An alternative form of the super-Gaussian wind turbine wake model

• Main Authors: F. Blondel, M. Cathelain
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2020-09-01
• Series: Wind Energy Science
• Online Access: https://wes.copernicus.org/articles/5/1225/2020/wes-5-1225-2020.pdf

<p>A new analytical wind turbine wake model, based on a super-Gaussian shape function, is presented. The super-Gaussian function evolves from a nearly top-hat shape in the near wake to a Gaussian shape in the far wake, which is consistent with observations and measurements of wind turbine wakes. Using such a shape function allows the recovery of the mass and momentum conservation that is violated when applying a near-wake regularization function to the expression of the maximum velocity deficit of the Gaussian wake model. After a brief introduction of the theoretical aspects, an easy-to-implement model with a limited number of parameters is derived. The super-Gaussian model predictions are compared to wind tunnel measurements, full-scale measurements, and a large-eddy simulation (LES), showing a good agreement and an improvement compared with predictions based on the Gaussian model.</p>