Articles | Volume 9, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-601-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-601-2024
Research article
 | 
14 Mar 2024
Research article |  | 14 Mar 2024

An insight into the capability of the actuator line method to resolve tip vortices

Pier Francesco Melani, Omar Sherif Mohamed, Stefano Cioni, Francesco Balduzzi, and Alessandro Bianchini

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Cited articles

Bachant, P., Goude, A., and Wosnik, M.: Actuator line modeling of vertical-axis turbines, arXiv [preprint], arXiv:1605.01449 [physics], https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1605.01449, 2018. 
Balduzzi, F., Drofelnik, J., Bianchini, A., Ferrara, G., Ferrari, L., and Campobasso, M. S.: Darrieus wind turbine blade unsteady aerodynamics: a three-dimensional Navier-Stokes CFD assessment, Energy, 128, 550–563, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2017.04.017, 2017. 
Balduzzi, F., Marten, D., Bianchini, A., Drofelnik, J., Ferrari, L., Campobasso, M. S., Pechlivanoglou, G., Nayeri, C. N., Ferrara, G., and Paschereit, C. O.: Three-dimensional aerodynamic analysis of a darrieus wind turbine blade using computational fluid dynamics and lifting line theory, J. Eng. Gas Turb. Power, 140, 022602, https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4037750, 2018. 
Balduzzi, F., Holst, D., Melani, P. F., Wegner, F., Nayeri, C. N., Ferrara, G., Paschereit, C. O., and Bianchini, A.: Combined Numerical and Experimental Study on the Use of Gurney Flaps for the Performance Enhancement of NACA0021 Airfoil in Static and Dynamic Conditions, J. Eng. Gas Turb. Power, 143, 021004, https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4048908, 2021. 
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Short summary
The actuator line method (ALM) is a powerful tool for wind turbine simulation but struggles to resolve tip effects. The reason is still unclear. To investigate this, we use advanced angle of attack sampling and vortex tracking techniques to analyze the flow around a NACA0018 finite wing, simulated with ALM and blade-resolved computational fluid dynamics. Results show that the ALM can account for tip effects if the correct angle of attack sampling and force projection strategies are adopted.
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