Fluid scaling laws of idealized wind farm simulations
P. van der Laan, Søren Juhl Andersen, Mark Kelly, Mads Baungaard
Abstract
Utilizing fluid scaling laws of idealized wind farm and wind resource simulations can reduce the computational effort and increase the understanding of the corresponding numerical model. However, not all fluid scaling laws are fully appreciated in the wind energy community. In this work, we employ dimensional analysis and Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes simulations of interacting wind turbine wakes and a Gaussian hill, and large-eddy simulations of a single wind turbine, to show that idealized wind farm simulations including terrain, subjected to a nonneutral atmospheric surface layer following Monin-Obukhov Similarity Theory, are independent of the inflow wind speed and wind turbine size due to Reynolds number similarity.