A computational model to simulate thunderstorm downbursts for wind turbine loads analysis

The generation of wind fields is of interest in the study of the structural performance of wind turbines in critical events, such as thunderstorm downbursts. Various methods ranging from the use of empirical data to employing computational simulations are typically adopted to study the response of wind turbines in downburst flow fields. While the former approach is limited in the ability to account for accurate and spatially resolved details of the flow field, the latter is expensive and therefore, has limitations in its use. As an alternative, in this work, we propose a Paused Downburst Model in which a snapshot of a time-dependent computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation is used to generate mean wind fields during thunderstorm downbursts. The developed model for the mean wind field is validated against recorded downburst data in the literature. The turbulent component of the wind field is generated using computationally inexpensive techniques based on Fourier-based power spectral density functions and coherence functions. In an illustrative example, the combined mean and turbulence wind fields are generated and applied on a utility-scale wind turbine to study structural load characteristics during a downburst event.