Velocity data in a fully developed experimental wind turbine array boundary layer

Abstract Experimental data are reported for a wind turbine array boundary layer (WTABL) in a model wind farm. An array of 95 model wind turbines consisting of 5 streamwise columns by 19 spanwise rows was studied in a high Reynolds number boundary layer in the Flow Physics Facility (FPF) at the University of New Hampshire. The wind turbine array was constructed of porous disks of 0.25 m diameter, which were drag (thrust) matched to typical offshore wind turbine operating conditions. The turbine spacing was 8 diameters in the streamwise and 4 diameters in the spanwise directions. Spires were used to thicken the boundary layer and achieve a boundary layer thickness on the order of 1 m at the first row of the wind turbine array, which is located 33 m downstream from the test section inlet, thus placing the turbines in the bottom 1/3 of the boundary layer. Velocity profiles were measured with a pitot tube in the center column of the array. To within experimental uncertainty, a fully developed WTABL condition is observed in the mean velocity, for defined inlet conditions and spacings, from row 12 on. The wind turbine array acts as a sparse displaced roughness: it creates an internal layer whose origin (in the wall‐normal direction) remains fixed in space, while the turbulent boundary layer the array was placed in continues to grow. Careful consideration was given to an expanded uncertainty analysis, which elucidates the need for long measurement times in large facilities. Porous disk turbine models are the experimental equivalent of numerical actuator disks; therefore, this publicly available data set is expected to be useful for numerical model validation.