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Wind farm layout optimization based on CFD simulations

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Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This work shows the development of a tool for wind farm layout optimization based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of the atmospheric wind flow and inter-turbine interference. Due to the high computational power required to simulate a whole wind farm using the complete geometry of the wind turbines, simplified models were developed to represent the turbine behavior, and the most commonly used model is the actuator disk model and its variations. The procedure for wind turbine behavior evaluation using a CFD model was implemented in the OpenFOAM software, and this model was coupled with the Dakota optimization toolkit. A genetic algorithm was selected for the optimization task due to its robustness and the characteristics of the problem solved. With this new tool in hand, three different terrain cases, with growing complexity, were tested considering different numbers of turbines on a cylindrical domain in order to achieve the best wind farm layout in terms of annual energy production that respects the imposed physical restrictions. As expected, the layout efficiency decreased as turbines were added to the domain, meaning that wake losses are introduced in this process. For the simpler domains, we observed that this efficiency decrease was approximately linear with respect to the number of turbines. Complex phenomena were captured during the optimization, such as wake deflection, different wake recoveries depending on the wind speed and interaction between the disturbances in the flow field caused by the terrain and by the turbines. These phenomena are not observed when using the tools available in the wind market and are seen as an improvement in the field of wind farm layout optimization, yielding more accurate results, and should decrease the level of uncertainty in the design of a wind farm.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Siemens Gamesa for providing information about the wind turbine chosen for the analysis, the STI team at University of São Paulo for helping with HPC issues and for allowing the use of the HPC structure. The Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) is also highly regarded for their financial support in the form of productivity scholarship for BSC (Grant number 312951/2018-3). BSC would also like to acknowledge the support from FAPESP (Fundação de Apoio à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo), Proc. 2019/01507-8, for this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Escola Politécnica, University of São Paulo, Av. Prof. Mello Moraes, 2231, São Paulo, SP, 05508-030, Brazil

    Luís Eduardo Boni Cruz & Bruno Souza Carmo

  2. Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, 3500 Quadrangle Blvd, Orlando, FL, 32817, USA

    Luís Eduardo Boni Cruz

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  1. Luís Eduardo Boni Cruz
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  2. Bruno Souza Carmo
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Correspondence to Bruno Souza Carmo.

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Technical editor: Daniel Onofre de Almeida Cruz, D.Sc.

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Cruz, L.E.B., Carmo, B.S. Wind farm layout optimization based on CFD simulations. J Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci. Eng. 42, 433 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-020-02506-z

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