Turbulence kinetic energy budget and conditional sampling of momentum, scalar, and intermittency fluxes in thermally stratified wind farms

ABSTRACTA description of the turbulence kinetic energy budget is investigated to understand the dynamics and turbulence energy transfer between the atmospheric boundary layer and large wind farms. The turbulence kinetic energy budget terms are a dominant factor in explaining the energy supply process in wind farms. Large eddy simulations are used to generate the thermally stratified wind turbine array boundary layer, where stable and unstable conditions are considered. The wakes represent a sink of mean kinetic energy, and turbulence transport redistributes energy in the wake region. The energy balance between the budget terms is dependent on the physical location in the wind farm. During the unstable scenario, turbulence is driven by the production, transport, and buoyancy terms. Further, the contribution of the turbulence kinetic energy budget terms is reduced with increasing atmospheric stability, especially above the shear layer, where the mechanical production is the dominant term. Pressure diffusion...