An alternative form of the super-Gaussian wind turbine wake model

Frédéric Blondel (1) , Marie Cathelain (1)

1 IFPEN - IFP Energies nouvelles

A new analytical wind turbine wake model, based on a super-Gaussian shape function, is presented. The super-Gaussian function evolves from a nearly top-hat shape in the near wake to a Gaussian shape in the far wake, which is consistent with observations and measurements of wind turbine wakes. Using such a shape function allows the recovery of the mass and momentum conservation that is violated when applying a near-wake regularization function to the expression of the maximum velocity deficit of the Gaussian wake model. After a brief introduction of the theoretical aspects, an easy-to-implement model with a limited number of parameters is derived. The super-Gaussian model predictions are compared to wind tunnel measurements, full-scale measurements , and a large-eddy simulation (LES), showing a good agreement and an improvement compared with predictions based on the Gaussian model.

Domains: Mathematics [math]; Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Earth Sciences; Meteorology

Frédéric Blondel, Marie Cathelain. An alternative form of the super-Gaussian wind turbine wake model. Wind Energy Science, 2020, 5 (3), pp.1225-1236. ⟨10.5194/wes-5-1225-2020⟩. ⟨hal-02995527⟩