Getting Started
Getting Started
Getting Started
WindSim 5
WindSim AS Fjordgaten 15 N-3125 Tnsberg Norway +47 33 38 18 00 WindSim AMERICAS 470 Atlantic Avenue, 4th Floor Boston, MA 02210 USA +1 617 273 8481 windsim.com
2010 WindSim
WindSim 5
Dr. Catherine Meissner
CONTENTS
Contents
ABOUT WINDSIM ...................................................................................................... 1
MICROSITING .......................................................................................................................... 1 MODULAR APPROACH ............................................................................................................ 1 WINDSIM MODULES ................................................................................................................ 2 ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY ...................................................................................................... 2 WINDSIM EV VERSUS THE WINDSIM COMMERCIAL VERSION .................................................... 4 INSTALLATION ........................................................................................................................ 4
CONTENTS
A GRID SENSITIVITY STUDY ................................................................................. 47 CONFIGURE PARTICLE TRACES IN GLVIEW PRO ............................................. 50
GENERATION OF THE WIND VISUALIZATION FILE .................................................................... 50 OPEN THE 3D VISUALIZATION FILE ........................................................................................ 51 SETTING THE ATTRIBUTES .................................................................................................... 52 CREATING THE PARTICLE TRACES ........................................................................................ 54 ANIMATING THE TRACES ....................................................................................................... 57 TEXTURES ............................................................................................................................ 58 SAVE AND SHARE ................................................................................................................. 59
ADD-ON MODULE: TERRAIN EDITOR .................................................................. 65 ADD-ON MODULE: REMOTE SENSING CORRECTION TOOL ............................ 75
About WindSim
Micrositing
WindSim is a modern Wind Farm Design Tool (WFDT). WindSim is used to optimize the wind farm energy production while at the same time keeping the turbine loads within acceptable limits. This is achieved by calculating numerical wind fields over a digitalized terrain. In the wind energy sector this is called micrositing.
By coupling the numerically calculated wind speeds and wind directions against available site-specific climate conditions the optimal position for each turbine can be found. Climate conditions are most frequently given by on-site measurements, but could alternatively be derived from meteorological models. WindSim can interface with both of these types of datasets.
The loads on a wind turbine are influenced by wind field characteristics such as; wind shear, inflow angle, and turbulence. Since the wind field modeling is 3D all of these characteristics are calculated and checked to be within acceptable limits for a given turbine type.
The optimization of the energy production and the minimization of the loads could be conflicting processes. The location yielding maximum energy production for a wind turbine could also yield too high loads, and often a compromise must be found: a location with the highest possible energy production still with acceptable loads. Micrositing is an iterative process where various turbine locations and types have to be inspected.
Modular Approach
WindSim uses a modular approach with six modules to complete the steps within micrositing.
About WindSim A full micrositing will require execution of all six modules. The modules must be executed in the right order as there are dependencies between the modules. However, depending on the purpose of the project, it is not always necessary to run all the modules.
WindSim Modules
Terrain Establish the numerical model based on height and roughness data Wind Fields Calculation of the numerical wind fields. Objects Place and process wind turbines and climatology data. Results Analyze the numerical wind fields. Wind Resources Couple the numerical wind fields with climatology data by statistical means to provide the wind resource map. Energy Couple the numerical wind fields with climatology data by statistical means to provide the Annual Energy Production (AEP); including wake losses. Determine the wind characteristics used for turbine loading.
In addition to the modules there are stand-alone tools for data preparation and data postprocessing. In particular, Tools are used for the import and preparation of terrain and climatology data. WindSim 5 introduces Add-on Modules including the Remote Sensing Correction Tool and Park Optimizer.
The fundamental behavior of fluid flow is described by the Navier-Stokes equations. The Navier-Stokes equations are non-linear partial differential equations known to be unstable and difficult to solve. Therefore simplified methods, where the troublesome non-linear terms have been linearized have become popular within the wind energy sector. However, the severe penalty is the reduced accuracy in the results.
3 The differences between the traditional so called linear method and the CFD method could be illustrated by looking at speed-up over a ridge. The speed-up increases with increasing inclination angles until the flow separates, as seen in the upper part of .
This behavior is captured by a CFD method. Even for smaller inclination angles, when the flow does not separate there is a significant difference in predicted speed-up between the linear and the CFD methods.
2.2
For an inclination angle above 20 degrees (Case C) the flow separates. The
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C B A
CFD model Linear model
recirculation acts as an extension of the terrain, the ridge becomes more like a plateau and the speed-up is reduced.
1.4 1.2 0 10 20 30 40
The
Navier-Stokes
equation
is
time
Figure 2 - Upstream speed-up, (Speed hill top/speed inlet). Average inclination angle (degrees) A) 5.7 B) 11.3 C) 21.8 - Linear model (light grey) CFD model (dark grey).
averaged introducing terms for the speed fluctuations. A turbulence model is required to close the equation set of the so-called Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equation (RANS). The RANS equations are
There are various solvers and solver strategies implemented in the software. Turbulence is taken into account using various types of two equation models like the k- model. We invite you to learn more about the Bolund Experiment. The Bolund experiment is a new field campaign that provides a new dataset for validating numerical models of flow in complex terrain and is the basis for a unique blind comparison of flow models.
The CFD methodsincluding WindSimshowed the lowest errors among the various methods used. Find out more about the Bolund Experiment at windsim.com.
About WindSim
It smoothes the features of the given height and roughness data It introduces significant discretization errors
The results obtained with WindSim EV are therefore not intended for commercial work. However, the user will be able to explore all the components of the software with this tutorial, and also appreciate the power of the commercial version.
Installation
Download WindSim EV from windsim.com/ev or download your full version of WindSim from windsim.com/update and run the installation file.
You may have obtained the installation file on a CD or on a USB key in a training session.
WindSim 5 requires the Microsoft .NET Framework 4. Please install it before you begin your WindSim installation if it is not already installed on your computer.
WindSim is by default installed on C:\Program Files\WindSim, while the project folder where WindSim projects are stored is located in the My Documents\WindSim Projects folder. You may change these default settings during the installation. After installation, you can choose other locations to save your projects from within WindSim.
Once WindSim is installed you can run it from the shortcut added on the desktop or from the list of programs in the Start Menu of Windows.
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Title Bar
The title bar consists of the following items: The WindSim logo Name of the program: WindSim Name of the current project Name of the current layout
Menu Bar
The menu bar consists of the following items: File Layouts Modules 3D Visualization Tools Help
File
Under the File drop-down menu, you will find all the controls needed for File management: New o o o Project Project copy Layout copy Create a new project Create a new copy of the current project Create a new copy of the layout(1) for the current project Open o o Project Layout Open a project Open a layout(1) belonging to the current project Recent Projects Remove o o Project Layout Remove the current project Remove the current layout belonging to the current project Print Print Preview Print the currently displayed page Preview the currently displayed page before printing Save Revert to saved Save the current project Reset the properties to the state before last module execution Properties Open a window with summarized main information on the current project Exit Exit WindSim List of the recently used projects
(1)
Layout: when a project has more than one layout, the Terrain and Wind Fields will remain the same. Layout copy enables you
to test different wind farm configurations using the same Terrain and Wind Fields data.
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Layouts
Under the Layouts drop-down menu, the following commands are available: Create copy create a new layout as a copy of the current one List of loaded layouts Terrain texture file o o Open Load a .bmp or .rgb texture to paste over the terrain List of loaded textures tick off the texture you want to activate tick off the layout you want to activate
Modules
Under the Modules drop-down menu, the user can choose which module to run. The functionality of each module is described in more depth later in this document. The present drop-down menu is equivalent to the Module Selector: Terrain Wind Fields Objects Results Wind Resources Energy
3D Visualization
In this module the user can select several 3D Visualization items: Generate 3D wind visualization file (*.vtf) Open 3D wind visualization file (*.vtf) Download 3D samples Download sky textures Generate a wind visualization file Open a wind visualization file Download .vtf files from the WindSim website. Download sky background examples from the WindSim website.
The .vtf files can be opened with GLview PRO the application for post-processing provided with the full installation of WindSim or with GLview Express. GLview Express is a freely available viewer of .vtf files that can be downloaded from the WindSim website. GLview Express contains a subset of the features of GLview Pro. It would be a tool for non-WindSim users to explore the 3D wind visualization results.
Tools
View terrain model (*.gws) Import terrain model (*.gws) Convert terrain model View the terrain model in a text editor Import a terrain model to WindSim Convert terrain data from .map format to the WindSim format .gws Terrain Editor Park Optimization Import mesoscale driving data (*.dws) Launch the Terrain Editor application Launch Park Optimization application Import results from a meteorological model Remote sensing correction tool Correction of LIDAR data by the use of WindSim results View climatology data (*.wws) Import climatology file (*.wws) Convert climatology data View the climatology file in a text editor Import a climatology file to WindSim Convert climatology data from the .tab format to the WindSim format .wws Create power curve (*.pws) Create the power curve file of the considered wind turbines if they are not present in the WindSim database Import objects (*.ows) Import objects into WindSim from an *.ows file Export object (*.ows) Export objects in the current layout to an .ows file Export HTML report Generate a complete report for your project in HTML format Export Vertical Profiles Extract vertical profiles of chosen scalar at WECS and/or climatologies positions Change language Advanced conversion : o o Convert terrain model (CMD) Convert terrain data from other formats to the WindSim terrain format, *.gws Convert climatology data (CMD) Convert climatology data from other formats to the WindSim format .wws Limits Click to see the computational limits of WindSim models Change the current language
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Help
In the Help section you will find: About WindSim Renew Key Release Notes Getting Started
Version and License information. License details and how to obtain and update your license code*. Links to web-based version of the Release Notes. RSS-enabled. Opens Getting Started (a PDF of this document).
* License codes are not required for WindSim EV, our evaluation version.
Module Selector
The Module Selector, shown in Figure 6, consists of the following headings: Terrain Wind Fields Objects Results Wind Resources Energy
Click on a module button to activate it. The active module button will turn grey. Your progress with WindSims modular approach is always visible. Modules are selected (grey) or unselected (white) and can have one of three states: Modules with a green check have been run successfully. Modules highlighted with animated circular arrows are running. Modules with a grey cross have not been run successfully.
You must first run the Terrain module in order to establish the computational model to successively generate the wind database. When the Terrain module has a green check, you can run the next module, the Wind Fields module.
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Explanation of Controls & Nomenclature In the Wind Fields module the wind database is generated. This database contains detailed information about the wind field in the computational model established in the Terrain module. If the user now go back to the Terrain module and change any of the parameters, the Terrain module will become red. It needs to be re-run to be updated, and the same procedure must be done with the Wind Field module. It does no longer contain a wind database that is compatible with the terrain model the user re-defined in the Terrain module. Once the user has calculated the terrain model and the wind database the Terrain and Wind Fields modules will have green checks, then you may start working with the other modules.
The Objects module will place and process climatology data and place wind turbines. They are commonly called objects. Both climatology and wind turbine objects must be specified in the Objects module In order to process all the remaining modules.
The wind data are visualized in the Results module. Both the Terrain and Wind Field modules must be correctly run before you can run Results.
The wind measurements contained in the climatology files are then used to weight the wind database. This is done in order to get realistic data about how the wind is influenced by the terrain in the Wind Resources module.
The wind turbines locations and power curves loaded in the Objects module are combined with wind measurements in the Energy module, to compute a complete estimation of the energy production.
The best way to get a good feel for these dependencies is to start working with WindSim.
Please refer to the example project described later in this document for further guidance.
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Information Pages
There are Description and Report pages in all WindSim modules. By clicking on either of the links you are able to toggle between the corresponding pages. The active link is colored blue. In the Objects module there is one additional link to activate the Park layout. Whenever the information pages contain sub-pages the toggles Back and Forward are used for browsing.
Description Pages
The description pages describe the purpose of a module. It explains which consideration you need to make in order to successfully run the module. The Description pages also give a detailed explanation of the Properties, which is the module input. The Description page header displays the module name, the WindSim version number, and the date when the pages were last updated.
Report Pages
The report pages contain the results from the corresponding module. The Report page header contains information about the project. There is information about the License, Customer, Project, Layout, WindSim version number, and a timestamp when the report was generated.
Start
Each module is run by clicking on the Start button. The Task List appears above it showing if the module is ready to be started or if a previous dependent module has to be started first.
Figure 10 - Start button with the Task List informing about module dependencies.
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Module - Progress
Figure 11 The WindSim Module Selector displays your progress through the modules.
Your progress with WindSims modular approach is always visible. Modules are selected (grey) or unselected (white) and can have one of three states: Modules with a green check have been run successfully. Modules highlighted with animated circular arrows are running. Modules with a grey cross have not been run successfully.
You can select and work with other modules while a different module is running. Here is an example scenario below.
Figure 12 The WindSim Module Selector displays your progress through the modules.
The Objects module is running (notice the animated circular arrows). The Results module has not been run (notice the grey cross) but it is selected (notice the button is grey). The Results module is selected and allows you to browse its Description page. The Task List displays Run module Objects to remind you that the Results module cannot be run until the Objects module has completed (when it displays a green check).
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Properties
In the Properties panel located on the right hand side of the screen, all the settings for a given project are specified. Each module has its own set of properties. Explanations of the properties are found on the Description pages. You can click on the property to insert and type the desired values. You can also use the arrow keys to move up and down through a list of options provided to make a selection. Whenever you need to specify more than one value for a property, the semicolons syntax is used to separate the values. Press the Enter key when ready to enter a new value or click somewhere outside the current input field in order to set a new value. The frame below the Properties panel displays information about the selected property. NOTE: More detailed information about each property is found in the Description page of the current module.
Figure 13 - Properties for the Terrain module including property information in the lower
Processing Output
In this frame you will see the output result concerning the module which is currently running or just finished. This result may contain information describing if the module has been run correctly. Otherwise it will display errors, warnings, or additional information.
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Set your project location, which is the folder where your project will be stored, by browsing your hard drive, push the button or use the default path, (C:\Documents and
Settings\User_name\My Documents\WindSim Projects), give a project name, leave the Layout name as Layout 1, and finally enter the name of your customer. If no GWS file is specified, then the grid.gws with the terrain from Hundhammerfjellet will be automatically copied from the WindSim installation area. In this tutorial, this field is kept empty to load to
15 1. 15 default terrain data. Elevation and Roughness data are read from the .gws file, and imported in the new WindSim project. Click OK in order to create the project.
Terrain
The first step within micrositing is the generation of a 3D model in the Terrain module. This involves choosing the horizontal and vertical extension of the volume to simulate. This volume, which we will call the computational domain, is then discretized into a system of hexahedral cells called a grid or mesh. The computational domain is built based on the digital terrain in *.gws format containing information about elevation and roughness.
WindSim can be run either by using the default settings in Properties or by specifying their own settings.
NOTE: If you specify a non-default property value, then it is shown in bold type.
In WindSim EV, the maximum number of cells in the vertical direction has been set to 10, while the total number of cells in all three directions has been limited to maximum 5000. In the commercial version of WindSim, the maximum number of cells would typically be limited by the available computer resources. Models with millions of cells can be simulated on PCs with a 64-bit operating system. The restrictive limitation in WindSim EV on the number of cells used for the computational model means that the results will not have the accuracy required for a proper micrositing thus WindSim EV it is not intended for commercial work.
Run the Terrain module by clicking on the Start button with the below settings;
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Tutorial Project: Hundhammerfjellet Upon successful completion, the Module Selector of the Terrain module will have a green check and the Description pages will automatically be switched to the Report pages. Some of the content in the report are presented below.
Click on the black arrows above the plots in the Report pages to visualize various 2D field data: Elevation Roughness height (z0) with both linear and logarithmic scale Inclination angle (deg) Second order derivative of the elevation Delta elevation.
The delta elevation variable gets a non-zero value only when the smoothing option is applied to the model.
17 1. 17 Click on 3D Model and the black arrows to visualize; Grid (xy) Grid (z) Open area
Grid (xy) and Grid (z) contain information about the grid spacing and number of cells used for the discretization in horizontal and vertical directions.
The Open area data is a useful tool to understand if too much blockage has been introduced in the generation of the 3D model. A Wind Field simulation can be viewed as a numerical wind tunnel test; too much blockage would produce unphysical and therefore unacceptable speed-ups. The ratio between minimum and maximum open area is used in the automatic generation of the proper height of the 3D model, see the Description pages for details.
When you click on 3D at the upper right of each plot; a 3D model in the visualization tool GLview is opened. The 3D visualization option is available for all the sections 2D Fields, 3D Model, and Extension. The 3D visualization option is also available in the other modules of WindSim. There is a separate section in this document that further explores GLview. For now, we only explain the basic operations of movement: Translation with left mouse button Rotation with right mouse button Zoom with mouse wheel or both mouse buttons simultaneously
Click on Extension to visualize the horizontal extension of the generated 3D model which is marked with a grey frame over an elevation contours map;
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The contour map for the Extension is based on the original resolution of the .gws file, thus on the maximum possible resolution and not on the 3D model which is coarser than the original digital terrain data. The difference in resolution is particularly clear when comparing the two plots under 2D Field: Elevation and Extension.
If you want to reduce the extension of the model, it is possible to explore the terrain extension in the 3D model, where the needed coordinates are found. In order to produce a finer mesh, which means smaller discretization errors in the area of interest where the wind park has to be constructed, a new terrain model is therefore desired with user specified properties.
19 1. 19 Assign a new extension to the terrain model in the Properties panel by new X-range and Yrange. Define a refinement area to design an even denser grid in the area of interest, where the wind park has to be located;
Figure 19 - Property settings for the Terrain module, reduced area with refinement.
In this way you have cropped from the original .gws file an area only covering the ridge of Hundhammerfjellet, where the wind park will be located. The borders of the computational domain are still quite far from the area of interest in order to avoid too heavy boundary effects.
Click on Terrain > Report > Extension to get the Figure 20 and Figure 21 in the Report frame, which shows the extension of the new 3D model compared to the original gws terrain data.
NOTE: When refinement is applied, the horizontal resolution varies. Its minimum and maximum values are available in the Report > 3D Model and Grid (xy).
Click on Terrain > Report > 3D Model, and then select Grid (xy) using the black arrows to obtain the report on the horizontal discretization of the generated 3D Model shown in Figure 22.
Click on Terrain > Report > 3D Model and then select Grid (z) using the black arrows to obtain the report on the vertical discretization of the generated 3D Model, shown in Figure 23.
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Tutorial Project: Hundhammerfjellet Click on Terrain > Report > 3D Model. Then select Open area by using the black arrows to obtain what is shown in Figure 24. The criteria named Open area account for the ratio of minimum and maximum area of the intersections of the computational domain with vertical planes south-north and west-east directed. The wind field simulations can be seen as numerical wind tunnel runs. So, it is important to reduce the blockage effect which produces unphysical speed-up.
NOTE: The ideal height of the 3D model is computed automatically in order to keep this ratio above an acceptable value, see Description for details.
Figure 20 - The digital terrain model, marked as a box, is extracted from grid.gws.
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Wind Fields
Once the generation of the 3D model has been completed in the Terrain module, the CFD simulations of the wind fields can start. The wind fields are determined by solving the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equations (RANS). The standard k- model is one option for turbulence closure. The RANS equations are discretized and integrated with a finitevolume method. Starting with the initial conditions, which are guessed estimates, the solution is progressively resolved by iteration until a converged solution is achieved.
There are three possible ways to solve the RANS equations in WindSim: A segregated solver (SIMPLEST) An algebraic coupled multi-grid solver (MIGAL) A parallel solver
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Tutorial Project: Hundhammerfjellet Select the Wind Fields module, and run the module with default settings. A window will pop up to let you follow the development of the flow field during the iterative computation. If several sectors are solved simultaneously on different processors then one GLview window will open for each sector being solved:
Figure 25 - One GLview window will pop up for each simultaneous sector being run.
By default, the software monitors the magnitude of the velocity vector at the ground level (at the centre of the ground adjacent cells). If the simulations have reached a converged solution, you should not be able to see any further change in this plot.
In the Report pages you can check whether the modeling has been carried out correctly, by inspecting the graphs of the Spot and Residual values for all the solved variables. This is shown in Figure 26 and Figure 27.
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The report pages for the Spot and Residual values are completed with three tables regarding setting and status of the performed calculations.
In the Table 1 on the following page there is a summary of Boundary and Initial Conditions adopted for the simulations; Table 2 reports the Calculation parameters and the current status of the simulations while the Table 3 provides further information about Physical models and output for the wind field simulations. The parameters summarized in these tables are all explained in the description pages of the Wind Field module.
27 1. 27 In the Wind Fields > Report > Field Value menu, it is also possible to see an animation of the development of the chosen variable during the iterative process. In well converged simulations, the calculated variables should not change any further with iterations. A screenshot of the monitored variable is shown in Figure 29.
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Objects
The Objects module is used to; Place turbines in the park area Process climatologies Place transferred climatologies
Geometrical objects can also be placed within the 3D terrain model for visualization purposes. At the actual Hundhammerfjellet site there are 17 turbines and 2 climatologies. This layout is already established. It can be read by using the command: Tools > Import objects (.ows)... Load the file:
C:\Program Files\WindSim\WindSim5\Data\Objects\Hundhammer.ows
17 wind turbines will be added to the park layout. The following window message will pop-up if the import is successful:
The user still needs to load the climatology files (.wws), before running the module. Load the Tommerhol file of wind data, using the Tools > Import climatology file (.wws) in the file named
C:\Program Files\WindSim\WindSim5\Data\Objects\Climatology\0150-Tommerhol30m_1year.wws
Repeat the procedure for the climatology station Hundhammer. The climatology file is the
0801-Hundhammer-30m_1year.wws. Both sets of data are for anemometers at 30 meters
At this stage, the climatology files have been copied into the project folder structure. Next, these two climatologies have to be activated in the project. This is done by adding them as climatology objects using the below described Toolbox. The Objects module is now ready to run, click on the Start button. Verify that the output is in accordance with the report pages given in Figure 32 and Figure 33, i.e. all turbines and climatologies have been established correctly.
29 1. 29 An alternative to the procedure described is to introduce new objects interactively in the Park Layout using the Toolbox:
With the Park Layout it is possible to drag and drop wind turbines above the wind farm, in a graphical window. This helps the user to design the park layout and make modifications to it. Also the insertion of new transferred climatologies can be handled by the graphical tool. Remark that climatology objects cant be moved, their position is given in the .wws or .tws files. The only way to change the location for a climatology object is to change the coordinates in the files. Turbines and transferred climatologies could be moved interactively. Change the position of an object by first activating the selector (arrow) in the Toolbox. Next, select an object by the clicking the left mouse button, the objects is moved with the mouse while pressing the Shift button.
All objects are now included in the Hundhammerfjellet project. The layout of the wind park can be visualized by selecting the Report > Object representation menu. The report for the Objects module will appear as in Figure 32 and Figure 33. The main features of the climatologies and turbines within the wind farm are listed in the tables 1 and 2 of the report.
Further information on climatologies and turbines are given if the user clicks on the links (blue bold type) in the tables. An animation is available which is activated by Report >
Animation and 3D to open GLview Pro. An animation is also available directly in the Park
layout.
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31 1. 31 A photo can be pasted on the terrain to provide a more realistic view of the wind park area. Load the photo of Hundhammerfjellet by opening Layouts > Terrain texture file > Open Load the file C:\Program Files\WindSim\WindSim5\Data\Texture\hundhammerfjellet.bmp Run the object module again in order to apply the texture.
Activation of Texture in the Objects module report gives a plot with the photo draped over the terrain
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Tutorial Project: Hundhammerfjellet Click on 3D objects and open this graphic in GLview by clicking the 3D button. This allows various perspective views of the wind farm. At this stage fly-troughs could be generated, check out the 3D Samples at the WindSim web site.
33 1. 33 It is also possible to set up and display cutting planes, surface plots, and isosurfaces. This is done by selecting the sector from which to plot data and then using the icons under the 'Surfaces' tab.
Figure 36 - An example of a cutting plane of wind speed displayed in the Park Layout of WindSim.
The wind profile can easily be illustrated for the swept areas of the turbines.
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Noise Calculations
Noise calculations are performed in the Objects module. Select noise calculation based on broadband in order to carry out a CFD-based noise analysis. The noise analysis can be output at any height, for any wind direction and for any wind speed. Using the default settings produces a noise map in 2 meters' height, for a northern wind of 5 m/s. The wind direction and wind speed is by default defined to be the conditions at the Hundhammer climatology.
Figure 38 - Example Properties for the CFD noise calculations in the Objects Module
Background noise level is set to 0 db so that only the noise contribution from the wind turbines is estimated. Local standards or project requirements may require the background noise to be included. The attenuation coefficient represents the industry standard for broadband noise. More experienced users might wish to adjust this constant to account for site specific atmospheric conditions and/or to account for an octave band analysis. Run the Object module again by clicking the Start button.
A new set of reports is generated with a separate noise map found under Report > Object representation > Noise. The map represents the noise pressure level in dB for all locations in the project.
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Results
In the Results module the user can extract 2D planes with variables stored in the wind database. The vertical extension covered is from the ground and up to the "Height of reduced wind database" as specified in the Wind Fields module. The 2D plane is given at a specified height above the terrain. The following variables and derived variables from the wind database are available:
Wind speed scalar in the East-West direction, UCRT Wind speed scalar in the North-South direction, VCRT Wind speed scalar in the vertical direction, WCRT Wind speed scalar in the horizontal plane
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Wind speed vector in the horizontal plane, (UCRT,VCRT,0) Wind speed vector in 3D space, (UCRT,VCRT,WCRT) Wind direction in the horizontal plane in degrees Wind direction in the horizontal plane relative to the incoming wind direction (degrees)
The turbulent kinetic energy, The turbulent intensity assuming isotropic turbulence (%)
The turbulent dissipation rate, The relative pressure minus hydrostatic term (Pa), the relative pressure has a value equals to zero at the outlet of the domain
Inflow angle
The inflow angle is the angle between the wind vector and a horizontal plane
As an example the Wind velocity 3D (u,v,w), at 50 m height, and the Turbulent Kinetic energy at 50 m height is extracted. Remember to press New every time a new set should be activated. There is a limit of 200 plots that could be generated during one run. In the below case 2 variables x 12 sectors x 1 height will give 24 plots. Re-run the module if the 200 plot limit impose a restriction on your exploration of the various datasets.
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Run the module. Inspect the report, the velocity vector, and the turbulent kinetic energy for all 12 sectors are available as shown in Figure 40 and Figure 41.
NOTE: The height for the extracted results has been set to the default value of 50 m above ground level. Typical heights of interest are the turbine hub height and the height of the wind measurements.
It is important to note that the Results module is a tool for visualization of the wind field simulations. This is to observe how the flow fields are affected by the terrain. The wind speeds are not by default calibrated with the wind measurements. Non-dimensional, normalized plots are also available. Then you need to choose the desired normalization type in the property grid. The Wind Resources and Energy modules are used to weight the wind database against the climatology data.
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Figure 42 - Results > Report. Wind velocity 3D (m/s) for sector 300 at 50 m a.g.l.
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Figure 43 - Results > Report. Turbulent Kinetic energy (m2/s2) for sector 0 at 50 m a.g.l.
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Wind Resources
The Wind Resources module is used to create wind resource maps at chosen heights.
At least one visible climatology must exist in the current layout before running the Wind Resource module. All sectors defined in a given climatology must exist in the wind database. The wind resource map is established by weighting the wind database against the climatology. If several climatology objects are available, the wind resource map will be weighted against all of them. This is done by an inverse distance interpolation of the climatology objects.
Run the module to create a wind resource map for the Hundhammerfjellet project at 50 and 80 meters height, see Figure 44.
NOTE: Results are not very accurate because of the limited size of the computational model WindSim EV which is currently running.
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Figure 45 - The wind resource map which is the 2D mean wind speed at 50 m a.g.l. weighted against all climatologies.
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Wake Modeling
If the user is concerned about wake losses in the wind farm (also known as wind park effect), one of the 3 wake models that are available in WindSim can be activated. Wake models can be used both in the module Wind Resources, and Energy. A complete description of these three models is provided in the description page of the Wind Resources module.
The wake deficits obtained with the three models at hub height are plotted in Figure 46, Figure 47 and Figure 48.
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Energy
The annual energy production, AEP, is the most important parameter to be estimated in most wind farm micrositing projects. For a given wind condition, the available power is proportional to the third cube of the wind speed. This means that an uncertainty in wind prediction is largely increased when computing the available power; so high quality wind modeling is particularly appreciated within micrositing.
Run the module with the default settings and get the annual energy production for each turbine and for the whole wind farm.
For each climatology object, two AEPs are given in the Energy report. The first one is obtained from the frequency table of the climatology files The second is obtained by Weibull fitting the histogram of frequencies.
An estimate of the energy production is also given by interpolating all visible climatologies. If the Energy module with an enabled wake model is re-run, (e.g. wake model 3), the user can estimate the AEP corrected with wind park effects. The results are reported in Figure 50 and Figure 51 with computation of wake losses, with 5 and 20 sub-sectors respectively.
The introduction of Sub-sectors and Influence range is introduced in order to reduce the computational resources required for the computation.
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Large parts of the discrepancy observed in the two predictions comes from the fact that this exercise was run with WindSim EV, where there is a limit of 5000 cells; discretization errors are therefore considerable. A typical procedure followed in CFD computations is to continuously refine the grid in order to minimize the discretization errors. The ideal situation is achieved when the errors are negligible, i.e. when grid independency has been reached.
In the following Figure 52 to Figure 57 the effects of grid sensitivity study on the AEP is given, obtained with the grid refinements shown in the below table.
Nx 23 38
74 150
Ny 19 32
61 125
212
177
Nz 10 20 20 20 20
Figure 53 - Report panel for the Energy module, Hundhammerfjellet project (~5 000 cells).
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Figure 54 - Report panel for the Energy module, Hundhammerfjellet project (~25 000 cells).
Figure 55 - Report panel for the Energy module, Hundhammerfjellet project (~100 000 cells).
Figure 56 - Report panel for the Energy module, Hundhammerfjellet project (~400 000 cells).
Figure 57 - Report panel for the Energy module, Hundhammerfjellet project (~800 000 cells)
The AEP calculated with the five different models is summarized in Figure 58. Important discretization errors are present when WindSim EV is used (~5000 cells). Considering a grid independency reached with a model of 800 000 cells, a model comprising just 5 000 cells gave errors of 20 % for one of the climatology data. The model of size 100 000 cells provided
49 1. 49 a good estimation of the AEP, the errors could be considered within 3%; considering a grid independency reached with 800 000 cells.
Its important to stress that the characteristics of a grid which is leading to grid independency is its resolution. So, for wider areas, a higher number of cells are required to minimize the discretization errors.
Hundhammer
All
AEP (GWh/y)
110 109 108 107 106 105 104 0 100000 200000 300000 400000 500000 600000 700000 800000
number of cells
Figure 58 - AEP for the two climatologies against number of cells used in the 3D models.
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Figure 59 - The .vtf file is generated from the 3D Visualization menu on the toolbar
The generated .vtf file must contain the 3D velocity vector, which is the vector field used to establish the particle traces.
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Figure 60 - Set Vector to VELOCITY_3D and hit Apply in the dialogue box to the bottom left in the screen above
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53 1. 53 In the Change Part Attributes the default setting of all parts which is Visible and Outline mesh could be reset. Selecting all parts is done by clicking on the first part, while holding down the shift key clicking on the last part. Typically the Smooth shading could be selected, and the Outline mesh could be unselected, to give a better visual appearance;
Figure 62 - Perfecting the visualization to your projects specific requirements is easy in WindSim!
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Figure 63 - Open the dialogue box from the Vector menu on the toolbar
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Figure 64 - Replicate the settings above to achieve the same particle traces
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Configure Particle Traces in GLview Pro Under the folder Options the user can set the direction for the calculation of the traces. In the given case the calculation is only done forward, as the box with starting point is put near the inlet border therefore the traces will pass through most of the model.
In some cases the default method for integrating the paths, the Euler method, will fail. If the traces do not follow the terrain, but appears like straight lines pointing towards the sky, then it is recommended to switch to the linear integration method.
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The setting for animating the particles are set in this window. Check the box Animate Check the box Incremental trace Uncheck the box Complete trace Press the Apply button. Try to animate using line (worm) by check the box Tail. Play with the settings and see what works for your model.
Figure 66 - The user has full control over the simulation parameters to design an animation to suit any project requirements
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Textures
The final touch for your presentations is obtained by adding textures. Textures could be added to the different parts. For example adding a satellite photo or a scanned map to the DTM (Digital Terrain Model) would make it easier to recognize locations in the model. The only purpose of the cylinder surrounding the model is to add a sky texture. You can find Sky Textures at windsim.com under Library on the menu bar. A texture is added to a part using the Change Part Attributes window introduced above. Select the part and then click the button Texture. In the Texture Settings For Part(s) window a picture must file first be loaded and then this picture must be pasted over the part from a given direction, defined by the Plane. The picture is stretched over the part if the box Clamp is checked. Otherwise a tile pattern is generated.
Figure 67 - Adding a sky texture greatly enhances the quality of the visualization
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Send us your .vtf file and we will publish it at windsim.com on our 3D Visualizations page.
A .vtf file can be visualized in the free viewer GLview Express found on the above web page.
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The generated .vtf file must contain the 3D velocity vector, which is the vector field used to establish the particle traces. Moreover, the .vtf has to contain the scalar variable that has to be plotted as isosurface.
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Figure 73 - Open the Material Properties box by clicking the Material... button
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1.
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Figure 74 - Open the Isosurface dialogue box from the Scalar menu
Figure 75 - The above value generates a nice plot for the Hundhammaren project
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Figure 76 - The Isosurface is now displayed relative to the terrain to visualize the flow in the wind farm
Figure 77 - A texture adds a nice touch to the graphics for use in presentation and reports!
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You can start the WindSim Terrain Editor from inside WindSim or from the Start menu.
When you start Terrain Editor from Tools > Terrain Editor the window below will appear.
Please choose the image for your area. The digital terrain model (.gws file) used for the project is the same as your current WindSim project.
Figure 78 - Locate an image of the area in the project you have opened in WindSim.
Starting the application from the Start menu opens the program with no files loaded. You then start a new project from the File menu:
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Figure 79 - Creating the new project and loading the terrain height and background photo. The terrain can also be left blank here and then imported via the Tools menu, along with separate files for roughness height or canopy/vegetation height.
After this initial step, the procedure is the same regardless of how you opened the Terrain Editor.
67 1. 67 Therefore, when you have loaded the image, you must specify 3 coordinates to be able to georeference the image. Place these 3 GCPs (Ground Control Points) using the toolbox as shown below. Simply click the symbol shown below in the toolbox and then click on the image where you want to specify the coordinates. This x- and y-coordinate must be the same format as specified in your terrain model (.gws file)
Figure 80 - Press the button illustrated above to place the GCPs. It is a good idea to mark the points in your image. Above, the picture is taken from Google Earth and Placemarks have been used.
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Add-on Module: Terrain Editor In this example we have marked 3 points in our image. The 3 GCPs are placed exactly on our Placemarks from Google Earth, for which we know the exact coordinates. For each GCP the user specifies these known coordinates in the properties section.
Figure 81 - For each GCP, the user must specify the real coordinates in the Properties pane in the lower right of the Terrain Editor window.
69 1. 69 When all coordinates are defined, click on the globe icon in the toolbox as shown below to georeference your image.
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Add-on Module: Terrain Editor Please wait while the georeferenced image is redrawn.
Figure 83 - Depending on the speed of your system and the size of the image file, you might have to wait for a few minutes while the image is georeferenced.
71 1. 71 When the georeferencing is completed, you will be able to see your image together with the digital terrain module. Use the Height and Roughness scrollers to adjust the transparency of the height and roughness layers. You can now verify visually that the terrain module matches your image.
Figure 84 - Changing the transparency of the different layers help you verify that the changes you are making are correct.
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Add-on Module: Terrain Editor You can now draw additional roughness polygons with the drawing tool. The roughness you draw will overwrite existing roughness from the digital terrain model in the area bound by the edges of the polygon. After drawing a new polygon, specify the roughness height for the area in the property window.
Figure 85 - Click the second icon from the left to draw customized, detailed roughness descriptions based on images of your site.
73 1. 73 When the drawing is ready you can export the new terrain model to an updated .gws file. Your newly defined roughness polygons are now included. Select the destination file.
Figure 86 - The export command lets you save the changes you made to the roughness description.
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Add-on Module: Terrain Editor After exporting the new roughness description to a .gws file, the old .gws is still displayed in the Terrain Editor. To refresh you should locate the Display terrain data command on the Tools menu. You can now verify the new roughness description visually. You may also want to use this command when you are opening the Terrain Editor from a WindSim instance. However, the graphical representation of the roughness and the height is also produced when either georeferencing or clicking the Height or Roughness scrollers.
Figure 87 - In some cases, you may want to use the Display terrain data command on the Tools menu.
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Vertical resolution The vertical resolution should be around 10m up to the highest measurement height of the LIDAR. This might be achieved by using a refinement file and using more than one height distribution factor in the vertical. Horizontal resolution The horizontal resolution should be in the range of 10 m. This allows modeling an area of 4x4km with the current WindSim version which is considered suitable. Terrain Smoothing Limit The simulation should be run without smoothing to guarantee that the vertical wind speeds are simulated in the right way. Orthogonalization of the Grid This option should not be used to make the extraction of the results possible. Forests Can be used as an option. Nesting Might be considered if the complexity of the site makes it necessary to take into account mesoscale effects.
The Remote Sensing Correction Tool can be started from the Tools menu in WindSim.
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Add-on Module: Remote Sensing Correction Tool A dialogue will pop up where the specifications of the LIDAR have to be set.
Data files The data files are commonly stored under the climatology folder of the project which is used for the correction. The rtd (LIDAR raw data) and sta files (LIDAR 10 minute mean value data) are often delivered on a daily basis. For the correction period they should be merged into one single file each for rtd and sta data with only one header. Angles The scan angle and the direction offset angle are given in the header information of the rtd and sta file. Levels The measurement heights have to be given here. They can be found under "Altitudes" in the header of the LIDAR files. All heights have to be specified. The corrected measurements can be written in .tws format that they are easily usable in WindSim. You can specify the levels for which you want to write out the .tws files. Position The position of the LIDAR can be given either in global or in local coordinates Wind Field The number specifies which sectors are used for the LIDAR correction. The sectors are calculated by the following formula: INT(360/number). You need to make sure that these sectors have been run successfully in the WindSim project otherwise the correction will fail. In case of difficult terrain it is of advantage to use more than the standard of 12 sectors. After all fields have been filled in correctly press the "NEXT" button. The correction will be started and may take up to one hour to complete. The result file can be found under the climatology folder of the project which is used for the correction.