Effect of Grid Topology on Numerical Simulations of Flow Fields around Wind Turbine Nacelle Anemometer

Authors

1 Centre de Développement des Energies Renouvelables. BP 62 Route de l’Observatoire, Bouzaréah, 16340, Algiers, Algeria

2 Laboratoire de Génie Mécanique et Développement, Ecole Nationale Polytechnique ENP, BP 182 El-harrach, 16200, Algiers, Algeria

3 Laboratoire de recherche sur l'aérodynamique des éoliennes en milieu nordique, Ecole de Technologie Supérieure ETS, 1100 Rue Notre-Dame Ouest, Montréal, QC H3C 1K3, Canada

Abstract

In this paper, the effect of mesh topology on the numerical predictions of the immediate near wake region of a horizontal axis wind turbine is investigated. The present work focuses on the nacelle anemometry measurements. Steady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations are applied to describe the airflow around the wind turbine nacelle. The k-ε turbulence model is used. To model the turbine rotor, the approach based on the actuator disc concept is considered. The computational domain has been meshed with five different configurations of grid; namely, quasi-structured, unstructured and three different hybrid grids constituted of blending of quasi-structured and unstructured grids. The obtained results are compared to the available experimental data. The hybrid mesh with quasi-structured grid in the boundary layer region and unstructured grid in the vicinity of the nacelle is found to be more promising to simulate the near wake generated downstream of the wind turbine nacelle and to predict accurately the nacelle anemometry measurements.

Keywords

Journal of Applied Fluid Mechanics
Volume 11, Issue 6
November 2018
Pages 1569-1578

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