A comparison of h- and p-refinement to capture wind turbine wakes

TL;DR

This study compares h- and p-refinement mesh strategies for accurately modeling wind turbine wakes, assessing their effectiveness and efficiency to improve wind farm optimization.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive comparison of h- and p-refinement methods specifically applied to wind turbine wake modeling, filling a gap in the literature.

Findings

p-refinement can reduce error exponentially for smooth flows

h-refinement offers better local mesh control

p-refinement shows higher computational efficiency in certain scenarios

Abstract

This paper investigates a critical aspect of wind energy research - the development of wind turbine wake and its significant impact on wind farm efficiency. The study focuses on the exploration and comparison of two mesh refinement strategies, h- and p-refinement, in their ability to accurately compute the development of wind turbine wake. The h-refinement method refines the mesh by reducing the size of the elements, while the p-refinement method increases the polynomial degree of the elements, potentially reducing the error exponentially for smooth flows. A comprehensive comparison of these methods is presented that evaluates their effectiveness, computational efficiency, and suitability for various scenarios in wind energy. The findings of this research could potentially guide future studies and applications in wind turbine wake modeling, thus contributing to the optimization of wind farms using high-order h/p methods. This study fills a gap in the literature by thoroughly investigating the application of these methods in the context of wind turbine wake development.