A time-domain turbulent wind field generator constrained by 4-D LiDAR measurements for accurate loads assessment

Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) has emerged as a reliable and accurate remote sensing technology for wind speed measurement. With an adapted processing algorithm, nacelle LiDAR measurements can be used to generate a wind field estimation representative of what the wind turbine is exposed to. The solution presented in this paper exploits the raw nacelle LiDAR measurements to provide an accurate estimate of the incoming wind, as a 4-D grid (3-D in space and 1-D in time) and derives a 3D-grid (2-D in space and 1-D in time) of the effective wind at the rotor plane, consistent with the turbine dynamics. An experimental application is exposed, using data from a floating turbine at the Equinor Hywind Scotland wind park. When input to an aero-elastic wind turbine modeling simulation tool [1][2], such wind field can better characterize the loads and improve the turbine model's quality.