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COMPUTATIONAL FLUID FLOW OVER COMPLEX TOPOGRAPHY. By: Steven M. Zollars Dr. Jason Roney. OVERVIEW. Problem Statement/Relevance Methodology My Progress/Setbacks Summary Questions. PROBLEM STATEMENT.
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COMPUTATIONAL FLUID FLOW OVER COMPLEX TOPOGRAPHY By: Steven M. Zollars Dr. Jason Roney
OVERVIEW • Problem Statement/Relevance • Methodology • My Progress/Setbacks • Summary • Questions
PROBLEM STATEMENT Implementing Computational Fluid Dynamics to Investigate Flow Over Complex Topography with Applications to Wind Turbine Sitings and Wind Energy Predictions
RELEVANCE • Wind Power is one of the most promising and cost effective renewable energy technologies available today • Environmental issues negligible compared to current energy sources (I.e. coal, nuclear, gas,..) • By 2005: Wind Power Costs = $0.02 per kWh • Colorado Potential: 481 billion kWh per year from wind
METHODOLOGY 1st Determine a site • Alamont Pass, California (East of San Francisco) • Tehachapi, California (Kern County) • San Gorgonio Pass (North of Palm Springs) • Ponnequin Wind Facility, Colorado (N.E. Colorado)
METHODOLOGY 2nd Download that sites .dem file (Digital Elevation Map)
METHODOLOGY 3rd Convert the .dem to a .vrt & .cel format using FORTRAN (or other operating mode) - Reformats the given information - allows us to plot a grid of points
METHODOLOGY 4th Import the data into StarCD - Creates a surface shell Mesh Grid
METHODOLOGY 5th Determine Boundary/Initial Conditions & run StarCD program
METHODOLOGY 6th Read output of StarCD and determine highest areas of wind velocity for future wind turbine sitings.
METHODOLOGY 7th Create a program that will determine the energy output from a wind turbine using MATLAB 8th Read output of StarCD into MATLAB to determine energy output of turbines located at different sites.
SUMMARY • Problem Statement/Relevance • Methodology • My Progress/Setbacks