An actuator sector model for wind power applications: a parametric study

Abstract. This paper investigates different actuator sector model implementation alternatives and how they compare to actuator line results. The velocity sampling method, tip/smearing correction, and time step are considered. A good agreement is seen between the line and sector model in the rotor plane and the wake flow. Using the sector model, it was possible to reduce the computational time by 75 % compared to the actuator line model as it is possible to run the simulations with a larger time step without compromising the accuracy considerably. The results suggest that the proposed velocity sampling method produces the closest results to the line model with different tip speed ratios. Moreover, the vortex-based smearing correction applied to the sector model results in the lowest error values, among the considered methods, to correct the radial load distributions. Also, it is seen that reducing the time step compared to the one used for the actuator disc/sector does not provide an advantage considering the increased computational time.