PREDICTIONS OF THE WAKE OF A THREE-BLADED WIND TURBINE USING DYNAMIC MODE DECOMPOSITION

The objective of this study is to develop a reduced order model (ROM) that accurately predicts the key features of the wake generated by a wind turbine, based on the results of a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation with the actuator line model (ALM). The simulation of a three-bladed up-wind wind turbine was performed using Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations and the finite volume method. The two-equation turbulence model k-omega SST was used to approximate the Reynolds stresses and the Actuator Line Method (ALM) was used to simulate the effect of the wind turbine rotor on the flow field, representing the rotor blades as a distribution of forces acting on the fluid. Data from the RANS simulation was collected to be used by the Dynamic Mode Decomposition (DMD) algorithm. Velocity field was defined as the object of study for the construction of the reduced order model (ROM). From the implementation of the DMD algorithm, the eigenvalues and energy content were obtained for the field of interest. From these results, the main modes and their spectrum were calculated. The velocity field reconstruction was performed using the DMD algorithm, and the RMSE was computed relative to the simulation and experimental data, yielding a good approximation. Due to the turbulence model used, very stable results were obtained in the reduced order model, showing great capability to predict the fields of interest in time.