WindSim IWTMA

Advances in micro-siting
Arne R. Gravdahl
WindSim AS
IWTMA
23 August 2010
Chennai, India
Content
• WindSim AS
• Micro-siting in the past and in the future
• What is the challenge? – a non-linear problem
• One step further – a non-linear method, CFD
• How CFD can simulate some unexpected flow behaviour
• Further advantages by using CFD

• Remote Sensing Correction Tool
• Wake modelling with the actuator disc concept
• Validation – The Bolund Experiment
• Conclusions
WindSim AS
IWTMA
23 August 2010, Chennai
Company Overview
• Established in 1993
• WindSim - World class software launched in 2003
• Ownership - Privately held company and venture backed
• Business areas
• Software solutions, consulting services and training
• Wind farm simulation and wind energy assessment
• Onshore and offshore
• High growth ambitions internationally for the next years
WindSim AS
IWTMA
23 August 2010, Chennai WindSim office in Tønsberg, Norway.
WindSim – Your global partner
WindSim office
Reseller Partner
office
WindSim offices and Reseller Partners
Our vision:
Make CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) the new industry
standard for the design and optimization of wind farms.
WindSim AS
IWTMA
WindSim AS – Market position
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
2 003 2 004 2 005 2 006 2 007 2 008 2 009
Accumulated licenses sold
30 countries 110 companies
WindSim AS
IWTMA 28 universities
WindSim – Wind Farm Design Tool
WindSim is a CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) based Wind

Farm Design Tool used to optimize energy production and reduce
turbine loads.
WindSim AS
IWTMA
Download a free evaluation copy at www.windsim.com
Micro-siting in the past – 10 years back
Simulations based on simple methods, with various adoptions to

fit the measurements. The adoptions was not always based on
sound physical models, here a height exaggeration is used
Fitting measurements by manipulation of the elevation model,

WindSim AS exaggeration of height and/or roughness ; simulation
IWTMA measurement
Micro-siting in the future – 10 years ahead
Simulations based on advanced numerical methods tightly coupled

with remote sensing. Still with various adoptions to blend
measured and simulated results, but based on sound physics
Advances in micro-siting All flow parameters like speed, shear, inflow angle and turbulence
WindSim AS
should be determined over the swept turbine area, as they all affect
IWTMA
23 August 2010, Chennai lifetime and production
What is the challenge? – a non-linear problem
The following parameters, interacting in a non-linear way, will

affect the wind fields, hence the Annual Energy Production
(AEP) and the loading on the turbines:
• Terrain
• Inclinations
• Roughness
• Vegetation, forest
• Local wind climate
• Dominant directions, turbulence, stability
A non-linear problem does not allow an independent tuning of

each of the parameters
WindSim AS
IWTMA
What is the challenge? – an example
Given a site with two

measurement masts, with a
large difference in the mean
wind speed. The turbines will be
placed in between the masts
Here a numerical model must

be used, but it is still a
challenging case because of
the underlying non-linear
behaviour
Any discrepancies could be due

to several sources:
• Cliff
• Forest
• Large scale, inlet condition simulation measurement
• Large scale, stratification
WindSim AS
IWTMA
Which of these sources are responsible for the discrepancies?
One step further – CFD
Unfortunately there is no simple methods that can solve a

complex non-linear problem
Today mostly linear methods are used for micro-siting
But, a non-linear problem should be solved with a non-linear

method, like CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics)
Even apparently simple sites might show unexpected flow

behaviour that only can be captured using CFD; next some
examples.
WindSim AS
IWTMA
Is this a simple site?
Which position gives the highest Annual Energy Production – AEP?
3
Cosine hill, height 200 meters, maximum inclination angle 40°
The position at hill top 1 normally gives the highest AEP, but not
WindSim AS always. Let’s examine some cases where the non-linear relation
IWTMA
between terrain, roughness and local climate gives other results
Position 1 – Hill top
Elevation Climate Wind resources
There is no simple coincidence between high wind speed areas

and high elevation areas. Simulations shows that areas west of
the wind farm display highest wind speeds. This area has terrain
gradients perpendicular to the main wind directions, giving
significant speed-ups. The hill top is not the optimum.
WindSim AS Gravdahl A.R., Rorgemoen S., Thogersen M., “Power prediction and siting - When the terrain gets
IWTMA
rough”, The World Wind Energy Conference and Exhibition, Berlin, 2002.
The shape of the wind profiles
3
Cosine hill, height 200 meters, maximum inclination angle 40°
Negative shear profile over hill top, logarithmic profile over flat area
WindSim AS
IWTMA
Ridge – Negative shear
Same AEP for hub heights of 70, 80 and 90 meters.
Wind field from sector 6 (150 degrees), isosurface showing the highest
wind speeds below hub height
The highest mean wind speed is found along the ridge but near
the ground. No reasons for high steel towers. Except maybe for
the loading as the shear, inflow angle and turbulence intensity
WindSim AS will be reduced with height. Positioning on the hill top needs
IWTMA
23 August 2010, Chennai careful considerations.
Stratification – Around or above?
Heavy air moves around the hill while lighter air passes above
WindSim AS
IWTMA
Stratification of the atmosphere
The flow is prevented to pass over the mountain under stable

conditions.
Stable
Neutral
Unstable
WindSim AS
IWTMA
Simulation for a cosine hill
Cosine hill: height = 200 m, length = 800 m, wind from west
Neutral Stable
V
y y
z x z x
U
x x
In situations with thermal driven wind fields, again the
WindSim AS positioning on the hill top might not be the optimum.
IWTMA
Remote Sensing Correction Tool
Remote sensing techniques use Doppler shifted signals that

sample the wind speed component along the beam of
measurements. To derive all three wind speed components, an
averaging technique is needed over a minimum of three beams
of measurements. The basic assumption is that the wind sampled
at each of these locations, by the three distinct beams, is
identical. In complex terrain this is not true - the wind field is not
homogeneous - so errors are introduced in the measurements.
We've developed a Remote
Sensing Correction Tool
(RSCT) where CFD simulated
wind fields are used to adjust
for the faulty homogeneity
assumption.
Advances in micro-siting Diagram of the measurement

WindSim AS
strategy of LIDAR/SODAR
IWTMA
Remote Sensing Correction Tool – Validation
• Mast – 54 m, 76 m, 100 m
• WindSim model – 10 m resolution, 9 nodes < 100 m
• Location – CRES Lavrion Test Facility, Greece
• LIDAR Hardware – Leosphere WINDCUBE™
Elevation
• Correlation – LIDAR vs Mast

• 6.7% Averaged Relative Error
• Remote Sensing Correction Tool –> 0.3%
WindSim AS
IWTMA
23 August 2010, Chennai Vertical Wind Speed
Improved wake modeling - Actuator disc
The actuator disc concept has several advantages compared with

the analytical velocity deficit laws most commonly used within the
wind sector today. In particular the wake-terrain and wake-wake
interaction can be handled.
Perspective view of the actuator The rotor is modeled by a porous

disc, streamlines and iso surface disc providing a resistive force
of turbulent kinetic energy 1,4 which is calculated from the thrust
m2/s2, Ue =10 m/s at 500m a.g.l. coefficient CT curve.
WindSim AS
IWTMA
Horns Rev – Validation
Case: 10 m/s and 6% TI @ hub height, 274°
Wind speed [m/s]
Turbine production per column,

actuator disc versus measured
Turbulence Intensity [%] production
WindSim AS
IWTMA
Bolund validation
The Bolund experiment is a field campaign that provides a new

dataset for validating numerical models of flow in complex terrain
and is the basis for a unique blind comparison of flow models.
Today, many flow models are evaluated against hill experiments
of simple geometry often performed at laboratory scales in wind
tunnels. However, in order to validate the models, full scale field
experiments with realistic terrain forms are necessary. The Bolund
experiment allows such a validation.
WindSim AS
IWTMA The measurement setup at Bolund

Bolund validation – Numerical model
WindSim AS
Horizontal grid used for the Bolund simulations
IWTMA
Bolund validation – Results
RANS models shows lower errors than Linearized models.

WindSim AS
IWTMA
Bolund validation – Top ten
Top 10 ListID Turb.model Error [%] Error 5m [%]
ID0053 RANS k-epsilon 13 6

ID0034 RANS 1 eqn. 17 7
Best results are obtained with RANS k-epsilon models. The errors at 5
meters height is in the order of 5-6% for the best models.
WindSim AS
IWTMA
Bolund validation – WindSim results
Normalized wind speed at 5 meters height with wind direction from 239
degrees for the Bolund experiment. Measurements are given by black boxes,
solid pink line is the WindSim results, while the other lines are results from
other methods.
WindSim AS
IWTMA
Conclusions
Local wind fields is affected by terrain, roughness and local

climate conditions in a non-linear manner.
The use of non-linear methods (CFD) will improve the accuracy

of the wind field characterization
Advanced modelling combined with remote sensing will give

better insight of the flow conditions over the swept turbine area
Remember: The simple terrain

site on the hill top would have a
10% increase in production
with the alternative layout
found with simulations
WindSim AS
IWTMA
Thank you
WindSim AS
IWTMA

WindSim IWTMA

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Advances in micro-siting

• Micro-siting in the past and in the future

• What is the challenge? – a non-linear problem

• One step further – a non-linear method, CFD

• How CFD can simulate some unexpected flow behaviour

• Further advantages by using CFD

• Validation – The Bolund Experiment

• WindSim - World class software launched in 2003

• Ownership - Privately held company and venture backed

• High growth ambitions internationally for the next years

WindSim offices and Reseller Partners

Accumulated licenses sold

30 countries 110 companies

WindSim is a CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) based Wind

Simulations based on simple methods, with various adoptions to

Fitting measurements by manipulation of the elevation model,

Simulations based on advanced numerical methods tightly coupled

The following parameters, interacting in a non-linear way, will

A non-linear problem does not allow an independent tuning of

Given a site with two

Here a numerical model must

Any discrepancies could be due

Unfortunately there is no simple methods that can solve a

Today mostly linear methods are used for micro-siting

But, a non-linear problem should be solved with a non-linear

Even apparently simple sites might show unexpected flow

Which position gives the highest Annual Energy Production – AEP?

There is no simple coincidence between high wind speed areas

Which position gives the highest Annual Energy Production – AEP?

Same AEP for hub heights of 70, 80 and 90 meters.

Which position gives the highest Annual Energy Production – AEP?

The flow is prevented to pass over the mountain under stable

Cosine hill: height = 200 m, length = 800 m, wind from west

Remote sensing techniques use Doppler shifted signals that

Advances in micro-siting Diagram of the measurement

• Correlation – LIDAR vs Mast

The actuator disc concept has several advantages compared with

Perspective view of the actuator The rotor is modeled by a porous

Case: 10 m/s and 6% TI @ hub height, 274°

Wind speed [m/s]

Turbine production per column,

The Bolund experiment is a field campaign that provides a new

IWTMA The measurement setup at Bolund

RANS models shows lower errors than Linearized models.

ID0053 RANS k-epsilon 13 6

Local wind fields is affected by terrain, roughness and local

The use of non-linear methods (CFD) will improve the accuracy

Advanced modelling combined with remote sensing will give

Remember: The simple terrain

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