NUMERICAL SIMULATION STUDY OF WIND TURBINE WAKE AFFECTING NEAR-SURFACE WIND EROSION AND SAND DEPOSITION

Ma Gaosheng; Zheng Quan; Li Deshun; Kong Lingduo; Luo Fengyang; Xing Jialu

doi:10.19912/j.0254-0096.tynxb.2025-0337

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Acta Energiae Solaris Sinica ›› 2026, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (8) : 593-601. DOI: 10.19912/j.0254-0096.tynxb.2025-0337

NUMERICAL SIMULATION STUDY OF WIND TURBINE WAKE AFFECTING NEAR-SURFACE WIND EROSION AND SAND DEPOSITION

Ma Gaosheng^1,2, Zheng Quan¹, Li Deshun^1,2, Kong Lingduo¹, Luo Fengyang¹, Xing Jialu³

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Abstract

To investigate the impact of wind turbine wakes on near-surface wind erosion, sand initiation, and dust deposition, OpenFOAM, an open-source software package, was employed to simulate the operation of the wind turbine using the Actuator Line Method （ALM）. Large Eddy Simulation （LES） were utilized to reconstruct the flow field, and the Multi-phase Particle-in-cell （MP-PIC） model was applied to solve the interaction between dust particles and the flow. The study examined the influence of wind turbine operation on the surface shear stress under incoming flow with mixed particle sizes, following the logarithmic profile of the atmospheric boundary layer. The effects were analyzed for different wind turbine height-to-diameter ratios （H/D）, and the erosion characteristics of the surface were determined based on the critical wind speed formula for sand initiation. The results indicate that the expansion and meandering of the wind turbine wake led to an increase in surface shear stress, with the instantaneous surface shear stress increasing by approximately 80% compared to the case without a wind turbine. The impact of the wind turbine wake on surface shear stress followed a trapezoidal distribution, where the influence range decreases and the intensity weakenes as the height-to-diameter ratio （H/D） increases. The region of wind erosion and sand initiation induced by the wind turbine wake is concentrated on the surface within 2D downstream of the turbine. The onset of wind erosion is delayed as H/D increases, with the highest frequency of wind erosion occurring on the surface between 5D and 10D downstream of the wind turbine. The location and frequency of wind erosion varies slightly for different particle sizes. Dust particle deposition on the surface is related to the distribution of surface shear stress. In the far wake zone （beyond 5D）, the deposition is lower where shear stress is higher.

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wind turbines / near-surface wind erosion / near-surfacce shear stress / actuator line method / sand transport / large eddy simulation

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Ma Gaosheng, Zheng Quan, Li Deshun, Kong Lingduo, Luo Fengyang, Xing Jialu. NUMERICAL SIMULATION STUDY OF WIND TURBINE WAKE AFFECTING NEAR-SURFACE WIND EROSION AND SAND DEPOSITION[J]. Acta Energiae Solaris Sinica. 2026, 47(8): 593-601 https://doi.org/10.19912/j.0254-0096.tynxb.2025-0337

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