Analysis of long distance wakes of Horns Rev I using actuator disc approach

The wake recovery behind the Horns Rev wind farm is analysed to investigate the applicability of Large Eddy Simulations (LES) in combination with an actuator disc method (ACD) for farm to farm interaction studies. Periodic boundary conditions on the lateral boundaries are used to model the wind farm (as infinitely wide), using only two columns of turbines. The meteorological conditions of the site are taken into account by introducing wind shear and pre-generated synthetic turbulence to the simulation domain using body forces. Simulations are carried out to study the power production and the velocity deficit in the farm wake. The results are compared to the actual power production as well as to wind measurements at 2 km and 6 km behind the wind farm. The simulated power production inside the farm shows an overall good correlation with the real production, but is slightly overpredicted in the most downstream rows. The simulations overpredict the wake recovery, namely the wind velocity, at long distances behind the farm. Further studies are needed before the presented method can be applied for the simulation of long distance wakes. Suggested parameters to be studied are the development of the turbulence downstream in the domain and the impact of the grid resolution.