Session: 2.1 - Recent development in CFD and Verification and Validation methods

Paper Number: 158587

158587 - A High-Order Computational Framework for Wind Farm Modeling Using Flux Reconstruction and Actuator Disk Models 

Abstract: 

A new method is introduced for coupling Actuator Disk Model (ADM) with high-order Flux Reconstruction (FR) method. This approach aims to improve wind farm modeling for renewable energy applications. ADM represents turbine forces as distributed body forces over a permeable disk. This makes it computationally efficient and capable of capturing aerodynamic effects without modeling detailed blade geometry. However, traditional ADM implementations often rely on low-order solvers, which struggle with numerical dissipation and fail to capture detailed flow dynamics. Although high-fidelity methods like Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) provide accurate results, they are computationally expensive for large-scale wind farm applications. The new framework addresses these limitations by integrating ADM as a source term within a high-order FR solver that accurately models complex flow structures. FR minimizes numerical errors, making it ideal for modeling turbine wakes and interactions in large wind farms. Gaussian regularization is applied to smooth the distributed forces and ensure numerical stability and compatibility with the FR solver. Validation was performed using 2D inviscid Euler test cases. These tests showed that the ADM-FR framework captures key wake features efficiently by modeling near-wake and far-wake structures with high accuracy. The coupling enables precise simulations of important flow characteristics and offers scalability for large wind farm simulations under diverse conditions, such as unsteady flows and varying atmospheric turbulence. The new methodology bridges the gap between simple ADM implementations and accurate LES approaches to achieve optimized wind farm layouts. Additionally, it helps to improve the understanding of wake dynamics and provides a foundation for future research in wind farm modeling.

Presenting Author: Abdullah Al Imran University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC)

Presenting Author Biography: Abdullah Al Imran is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). His research focuses on high-order Flux Reconstruction (FR) method for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), with a particular emphasis on renewable energy applications. Currently he is working on developing high-order FR methods based on Cartesian meshes for offshore wind farm simulations with distributed source representations of turbines. This research aims to enhance the efficiency and fidelity of wind farm simulations, contributing to the optimization of wind energy systems. His work addresses critical challenges in computational efficiency and accuracy for large-scale renewable energy simulations.