Abstract
A numerical simulation on the wake flow of a wind turbine which is a scaled version of a multi-megawatt wind turbine has been performed. Two different inlet conditions of averaged wind speed including one below and one above the rated wind speed were used in the simulation. Steady-state pitch angles of the blade associated with the two averaged wind speeds were imposed for the simulation. The steady state analysis based on the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations with the method of frame motion were used for the simulation to find the torque of the rotor and the wake field behind the wind turbine. The simulation results were compared with the results obtained from the wind tunnel testing. From comparisons, it was found that the simulation results on the turbine power are pretty close to the experimental values. Also, the wake results were relatively close to the experimental results but there existed some discrepancy in the shape of velocity deficit. The reason for the discrepancy is considered due to the steady state solution with the frame motion method used in the simulation. However, the method is considered useful for solutions with much reduced calculation time and reasonably good accuracy compared to the transient analysis.
