Wind Simulation on Complex Terrain Sites: About the Dependencies on the Resolution of the Terrain Model

The use of wind simulation is growing very quickly in many engineering applications. According to the specific characteristics of the application different parameters of the wind field need to be estimated and the use of a reliable digital terrain model can be fundamental to define the domain geometry. In present work an analysis of the influence of the digital terrain model has been performed simulating the wind field using the most advanced simulation techniques. The simulations were processed through two different numerical models: a CFD code used for wind energy applications and the linear model developed for the computation of the European Wind Atlas. The calculation domain was generated using two different type of digital terrain model (dtm) with the same boundary layer conditions and grid resolution. The results demonstrate that the type of dtm can affect significantly the wind study and the assessment of the available wind energy potential.