Development of a streamline wake model for wind farm performance predictions

In the present paper a new streamline model for wake development based on a streamline topology is applied and compared with different approaches for modeling the wind turbine wakes. The contribution of the present work is the comparison of the streamline-and straight-wake models as well as the different wake models, e.g., Jensen and Gaussian. The models have been applied to two wind farm cases. The results from the first case are compared against SCADA measurements and computational fluid dynamics simulations (CFD). The CFD simulations are performed using Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) together with the actuator disc (AD) approach. The mean percent difference in power using the different wake models ranged between 19-20%. Mean percent difference in power for the AD-RANS was approximately 20%. For the second wind farm case only wake models are compared and approximately ±1% difference exists between them. The present work shows that the streamline topology of the wind turbine wake flow as well as the wake models have an effect on the performance prediction of wind farms.