Large eddy simulation of atmospheric boundary layer over wind farms using a prescribed boundary layer approach

Large eddy simulation (LES) of flow in a wind farm is studied in neutral as well as thermally stratified atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). An approach has been practiced to simulate the flow in a fully developed wind farm boundary layer. The approach is based on the Immersed Boundary Method (IBM) and involves implementation of an arbitrary prescribed initial boundary layer (See [1]).

A prescribed initial boundary layer profile is enforced through the computational domain using body forces to maintain a desired flow field. The body forces are then stored and applied on the domain through the simulation and the boundary layer shape will be modified due to the interaction of the turbine wakes and buoyancy contributions.

The implemented method is capable of capturing the most important features of wakes of wind farms [1] while having the advantage of resolving the wall layer with a coarser grid than typically required for such problems.