursor inflow method for Large Eddy Simulations and applications to finite length wind farms

Stevens, R.J.A.M.; Graham, J.; Meneveau, C.

doi:10.1016/j.renene.2014.01.024

Publication 29 · Wind-farm flow

A concurrent precursor inflow method for Large Eddy Simulations and applications to finite length wind farms

R.J.A.M. Stevens, J. Graham, C. Meneveau, Renewable Energy 68, 46-50 (2014).

Read the article Open-access version (arXiv manuscript)

Main finding

Concurrent precursor inflow supplies evolving atmospheric turbulence to a finite wind-farm large-eddy simulation without storing an inflow database. Stevens, Graham and Meneveau demonstrate the method for an aligned farm in a neutral boundary layer; the paper does not quantify an advantage over other inflow methods.

Precursor and wind farm simulation domains side by side with the inflow transfer between them — **How to read the figure.** The concurrent-precursor inflow method: hub-height velocity in a precursor domain carrying an undisturbed neutral boundary layer (left) and in the wind-farm domain it feeds (right), with the fringe regions marked and the transfer between them arrowed. Running the two side by side lets a separate simulated atmosphere supply turbulent inflow continuously, with no stored inflow database. Open the full-resolution figure. Figure 1. R.J.A.M. Stevens et al. (2014). No separate licence is stated here; consult the original publication and credited source before reuse.

Why this matters

Separating atmospheric inflow from the turbine domain lets simulations resolve the entrance and downstream development of a finite wind farm.

Research context

The method decouples turbulent boundary-layer generation from a finite downstream wind-farm domain, avoiding artificial periodic copies of the farm. It became the inflow framework for later alignment, actuator-model, blockage, and turbine-to-farm wake-recovery studies.

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