Open AccessAn Unsteady Actuator Line Solver to Enable Adjoint Sensitivity Studies for Wake Steering
Author(s) -
Ethan Young,
Jeffery M. Allen,
Pietro Bortolotti,
Ruth King,
Garrett Barter
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of physics. conference series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.21
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1742-6596
pISSN - 1742-6588
DOI - 10.1088/1742-6596/1618/4/042038
Subject(s) - wake , turbine , control theory (sociology) , actuator , sensitivity (control systems) , controllability , chord (peer to peer) , deflection (physics) , solver , computer science , simulation , aerospace engineering , engineering , physics , mathematics , electronic engineering , optics , distributed computing , control (management) , artificial intelligence , programming language
This study demonstrates the sensitivity of wind turbine wake steering performance to blade design. An actuator line model was implemented within an unsteady adjoint solver that enables efficient execution of gradient-based optimization and sensitivity studies. After first confirming the feasibility of wake steering by controlling actuator line chord profiles and formulating a suitable objective function for wake position, a sensitivity study was conducted to determine the relative importance of chord length as a function of spanwise position on the resulting turbine wake deflection. The results presented here support the idea that blade design choices play a role in wake control. In a larger context, this study demonstrates a computational framework in which turbine and blade designs can be studied at the individual and farm-wide level to enhance wind plant controllability and manage power output.