Turbulent flows encountered in northen wind energy applications

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The central objective of the proposed research program is to consolidate the development of the Canadian wind energy industry by developing new knowledge and innovations related to wind turbine and wind farm aerodynamics, while providing highly trained, qualified personnel to support the competitiveness of the wind energy sector in Canada. Specifically, the research program aims to develop advanced predictive models to gain a better understanding of atmospheric turbulence, its role in the energy extraction process, and its interaction with the rotor wake. In addition, these issues are considered in the context of a northern environment where the effects of forested regions, complex orography and precipitations during cold temperature are important factors. The proposed research program thus focuses on atmospheric flows, wind turbine wakes, and factors related to Canada's Nordic climate and will involve 7 graduate students as highly qualified personel (HQP). Atmospheric flows: The proposed research program thus works towards the development and refinement of the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) turbulence closures, as well as more detailed approaches ranging from Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) methods to hybrid RANS/LES techniques. These latter methods provide a much more detailed description of the flow and greater insight into its turbulent structure and should be considered as long-term methodologies. Wakes: The contributions of the research program on wakes are to improve the wake predictive models describing the large-scale interactions in a RANS/actuator disk framework. This can be achieved by first investigating the small-scale interaction of the rotor and the wind, the so-called near wake, using LES with actuator surface or line representations of the rotor. Nordic factors: The Canadian climate and territory present special challenges. Cold precipitations can modify the aerodynamic characteristics of the atmospheric turbulent flow. Understanding and evaluating the effects of such precipitations on wind turbine wake are important. Topography is often characterized by forest cover which dissipates energy and modifies turbulent flow properties. Understanding and accurately predicting the effects of wakes, forests, and cold precipitations on atmospheric turbulent flows are of special importance to Canada.