Modeling of wind turbine wakes under thermally-stratified atmospheric boundary layer

In the present work, the wake behavior of wind turbines, operating under thermally-stratified atmospheric boundary layer (ABL), is numerically investigated. The steady state three dimensional Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations, combined with the actuator disk approach, are used in the simulation. The standard k-ε turbulence model as well as a modified one namely El Kasmi model are adopted. Two different methods are used and compared, for representing the atmospheric stratification flow conditions: In the first one (direct method), the energy equation is considered along with mass, momentum, and turbulence model equations. In the second one (indirect method), stratification is modeled by means of additional buoyancy production and dissipation terms. Such terms are added to the turbulent kinetic energy and dissipation rate equations, instead of solving the energy equation. The results obtained from both methods show a reasonable agreement with the experimental data available from the literature. Moreover, it is concluded that, there is no significant difference between the predicted results from both methods. Further, the effect of the atmospheric stability class on the wake deficit and the available wind power in the wake region has been also investigated using the indirect method. It has been found that, there is a significant influence of the different atmospheric conditions on the wake behavior. In particular, the wake region becomes smaller with the decreasing of atmospheric stability, and hence a higher wind power in the wake region is observed for unstable conditions. •Wakes of wind turbines, operating under thermally-stratified ABL are computed.•RANS method, combined with actuator disk approach is considered with direct and indirect methods.•Standard k-ε turbulence model as well as a modified one namely El Kasmi model are used.•The results show a reasonable agreement of El Kasmi model with the experimental data.•The atmosphere stability plays an important role for controlling the wake deficit.