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• Watters, C
• Masson, C
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• Masson, C

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Energies 2010, 3(5), 989-1013; doi:10.3390/en3050989

Review

CFD in Wind Energy: The Virtual, Multiscale Wind Tunnel

Jonathon Sumner ¹ , Christophe Sibuet Watters ²  and Christian Masson ^1,*

¹ École de technologie supérieure, Département de génie mécanique, 1100 rue Notre-Dame Ouest, Montreal, Canada ² CENER, Wind Energy Department, c/Ciudad de la Innovación 7, 31621 Sarriguren, Navarra, Spain

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 16 March 2010 / Accepted: 24 April 2010 / Published: 17 May 2010

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wind Energy)

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Abstract: Over the past two decades, computational fluid dynamics and particularly the finite volume method have been increasingly used to predict the performance of wind turbines within their environment. Increases in available computational power has led to the application of RANS-based models to more and more complex flow problems and permitted the use of LES-based models where previously not possible. The following article reviews the development of CFD as applied by the wind energy community from small to large scale: from the flow around 2D airfoils to the flow through an entire wind farm.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics; RANS; LES; wind energy; aerodynamics; turbulence modeling; atmospheric boundary layer; wakes

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