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.
