A Large Eddy Simulation-Actuator Line Model framework to simulate a scaled wind energy facility and its application

Abstract Wind energy has become a mature technology in the past decade. Nevertheless, in order to continue its growth and development, there are still open challenges like wind farm control to maximize power production, to mitigate loads and for active power control. Several strategies, from physical experimentation to numerical simulation, have been developed to do research in this field. The aim of the present paper is to present results of a validated numerical method applied to the simulation of a well known state of the art experimental setup. Different setups subject to an atmospheric boundary layer like inflow condition are simulated, from a stand-alone model wind turbine without/with torque controller, to three model wind turbines with two yaw settings. An acceptable agreement is obtained between the experimental data and the numerical results, showing a potential complementary approach between physical and numerical simulation.