Modelling Blade Loads in Industry-Scale Large-Eddy Simulations of Wind Farms
using an Analytical Body Force Model
I. Janssen (TU Delft - Aerospace Engineering)
W. Yu – Mentor (TU Delft - Wind Energy)
Mikko Folkersma – Mentor (Whiffle)
D.A. von Terzi – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Wind Energy)
A.H. Van Zuijlen – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Aerodynamics)
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Abstract
With increasing computational power, Large-Eddy Simulations (LES) are becoming more prevalent for high-fidelity wind farm analysis. Accurately representing wind turbines in these simulations requires knowledge of blade load distributions, often obtained from Blade Element Momentum (BEM) theory. However, BEM requires numerous geometric and aerodynamic parameters, which are frequently unavailable in industrial settings due to confidentiality. Consequently, industry-scale LES are often limited to uniform Actuator Disk (AD) models, which lack accuracy and cannot capture load distributions.
This thesis implements an Analytical Body Force Model (ABFM) that estimates blade load distributions from LES data using limited turbine information. Both one-way and two-way coupling strategies are explored. In the one-way approach, the ABFM supplements the AD model to compute blade forces without influencing the LES. In the two-way approach, the ABFM forces are actively fed back into the LES in a feedback loop, replacing the uniform AD model and improving simulation fidelity.