Lagrangian actuator model for wind turbine wake aerodynamics

Abstract

Abstract As a continuation of authors’ previous work, this work extends and hackles the numerical method for wind turbine wakes based on the vortex method, and proposes the Lagrangian actuator model (LAM) which is used for the representation of the wind turbine rotor under the Lagarangian framework. This paper provides two examples of the LAM, the Lagrangian actuator line (LAL) model and the Lagrangian actuator disc (LAD) model, and constructs matching numerical methods for wake predictions respectively. Those methods have high computation efficiency, and the results coincide with the wind tunnel test data well. Moreover, based on that, a vorticity description framework centered on vortex geometric structures is established to illustrate wind turbine wake phenomena and explore the wake evolution mechanism.