scholarly journals Flow visualization using momentum and energy transport tubes and applications to turbulent flow in wind farms

2013 ◽  
Vol 715 ◽  
pp. 335-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Meyers ◽  
Charles Meneveau

AbstractAs a generalization of the mass–flux based classical stream tube, the concept of momentum and energy transport tubes is discussed as a flow visualization tool. These transport tubes have the property that no fluxes of momentum or energy exist over their respective tube mantles. As an example application using data from large eddy simulation, such tubes are visualized for the mean-flow structure of turbulent flow in large wind farms, in fully developed wind-turbine-array boundary layers. The three-dimensional organization of energy transport tubes changes considerably when turbine spacings are varied, enabling the visualization of the path taken by the kinetic energy flux that is ultimately available at any given turbine within the array.

2011 ◽  
Vol 121-126 ◽  
pp. 3657-3661
Author(s):  
Dun Zhang ◽  
Yuan Zheng ◽  
Ying Zhao ◽  
Jian Jun Huang

Numerical simulation of three-dimensional transient turbulent flow in the whole flow passage of a Francis turbine were based upon the large eddy simulation(LES) technique on Smargorinsky model and sliding mesh technology. The steady flow data simulated with the standard k-εmodel was used as the initial conditions for the unsteady simulation. The results show that LES can do well transient turbulent flow simulation in a Francis turbine with complex geometry. The computational method provides some reference for exploring the mechanism of eddy formation in a complex turbulent of hydraulic machinery.


Author(s):  
M Farhadi ◽  
M Rahnama

Large eddy simulation of flow over a square cylinder in a channel is performed at Reynolds numbers of 22 000 and 21 400. The selective structure function (SSF) modelling of the subgrid-scale stress terms is used and the convective terms are discretized using quadratic upstream interpolation for convective kinematics (QUICK) and central difference (CD) schemes. A series of time-averaged velocities, turbulent stresses, and some global flow parameters such as lift and drag coefficients and their fluctuations are computed and compared with experimental data. The suitability of SSF model has been shown by comparing the computed mean flow velocities and turbulent quantities with experiments. Results show negligible variation in the flow parameters for the two Reynolds numbers used in the present computations. It was observed that both QUICK and CD schemes are capable of obtaining results close to those of the experiments with some minor differences.


2021 ◽  
Vol 158 (A1) ◽  
Author(s):  
S Kim ◽  
P A Wilson ◽  
Z Chen

The effect of the spanwise discretisation on numerical calculations of the turbulent flow around a circular cylinder is systematically assessed at a subcritical Reynolds number of 10000 in the frame of three-dimensional large-eddy simulation. The eddy-viscosity k-equation subgrid scale model is implemented to evaluate unsteady turbulent flow field. Large-eddy simulation is known to be a reliable method to resolve such a challenging flow field, however, the high computational efforts restrict to low Reynolds number flow or two-dimensional calculations. Therefore, minimum spatial density in the spanwise direction or cylinder axis direction needs to be carefully evaluated in order to reduce high computational resources. In the present study, the influence of the spanwise resolutions to satisfactorily represent three- dimensional complex flow features is discussed in detail and minimum spatial density for high Reynolds flow is suggested.


Energies ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 282
Author(s):  
Feifei Xue ◽  
Heping Duan ◽  
Chang Xu ◽  
Xingxing Han ◽  
Yanqing Shangguan ◽  
...  

On a wind farm, the wake has an important impact on the performance of the wind turbines. For example, the wake of an upstream wind turbine affects the blade load and output power of the downstream wind turbine. In this paper, a modified actuator line model with blade tips, root loss, and an airfoil three-dimensional delayed stall was revised. This full-scale modified actuator line model with blades, nacelles, and towers, was combined with a Large Eddy Simulation, and then applied and validated based on an analysis of wind turbine wakes in wind farms. The modified actuator line model was verified using an experimental wind turbine. Subsequently, numerical simulations were conducted on two NREL 5 MW wind turbines with different staggered spacing to study the effect of the staggered spacing on the characteristics of wind turbines. The results show that the output power of the upstream turbine stabilized at 5.9 MW, and the output power of the downstream turbine increased. When the staggered spacing is R and 1.5R, both the power and thrust of the downstream turbine are severely reduced. However, the length of the peaks was significantly longer, which resulted in a long-term unstable power output. As the staggered spacing increased, the velocity in the central near wake of the downstream turbine also increased, and the recovery speed at the threshold of the wake slowed down. The modified actuator line model described herein can be used for the numerical simulation of wakes in wind farms.


2019 ◽  
Vol 866 ◽  
pp. 503-525 ◽  
Author(s):  
Racheet Matai ◽  
Paul Durbin

Turbulent flow over a series of increasingly high, two-dimensional bumps is studied by well-resolved large-eddy simulation. The mean flow and Reynolds stresses for the lowest bump are in good agreement with experimental data. The flow encounters a favourable pressure gradient over the windward side of the bump, but does not relaminarize, as is evident from near-wall fluctuations. A patch of high turbulent kinetic energy forms in the lee of the bump and extends into the wake. It originates near the surface, before flow separation, and has a significant influence on flow development. The highest bumps create a small separation bubble, whereas flow over the lowest bump does not separate. The log law is absent over the entire bump, evidencing strong disequilibrium. This dataset was created for data-driven modelling. An optimization method is used to extract fields of variables that are used in turbulence closure models. From this, it is shown how these models fail to correctly predict the behaviour of these variables near to the surface. The discrepancies extend further away from the wall in the adverse pressure gradient and recovery regions than in the favourable pressure gradient region.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Maas ◽  
Siegfried Raasch

Abstract. Germany’s expansion target for offshore wind power capacity of 40 GW by the year 2040 can only be reached if large portions of the Exclusive Economic Zone in the German Bight are equipped with wind farms. Because these wind farm clusters will be much larger than existing wind farms, it is unknown how they affect the boundary layer flow and how much power they will produce. The objective of this large-eddy-simulation study is to investigate the wake properties and the power output of very large potential wind farms in the German Bight for different turbine spacings, stabilities and boundary layer heights. The results show that very large wind farms cause flow effects that small wind farms do not. These effects include, but are not limited to, inversion layer displacement, counterclockwise flow deflection inside the boundary layer and clockwise flow deflection above the boundary layer. Wakes of very large wind farms are longer for shallower boundary layers and smaller turbine spacings, reaching values of more than 100 km. The wake in terms of turbulence intensity is approximately 20 km long, where longer wakes occur for convective boundary layers and shorter wakes for stable boundary layers. Very large wind farms in a shallow, stable boundary layer can excite gravity waves in the overlying free atmosphere, resulting in significant flow blockage. The power output of very large wind farms is higher for thicker boundary layers, because thick boundary layers contain more kinetic energy than thin boundary layers. The power density of the energy input by the geostrophic pressure gradient limits the power output of very large wind farms. Because this power density is very low (approximately 2 W m−2), the installed power density of very large wind farms should be small to achieve a good wind farm efficiency.


Author(s):  
Yaser Khalighi ◽  
Frank Ham ◽  
Parviz Moin ◽  
Sanjiva K. Lele ◽  
Robert H. Schlinker

It is our premise that significant new advances in the understanding of noise generation mechanisms for jets and realistic methods for reducing this noise can be developed by exploiting high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics: namely large eddy simulation (LES). In LES, the important energy-containing structures in the flow are resolved explicitly, resulting in a time-dependent, three-dimensional realization of the turbulent flow. In the context of LES, the unsteady flow occurring in the jet plume (and its associated sound) can be accurately predicted without resort to adjustable empirical models. In such a framework, the nozzle geometry can be included to directly influence the turbulent flow including its coherent and fine-scale motions. The effects of propulsion system design choices and issues of integration with the airframe can also be logically addressed.


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