Implementation of Forest Canopy Model in Large-Eddy Simulation: Effects of Forested Terrain on Wind Turbine Flow and Power Output

This thesis investigates wind flow and wind turbine performance in forested complex terrains, with emphasis on the combined influence of topography and forest canopies on velocity distribution, turbulence intensity and extracted power. Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) was employed within the WiRE-LES code, integrating an explicitly resolved canopy model to represent vegetation effects. The model was validated against field data and applied to both idealized hill configurations and the real-case study of the Juvent wind farm in Switzerland. Results highlight that explicit canopy modeling improves the accuracy of flow predictions and power estimation compared to a simpler roughness-length approach, while also capturing enhanced turbulence and altered wake recovery induced by forests. The findings demonstrate the significant impact of forested terrains on wake dynamics and turbine performance, providing valuable insights for wind farm design and optimization in complex landscapes. Future work should focus on parameter sensitivity, decoupling forest and topographic effects and extending validation with additional field measurements.