Parametric dependencies of the yawed wind-turbine wake development

• Yaw misalignment is currently being treated as one of the most promising methods for optimizing the power of wind farms. Therefore, detailed knowledge of the impact of yaw on the wake development is necessary for a range of operating conditions. This study numerically investigates the wake development behind a single yawed wind turbine operating at different tip-speed ratios and yaw angles using the actuator-line method in the spectral-element code Nek5000. It is shown that depending on the tip-speed ratio, the blade loading varies along the azimuth, resulting in a wake that is asymmetric in both the horizontal and vertical directions. Large tip-speed ratios as well as large yaw angles are shown to decrease the vertical asymmetry of the yaw-induced counter-rotating vortex pair. Both parameters have the effect that they increase the spanwise force induced by yaw relative to the wake rotation. However, while the strength of the counter-rotating vortex pair in the far wake increases with yaw angle, it is shown to decrease with the tip-speed ratio. The vertical shift in the wake center is found to be highly dependent on the yaw angle and the tip-speed ratio. These detailed insights into the yawed wake are important when optimizing potential downstream turbines. 

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Maskinteknik -- Strömningsmekanik och akustik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Mechanical Engineering -- Fluid Mechanics and Acoustics (hsv//eng)

Keyword

actuator-line method

CFD

spectral-element method

wake breakdown

wind turbine

yaw

Speed

Vortex flow

Wind power

Wind turbines

Counter-rotating Vortex Pair

Operating condition

Parametric dependencies

Spectral element

Tip speed ratio

Vertical asymmetry

Vertical direction

Wind turbine wakes

Wakes

operations technology

optimization

parameter estimation

vortex

wake

wind farm

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)