Simulation of atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) flows for wind-energy production

PI Ananias Tomboulides, Computing, Environment and Life Sciences
Co-PI Misun Min
nekrs-abl-t

Illustration of velocity and temperature distribution for the GABLS case at t = 6h using Nek5000 at an effective resolution of 512^3.

Project Summary

In this work, performed in collaboration of ANL with NREL scientists, the focus is to examine the accuracy and computational performance of two open-source computational fluid dynamics codes for the simulation of atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) flows that are of direct relevance to wind-energy production.

Project Description

Wall modeled LES simulations were performed for the GABLS Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) setup using Nek5000 at effective resolutions ranging from 128^3 to 512^3 to investigate performance of the models and convergence. The comparison focuses on vertical profiles of planar-averaged values of the axial and spanwise velocities and potential temperature as a function of time for up to 9 hours of real time.

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