Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MERIDIONAL (Multiscale modelling for wind farm design, performance assessment and loading)
Berichtszeitraum: 2022-10-01 bis 2024-01-31
The wind industry is developing wind turbines and airborne wind energy devices which span altitudes well above the well-studied surface layer. A full understanding of the unsteady inflow conditions which drive loads and performance at these altitudes is lacking. MERIDIONAL will provide a comprehensively validated tool chain based on an open-source platform which will draw on an integrated knowledge and data hub to allow the efficient and accurate assessment of the performance and loads experienced by onshore, offshore, and airborne wind energy systems. This tool chain can be used for component, device and plant level planning and operation.
MERIDIONAL allows stakeholders to increase wind plant efficiency and reduce material costs through less conservative design.
Aim of the project is to increase the accuracy and reduce the uncertainty of performance and load assessment tools and associated procedures that are commonly used in the industrial design and certification of modern wind energy systems.
Objectives:
1: To demonstrate how enhanced coupled atmosphere-aerodynamic-aeroelastic tools can significantly contribute to a more accurate assessment of the loading and yield of new and existing wind farms.
2: To integrate open access, multi-use, unsteady, time-resolved and coherent wind field prediction tools at different scales and fidelities that can be used in both an academic and industrial context at different locations for performance, load and design calculations for individual and arrays of wind power generators (WT and AWES).
3: To develop models and tools usable for onshore and offshore (including complex terrain), and up to 1km altitude (includes airborne).
4: To develop a knowledge and data hub which will allow users of the tool chain to access the required information for a given site and manage the required data flows to assess performance and loads.
MERIDIONAL allows stakeholders to increase wind plant efficiency and reduce material costs through less conservative design.
Aim of the project is to increase the accuracy and reduce the uncertainty of performance and load assessment tools and associated procedures that are commonly used in the industrial design and certification of modern wind energy systems.
Objectives:
1: To demonstrate how enhanced coupled atmosphere-aerodynamic-aeroelastic tools can significantly contribute to a more accurate assessment of the loading and yield of new and existing wind farms.
2: To integrate open access, multi-use, unsteady, time-resolved and coherent wind field prediction tools at different scales and fidelities that can be used in both an academic and industrial context at different locations for performance, load and design calculations for individual and arrays of wind power generators (WT and AWES).
3: To develop models and tools usable for onshore and offshore (including complex terrain), and up to 1km altitude (includes airborne).
4: To develop a knowledge and data hub which will allow users of the tool chain to access the required information for a given site and manage the required data flows to assess performance and loads.
A number of tools have been in development during M1 to M16. Some of these are quite new (those related to the performance of airborne wind energy system (AWES) devices) and some involve improvement of existing tools. Some highlights:
• In the case of AWES, the possibility to measure accurate wind speeds based on kite measurements has been demonstrated.
• A fast LES code has been shown to capture well the wind conditions at the WINSENT complex terrain site.
• Machine learning has been applied to improve the prediction of transient wind conditions using data from AWAKEN.
• A fast and efficient analytical model has been shown to give good representation of turbine loads.
• Field campaigns to allow model validation have progressed, e.g. a comprehensive set of kite and lidar measurements have been collected and made available from the KPW test site, an AWES data collection system has been designed.
• Data fusion techniques combining meteorological and SCADA data for assessing wind flow have been the subject of preliminary investigation.
• The use of turbine load sensors for measuring inflow has been demonstrated and been further developed.
• Key atmospheric phenomena for model validation have been identified.
• The development and testing of CFD models of various fidelities for accurately capturing inflow under various steady and transient atmospheric states has progressed and validation is ongoing as data become available.
• Synthetic inflow generators are being developed, e.g. a way to simulate convective rolls.
• A model to better predict overlapping wakes has been developed.
• The concept as the wind farm as a sensor for predicting flow over varying terrain has been developed and validated against actual data.
• A load surrogate model methodology has been developed which will be converted into a model chain in the next period.
Much of the work in this period has focussed on model development and much of the model integration will come in the next periods of the project. Nevertheless, progress towards this objective has been made:
• The intended tool chain integration platform TopDesign/TopFarm3 has been developed and its utility demonstrated for wind farm optimisation.
• Reference test cases have been selected and the project is engaging strongly with IEA Wind Task 55 and 57 to develop these references and appropriate benchmarks.
• The consortium has consulted extensively internally and with advisory board members to ensure the toolchain will meet the needs of academia and industry.
• Preliminary work to predict AWES loads and production has started.
A number of models have been developed for onshore, offshore and airborne applications and their validation and further development are ongoing.
MERIDIONAL has joined forces with the other EU projects FLOW and AIRE to develop a joint platform. Progress has been made on various points:
• After an extensive review, the CKAN open data portal software has been chosen for the Hub.
• Long term data storage options have been defined.
• The first dataset (data from the KPW test site) has been uploaded.
• Metadata templates have been proposed and will be refined in the coming period.
• The consortium has been widely canvassed as to data formats and requirements.
• In the case of AWES, the possibility to measure accurate wind speeds based on kite measurements has been demonstrated.
• A fast LES code has been shown to capture well the wind conditions at the WINSENT complex terrain site.
• Machine learning has been applied to improve the prediction of transient wind conditions using data from AWAKEN.
• A fast and efficient analytical model has been shown to give good representation of turbine loads.
• Field campaigns to allow model validation have progressed, e.g. a comprehensive set of kite and lidar measurements have been collected and made available from the KPW test site, an AWES data collection system has been designed.
• Data fusion techniques combining meteorological and SCADA data for assessing wind flow have been the subject of preliminary investigation.
• The use of turbine load sensors for measuring inflow has been demonstrated and been further developed.
• Key atmospheric phenomena for model validation have been identified.
• The development and testing of CFD models of various fidelities for accurately capturing inflow under various steady and transient atmospheric states has progressed and validation is ongoing as data become available.
• Synthetic inflow generators are being developed, e.g. a way to simulate convective rolls.
• A model to better predict overlapping wakes has been developed.
• The concept as the wind farm as a sensor for predicting flow over varying terrain has been developed and validated against actual data.
• A load surrogate model methodology has been developed which will be converted into a model chain in the next period.
Much of the work in this period has focussed on model development and much of the model integration will come in the next periods of the project. Nevertheless, progress towards this objective has been made:
• The intended tool chain integration platform TopDesign/TopFarm3 has been developed and its utility demonstrated for wind farm optimisation.
• Reference test cases have been selected and the project is engaging strongly with IEA Wind Task 55 and 57 to develop these references and appropriate benchmarks.
• The consortium has consulted extensively internally and with advisory board members to ensure the toolchain will meet the needs of academia and industry.
• Preliminary work to predict AWES loads and production has started.
A number of models have been developed for onshore, offshore and airborne applications and their validation and further development are ongoing.
MERIDIONAL has joined forces with the other EU projects FLOW and AIRE to develop a joint platform. Progress has been made on various points:
• After an extensive review, the CKAN open data portal software has been chosen for the Hub.
• Long term data storage options have been defined.
• The first dataset (data from the KPW test site) has been uploaded.
• Metadata templates have been proposed and will be refined in the coming period.
• The consortium has been widely canvassed as to data formats and requirements.