Simulating low-frequency wind fluctuations

Large-scale flow structures are vital in influencing the dynamic response of floating wind turbines and wake meandering behind large offshore wind turbines. It is imperative that we develop an inflow wind turbulence model capable of replicating the large-scale and low-frequency wind fluctuations occurring in the marine atmosphere since the current turbulence models do not account well for this phenomenon. Here, we present a method to simulate low-frequency wind fluctuations. This method employs the two-dimensional (2D) spectral tensor for low-frequency, anisotropic wind fluctuations presented by to generate stochastic wind fields. The simulation method generates large-scale 2D spatial wind fields for the longitudinal u and lateral v wind components, which can be converted into a frequency domain using Taylor's frozen turbulence hypothesis. The low-frequency wind turbulence is assumed to be independent of the high-frequency turbulence; thus, a broad spectral representation can be obtained just by superposing the two turbulent wind fields. The method is tested by comparing the simulated and theoretical spectra and co-coherences of the combined low- and high-frequency fluctuations. Furthermore, the low-frequency wind fluctuations can also be subjected to anisotropy. The resulting wind fields from this method can be used to analyze the impact of low-frequency wind fluctuations on wind turbine loads and dynamic response and to study the wake meandering behind large offshore wind farms.