Richard J.A.M. Stevens

Physics of Fluids · University of Twente

Publication 115 · Atmospheric turbulence

Simulation and modeling of wind farms in baroclinic atmospheric boundary layers

J.H. Kasper, A. Stieren, R.J.A.M. Stevens, J. Renew. Sustain. Energy 16 (6), 063302 (2024).

Featured article by the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy.

Main finding

The article compares four orientations of baroclinic forcing with a barotropic neutral-surface reference and develops a compact wake model. Boussinesq wall-modelled LES uses AMD and filtered actuator disks (C_T=0.75, induction a=0.25). The domain is 102.4 km x 10.24 km x 10 km, resolved by 2048 x 512 x 384 points (50 m x 20 m, 10 m vertically to 1.5 km, stretched to 62 m aloft).

Row-averaged wind farm power for four baroclinic cases and a barotropic reference
How to read the figure. Row-averaged turbine power for four orientations of baroclinic forcing against a barotropic reference (a), and the same normalised by the barotropic case (b). At the second row, warm advection gives about 20% more power and cold advection about 13% less. The hub-height inflow speed is matched across the cases (Figure 4), so equal wind speed at hub height does not mean equal wake recovery. Open the full-resolution figure. Figure 9. J.H. Kasper et al. (2024). No separate licence is stated here; consult the original publication and credited source before reuse.

Why this matters

The central teaching value is that equal hub-height wind speed need not mean equal wake recovery because the vertical profile and direction of the resource matter.

Research context

The central teaching value is that equal hub-height wind speed need not mean equal wake recovery because the vertical profile and direction of the resource matter.

Read the article View in the complete publication list Related atmospheric boundary layer research