Wind Tunnel Evaluation of Aerodynamic Loads in FAST.Farm Under Controlled Wake Conditions

This study investigates the capability of FAST.Farm, a mid-fidelity wind farm simulation tool employing the dynamic wake meandering approach, to accurately predict loads on wind turbines in a small wind farm. The wind farm consists of three 1:150 scale models of the DTU 10 MW wind turbine tested in a wind tunnel under scenarios including steady-state operation, wake steering, and dynamic wake actuation. The results demonstrate that FAST.Farm, once calibrated with experimental data, effectively predicts the thrust force and yaw moment of wind turbines across diverse wake conditions. Notably, the curl wake model–designed to replicate the kidney-shaped wake deficit–has better accuracy in capturing yaw moments of downstream turbines under yaw misalignment. However, its tendency to overestimate wake expansion reduces accuracy in nonskewed inflow scenarios compared with the polar model. The study highlights the necessity of optimizing FAST.Farm dynamic wake meandering parameters to enhance its precision, particularly by accounting for turbine spacing and wake interactions. Furthermore, it is crucial to improve the accuracy of aerodynamic load calculations under skewed inflow conditions. These findings provide a validated framework for advancing wind farm simulation tools and optimizing wind turbine performance in complex operational conditions.