Numerical analysis of wind flow patterns over complex hilly terrains: comparison between two commonly used CFD software
by A.Z. Dhunny; M.R. Lollchund; S.D.D.V. Rughooputh
International Journal of Global Energy Issues (IJGEI), Vol. 39, No. 3/4, 2016

Abstract: Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has become a very useful tool to study the wind flow patterns over complex terrains. The present work evaluates the performance of some well-known CFD software for this endeavour. The CFD software considered are OpenFOAM and WindSim, each solving numerically the Reynolds Average Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations in the turbulent regime using the standard k-ε model. Different terrain complexity ranging from smooth terrain to more complex ones are considered: the Askervein and Bolund hills. Simulated results were verified and compared against actual measurements. The study concludes that, for more complex rough terrains, WindSim gives more accurate results as compared to OpenFOAM.

Online publication date: Wed, 04-May-2016

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