Simulation of wind turbine wakes observed during the Turbine Wake and Inflow Characterization Study (TWICS) using an actuator disk parameterization implemented into the Weather Research and Forecasting Model

Boundary-layer flow in the vicinity of a utility-scale wind turbine was observed during the Turbine Wake and Inflow Characterization Study (TWICS) field campaign. Data from a suite of state-of-the-art instrumentation, including a scanning Doppler lidar, provided high-resolution characterization of both inflow conditions and evolution of wakes downstream. Applicability of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model with actuator disks to simulate observed wake features was examined. We used one-way nesting, within which actuator disks were place on the innermost domain, which was run in large-eddy simulation (LES) mode. The bounding simulation provided boundary conditions from the surrounding environment. We examine the quality of both the modeled inflow conditions, as well as several wake parameters, including the magnitudes and extents of wind speed deficits, spreading of wakes, and turbulence characteristics.

This work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.