Abstract
A generalised actuator disk-computational fluid dynamics (GAD-CFD) model is used to conduct simulations on a 14-turbine array arranged in two different configurations. Firstly, simulations of a regular (staggered) and modified (dual) configurations are conducted in straight flow conditions to understand the hydrodynamics around devices and evaluate their performance. Compared to the regular configuration, wake recovery to freestream conditions was better and the total power output of the array was increased by over 10%. The influence of yaw angle and upstream TI (turbulence intensity) on both array performance was also studied. Strong sensitivity of overall farm power and thrust was found to exist in small variations in yaw angle. However, the overall wake structures were similar irrespective of the yaw angle. Finally, simulations of three different turbulence intensities, TI, 1%, 5% and 10% performed showed that in both arrays, turbulence intensity has little effect on the thrust and power of the upstream set of devices for the considered TI range but greatly influences the individual downstream devices.