Analysis of Two-Dimensional Inflow Measurements by Lidar-Based Wind Scanners

The DTU led UniTTe project (unitte.dk) wants to establish lidars for power and load estimations for modern wind turbines. As these novel methods rely on scanning the flow upstream of the turbine, they come under the influence of the turbine induction zone [2], which develops due to the pressure jump induced by the turbine. Modeling and understanding the induction zone is key to establishing lidars as an industry standard for power and load estimations. Successfully modelling the upstream effects of the turbine, though, necessitates validation via measurements. The in-house developed short-range WindScanner system (windscanner.eu) is able to capture the entire wind field upstream by combining three synchronised lidars [1] and thus presents the ideal measurement tool for validating numerical models or other lidar systems. This paper presents the challenges and methods in post-processing two-dimensional wind fields acquired by WindScanner like lidar systems for model validation purposes.