Search Results (14)

This comprehensive overview presents our continued efforts in high-order finite difference method (FDM) development for adaptive numerical dissipation control in the long-time integration of direct numerical simulation (DNS), large eddy simulation (LES), and implicit LES (ILES) computations of compressible turbulence for gas dynamics and MHD. The focus is on turbulence with shock wave numerical simulations using the adaptive blending of high-order structure-preserving non-dissipative methods (classical central, Padé (compact), and dispersion relation-preserving (DRP)) with high-order shock-capturing methods in such a way that high-order shock-capturing methods are active only in the vicinity of shock/shear waves, and high-gradient and spurious high-frequency oscillation regions guided via flow sensors. Any efficient and high-resolution high-order shock-capturing methods are good candidates for the blending of methods procedure. Typically, the adaptive blending of more than one method falls under two camps: hybrid methods and nonlinear filter methods. They are applicable to unstructured finite volume, finite element, discontinuous Galerkin, and spectral element methods. This work represents the culmination of over 20 years of high-order FDM developments and hands-on experience by the authors and collaborators in adaptive numerical dissipation control using the “high order nonlinear filter approach”. Extensions of these FDM versions to curvilinear nonuniform, freestream-preserving moving grids and time-varying deforming grids were also developed. By examining the construction of these two approaches using the high-order multistage type of temporal discretization, the nonlinear filter approach is made more efficient and less CPU-intensive while obtaining similar accuracy. A representative variety of test cases that compare the various blending of high-order methods with standalone standard methods is illustrated. Due to the fact that our nonlinear filter methods are not well known in compressible turbulence with shock waves, the intent of this comprehensive overview is for general audiences who are not familiar with our nonlinear filter methods. For readers interested in the implementation of our methods into their computer code, it is hoped that the long overview will be helpful. Full article

This article presents an experimental investigation of a passive-adaptive slat concept, an aerodynamic control mechanism aimed at avoiding separation in the inwards region of a horizontal axis wind turbine blade. The passive-adaptive slat is designed to autonomously adjust its position due to the aerodynamic forces acting on it, without the need of any active control system or external power source. The slat opens when the angle of attack increases beyond a certain threshold so that stall is delayed and closes for smaller angles of attack to increase the lift-to-drag ratio of the airfoil. A thorough aerodynamic characterisation of the passive-adaptive slat is performed in the wind tunnel followed by testing it under different sinusoidal inflows generated by a 2D active grid. It is observed that the slat system is able to leverage the advantages of both a clean airfoil and an airfoil with a fixed slat. It has the capability of delaying stalls for higher angles of attack, as well as having higher lift-to-drag ratio for lower angles of attack. It is also observed that, for fluctuating inflow, the passive-adaptive slat is able to achieve similar mean lift values as an airfoil with fixed slat while showing significant reduction in the lift fluctuations. Full article

This work focused on the experimental characterization of a complex flow structure behind a cross-flow array of cylindrical pins installed on the wall of a supersonic duct. This geometry simulates several common gas dynamic configurations, such as a supersonic mixer, a turbulence-generating grid, or, to some extent, a grid fin. In this work, the instrumentation employed is essentially non-intrusive, including spanwise integrating techniques such as (1) fast schlieren visualization and (2) Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensors; and planar techniques, namely (3) acetone Mie scattering and (4) acetone planar laser-induced fluorescence. An analysis of the data acquired by these complementary methods allowed the reconstruction of a three-dimensional portrait of supersonic flow interactions with a discrete pin array, including the shock wave structure, forefront separation zone, shock-induced separation zone, shear layer, and the mixing zone behind the pins. The main objective of this activity was to use various visualization techniques to acquire essential details of a complex compressible flow in a wide range of temporal–spatial scales. Particularly, a fine structure in the supersonic shear layer generated by the pin tips was captured by a Mie scattering technique. Based on the available publications, such structures have not been previously identified or discussed. Another potential outcome of this work is that the details revealed could be utilized for adequate code validation in numerical simulations. Full article

The OPF problem has significant importance in a power system’s operation, planning, economic scheduling, and security. Today’s electricity grid is rapidly evolving, with increased penetration of renewable power sources (RPSs). Conventional optimal power flow (OPF) has non-linear constraints that make it a highly non-linear, non-convex optimization problem. This complex problem escalates further with the integration of renewable energy resource (RES), which are generally intermittent in nature. This study suggests a new and effective improved optimizer via a TFWO algorithm (turbulent flow of water-based optimization), namely the ITFWO algorithm, to solve non-linear and non-convex OPF problems in energy networks with integrated solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind turbine (WT) units (being environmentally friendly and clean in nature). OPF in the energy networks is an optimization problem proposed to discover the optimal settings of an energy network. The OPF modeling contains the forecasted electric energy of WT and PV by considering the voltage value at PV and WT buses as decision parameters. Forecasting the active energy of PV and WT units has been founded on the real-time measurements of solar irradiance and wind speed. Eight scenarios are analyzed on the IEEE 30-bus test system in order to determine a cost-effective schedule for thermal power plants with different objectives that reflect fuel cost minimization, voltage profile improvement, emission gases, power loss reduction, and fuel cost minimization with consideration of the valve point effect of generation units. In addition, a carbon tax is considered in the goal function in the examined cases in order to investigate its effect on generator scheduling. A comparison of the simulation results with other recently published algorithms for solving OPF problems is made to illustrate the effectiveness and validity of the proposed ITFWO algorithm. Simulation results show that the improved turbulent flow of water-based optimization algorithm provides an effective and robust high-quality solution of the various optimal power-flow problems. Moreover, results obtained using the proposed ITFWO algorithm are either better than, or comparable to, those obtained using other techniques reported in the literature. The utility of solar and wind energy in scheduling problems has been proposed in this work. Full article

A novel active turbulence grid of the Institute of Fluid Mechanics at FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg is introduced. The focus of this grid is not on basic investigations of fluid mechanics, as is usually the case with active turbulence grids, but the generation of defined inflow conditions for axial fans. Thus, by means of the active turbulence grid, individual turbulence characteristics in the flow to the fan can be changed; therefore, fundamental interactions between the flow mechanics at the axial fan and the sound radiation can be analyzed. In addition, the replication of the flow fields of heat exchangers by the active turbulence grid is the focus of the investigations. The investigations showed that it is possible to use the active turbulence grid to generate defined inflow conditions for axial fans. It was also possible to reproduce the heat exchanger flow fields both for the mean turbulence values and for the spatial distributions. It was found that the grid induces tonal components due to the drive motors, but also that the inherent noise has no significant influence on the spectrum of the fans under investigation. Based on selected turbulence characteristics, direct correlations were found between the spatial distribution of the turbulence level and sound radiation at the first blade passing frequency of the axial fan. As the variance of the turbulence level increases, the sound radiation of the tonal components becomes more pronounced. The total sound pressure level, however, is mainly determined by the low-frequency broadband sound. A linear relationship between the spatial mean value of the turbulence level and the total sound pressure level was found for the investigated axial fan. Full article

Because wind power is connected to the grid on a large scale, frequency fluctuation in the power grid, which is defined as a system safety risk to the power grid, occurs from time to time. According to the grid code rules of China, wind turbines are required to be equipped with primary frequency modulation or inertia response control capability, which are used to support the safe and stable operation of the power grid. During the traditional frequency modulation process of the wind turbine, power limiting operation or pitch angle reservation is generally adopted to ensure that the reserved energy can be released at any time to support the frequency change in the power grid. However, the frequency support method leads to a large loss of power generation, and does not consider the coordination between mechanical load characteristics control and primary frequency modulation. In this paper, a mechanical load optimization control strategy for a wind turbine during the primary frequency modulation process, based on LIDAR (light detection and ranging) feed forward control technology, is proposed and verified. Through LIDAR feed forward control, the characteristics of incoming wind speed can be sensed in advance, with the consequence that the wind turbine can participate in, and actively control, the primary frequency modulation procedure. According to the characteristics of incoming wind, for instance the amplitude and turbulence, simultaneously, the size of the reserved pitch angle can be adjusted in real time. This kind of method, coordinating with the mechanical load of the wind turbine, can be used to reduce both the ultimate load and fatigue damage as much as possible. Finally, the mechanical load characteristics of the wind turbine with and without the control strategy are compared and studied through simulation. The research results show that the load optimization control strategy based on LIDAR feed-forward control technology can effectively reduce the fatigue and ultimate loads of the wind turbine while supporting the frequency change in the power grid; especially for the fatigue load of tower base tilt and roll bending moments, the reducing proportion will be about 4.3% and 6.3%, respectively. Full article

The non-premixed filtered tabulated chemistry for large eddy simulations employs numerical filtering to resolve a thin flame front on practical LES numerical grids. The flame structure is modified to be coherent with the domain discretization. The first turbulent combustion application of the non-premixed filtered tabulated chemistry approach is presented. A keen comparison of the flamelet filtering transformation in the premixed and non-premixed regimes is carried out. Three distinctive features are outlined: the flame thickness variation, the filtered manifold transformation, and the model activation dependence on the chosen diffusion flamelet configuration for a non-premixed filtered approach. The model performance is assessed on two real turbulent flame configurations, Sandia flames D and E, employing a three-dimensional tabulation strategy, where the numerical grid is coupled with the model by the third parameter, i.e., the computational cell size. The repercussions of the above cited aspects are carefully assessed. The results demonstrate that the formalism coupling with an SGS modeling function can adequately describe wrinkled flame front effects. The predictions for both the major stable species and the minor ones accurately correspond with the underlying physics. It turns out that there is a substantial variation of the filter effect as a function of the strain rate of the flame and the considered species. The varying filter sensitivity along the manifold influences the response of the model correction terms and the retrieved variables. The non-premixed FTACLES formalism possibilities and conditions for the model’s utilization and optimal performance are clearly stated, to confirm the idea that SGS closure in diffusive combustion can be derived based on filtering arguments, and not only based on statistical approaches. Full article

This work deals with the numerical and experimental investigation of flow in the protective filters which combine fibrous pleats and the absorbent cartridge. The flow through the complete 3D geometry of all parts of the filters, including complex geometry of the pleats, is numerically modeled using high-quality computational grids. The sorbent filling, textile dividers as well as the material of filtration pleats are modeled as the porous media with the coefficients of the quadratic Forchheimer equation derived from the experiments in the laboratory located at the SIGMA Research and Development Institute. A comprehensive CFD analysis has been carried out using the ANSYS CFX package with the SST turbulence model, which combines advantages of both the high- and the low-Reynolds number turbulence models. The fully parametric description of the pleats enables the generation of high-quality structured computational grids for a wide range of pleat heights and widths and to use numerical shape optimization process. The numerical simulations show very good agreement of calculated and measured pressure drop for all variants of the complex geometry of the combined filter. To simulate a real application of the protective filter, the unsteady simulations which follow the human breathing pattern have been performed with the flow rate corresponding to the increased human activity. Full article

The characterisation of small-scale turbulence has been an active area of research for decades and this includes, particularly, the analysis of small-scale isotropy, as postulated by Kolmogorov. In particular, the question if the dissipation tensor is isotropic or not, and how it is related to the anisotropy of the Reynolds stresses is of particular interest for modelling purposes. While this subject has been extensively studied in the context of isothermal flows, the situation is more complicated in turbulent reacting flows because of heat release. Furthermore, the landscape of Computational Fluid Dynamics is characterised by a multitude of methods ranging from Reynolds-averaged to Large Eddy Simulation techniques, and they address different ranges of scales of the turbulence kinetic energy spectrum. Therefore, a multiscale analysis of the anisotropies of Reynolds stress, dissipation and sub-grid scale tensor has been performed by using a DNS database of statistically planar turbulent premixed flames. Results show that the coupling between dissipation tensor and Reynolds stress tensor is weaker compared to isothermal turbulent boundary layer flows. In particular, for low and moderate turbulence intensities, heat release induces pronounced anisotropies which affect not only fluctuation strengths but also the characteristic size of structures associated with different velocity components. Full article

In this article, a technique for the reduction of total harmonic distortion (THD) in distributed renewables energy access (DREA) composed of wind turbines is introduced and tested under the wind speed conditions presented in Tamaulipas, Mexico. The analysis and simulation are delimited by a study case based on wind speeds measured and recorded for one year at two highs in the municipality of Soto La Marina, Tamaulipas, Mexico. From this information, the most probable wind speed and the corresponding turbulence intensity is calculated and applied to a wind energy conversion system (WECS). The WECS is composed of an active front-end (AFE) converter topology using four voltage source converters (VSCs) connected in parallel with a different phase shift angle at the digital sinusoidal pulse width modulation (DSPWM) signals of each VSC. The WECS is formed by the connection of five type-4 wind turbines (WTs). The effectiveness and robustness of the DREA integration are reviewed in the light of a complete mathematical model and corroborated by the simulation results in Matlab-Simulink^®. The results evidence a reduction of the THD in grid currents up to four times and which enables the delivery of a power capacity of 10 MVA in the Tamaulipas AC distribution grid that complies with grid code of harmonic distortion production. Full article

Due to the fast electric control of the doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) when experiencing power grid disturbance or turbulent wind, the flexible drive chain of the wind turbine (WT) generates long-term torsional vibration, which shortens the service life of the drive chain. The torsional vibration causes fatigue damage of the gearbox and affects power generation. In this paper, a two-channel active damping control measure is proposed. The strategy forms a new WT electromagnetic torque reference value through two channels: one is a proportion integration differentiation (PID) damping term with frequency difference, which is used to reduce torsional vibration caused by frequency difference between fan and shafting; the other adopts the torsional vibration angle (θ_s) as the feedback signal, and an additional damping term is formed by bandpass filter (BPF) and trap filter (BRF). The strategy can increase the electromagnetic torque and suppress the torsional vibration of the drive chain. Finally, modeling and simulation using MATLAB/Simulink show that the method can effectively suppress the torsional vibration of the drive chain without affecting power generation. Full article

This paper proposes an active power control method for supporting grid frequency regulation in wind farms (WF) considering improved fatigue load sensitivity of wind turbines (WT). The control method is concluded into two parts: frequency adjustment control (FAC) and power reference dispatch (PRD). On one hand, the proposed Fuzzy-PID control method can actively maintain the balance between power generation and grid load, by which the grid frequency is regulated when plenty of winds are available. The fast power response can be provided and frequency error can be reduced by the proposed method. On the other hand, the sensitivity of the WT fatigue loads to the power references is improved. The explicit analytical equations of the fatigue load sensitivity are re-derived to improve calculation accuracy. In the process of the optimization dispatch, the re-defined fatigue load sensitivity will be used to minimize fatigue load. Case studies were conducted with a WF under different grid loads and turbulent wind with different intensities. By comparing the frequency response of the WF, rainflow cycle, and Damage Equivalent Load (DEL) of the WT, the efficacy of the proposed method is verified. Full article

The Aullene fire devastated more than 3000 ha of Mediterranean maquis and pine forest in July 2009. The simulation of combustion processes, as well as atmospheric dynamics represents a challenge for such scenarios because of the various involved scales, from the scale of the individual flames to the larger regional scale. A coupled approach between the Meso-NH (Meso-scale Non-Hydrostatic) atmospheric model running in LES (Large Eddy Simulation) mode and the ForeFire fire spread model is proposed for predicting fine- to large-scale effects of this extreme wildfire, showing that such simulation is possible in a reasonable time using current supercomputers. The coupling involves the surface wind to drive the fire, while heat from combustion and water vapor fluxes are injected into the atmosphere at each atmospheric time step. To be representative of the phenomenon, a sub-meter resolution was used for the simulation of the fire front, while atmospheric simulations were performed with nested grids from 2400-m to 50-m resolution. Simulations were run with or without feedback from the fire to the atmospheric model, or without coupling from the atmosphere to the fire. In the two-way mode, the burnt area was reproduced with a good degree of realism at the local scale, where an acceleration in the valley wind and over sloping terrain pushed the fire line to locations in accordance with fire passing point observations. At the regional scale, the simulated fire plume compares well with the satellite image. The study explores the strong fire-atmosphere interactions leading to intense convective updrafts extending above the boundary layer, significant downdrafts behind the fire line in the upper plume, and horizontal wind speeds feeding strong inflow into the base of the convective updrafts. The fire-induced dynamics is induced by strong near-surface sensible heat fluxes reaching maximum values of 240 $\mathrm{kW}{\mathrm{m}}^{-2}$ . The dynamical production of turbulent kinetic energy in the plume fire is larger in magnitude than the buoyancy contribution, partly due to the sheared initial environment, which promotes larger shear generation and to the shear induced by the updraft itself. The turbulence associated with the fire front is characterized by a quasi-isotropic behavior. The most active part of the Aullene fire lasted 10 h, while 9 h of computation time were required for the 24 million grid points on 900 computer cores. Full article

Local air quality is a major concern for the population regularly exposed to high levels of air pollution. Due mainly to its aircraft engine activities during taxiing and take-off, the airport is often submitted to heterogeneous but important concentrations of NO ${}_x$ and Particulate Matter (PM). The study suggests an innovative approach to determining the air traffic impact on air quality at the scale of the airport, its runways, and its terminals, to be able to locate the persistent high-concentration spots, for example. The pollutant concentrations at 10 m resolution and 1 s time step are calculated in order to identify the most affected areas of an airport platform and their contributors. A real day of air traffic on a regional airport is simulated, using observations and aircraft trajectories data from radar streams. In order to estimate the aircraft emissions, the Air Transport Systems Evaluation Infrastructure (IESTA) is used. Regarding local air quality, IESTA relies on the non-hydrostatic meso-scale atmospheric model Meso-NH using its grid-nesting capabilities with three domains. The detailed cartography of the airport distinguishes between grassland, parking, and terminals, allowing the computation of exchanges of heat, water, and momentum between the different types of surfaces and the atmosphere as well as the interactions with the building using a drag force. The dynamic parameters like wind, temperature, turbulent kinetic energy, and pollutants concentration are computed at 10 m resolution over the 2 km × 4 km airport domain. The pollutants are considered in this preliminary study as passive tracers, without chemical reactions. This study aims at proving the feasibility of high-scale modelling over an airport with state-of-the-art physical models in order to better understand the repartition of pollutants over an airport, taking into account advection and turbulence in interactions with buildings and regional trends, emissions, Auxiliary Power Units (APU), taxiing, parking, take off. All these processes drive the model at each time step and are not averaged over one hour or more like in Gaussian or Lagrangian ones. This study is investigating the feasibility of high spatio-temporal air quality modelling for research purposes but not for operational forecasting. Full article