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Technical Report
TurbSim User’s Guide NREL/TP-500-39797
B.J. Jonkman and M.L. Buhl, Jr. September 2006

NREL is operated by Midwest Research Institute ● Battelle Contract No. DE-AC36-99-GO10337

 Technical Report
TurbSim User’s Guide NREL/TP-500-39797
B.J. Jonkman and M.L. Buhl, Jr. September 2006

Prepared under Task No. WER6.2104

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

1617 Cole Boulevard, Golden, Colorado 80401-3393
303-275-3000 • www.nrel.gov
Operated for the U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
by Midwest Research Institute • Battelle
Contract No. DE-AC36-99-GO10337
 NOTICE

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents..........................................................................................................................................iii

List of Abbreviations...................................................................................................................................... v

Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 1

History ........................................................................................................................................................... 1

Retrieving Files from the Archive.................................................................................................................. 2

Distributed Files ............................................................................................................................................ 2

Certification Test ........................................................................................................................................... 2

Compiling TurbSim ....................................................................................................................................... 3

Using TurbSim .............................................................................................................................................. 3

Input Files...................................................................................................................................................... 3

Runtime Options..................................................................................................................................... 4

Turbine/Model Specifications ................................................................................................................. 5

Meteorological Boundary Conditions ..................................................................................................... 6

Non-IEC Meteorological Boundary Conditions....................................................................................... 7

Coherent Turbulence Scaling Parameters ............................................................................................. 8

Spectral Models ............................................................................................................................................ 9

The IEC Spectral Models ....................................................................................................................... 9

The Risø Smooth-Terrain Model ............................................................................................................ 9

The NREL Wind Farm Models ............................................................................................................... 9

The NWTC Model................................................................................................................................. 10

The Great Plains Model........................................................................................................................ 10

Output files .................................................................................................................................................. 10

Summary Files...................................................................................................................................... 10

Hub Height Binary Files........................................................................................................................ 11

Hub-Height Formatted Files ................................................................................................................. 11

Hub-Height AeroDyn Formatted Files .................................................................................................. 11

Full-Field TurbSim Binary Files ............................................................................................................ 11

iii
 Full-Field BLADED-Style Binary Files .................................................................................................. 12

Tower Data Binary Files ....................................................................................................................... 12

Full-Field Formatted Files..................................................................................................................... 12

Coherent Turbulence Time Step Files ................................................................................................. 13

Wind Profiles ............................................................................................................................................... 13

Power Law Wind Profile ....................................................................................................................... 13

Logarithmic Wind Profile ...................................................................................................................... 13

Low-Level Jet Wind Profile................................................................................................................... 14

Spatial Coherence Models.......................................................................................................................... 14

Coherence for IEC Spectral Models..................................................................................................... 14

Coherence for Non-IEC Spectral Models ............................................................................................. 14

Using Coherent Turbulence Time Step Files with AeroDyn ....................................................................... 15

Parameters That Can Vary From One Simulation to Another.............................................................. 15

Suggestions for Generating Coherent Turbulent Structures ...................................................................... 15

Warnings ..................................................................................................................................................... 16

Limitations ................................................................................................................................................... 16

Possible Future Enhancements .................................................................................................................. 17

Known Bugs ................................................................................................................................................ 17

Caveats ....................................................................................................................................................... 17

Acknowledgements..................................................................................................................................... 17

Feedback .................................................................................................................................................... 18

References.................................................................................................................................................. 19

Appendix A: Sample TurbSim Input File..................................................................................................... 21

Appendix B: TurbSim Binary Full-Field File Format ................................................................................... 22

Appendix C: Tower Data Binary File Format .............................................................................................. 24

Appendix D: Sample AeroDyn Coherent Turbulence Parameter Input File ............................................... 25

iv
List of Abbreviations
BLAS Basic Linear Algebra Subprograms
CoRA Colorado Research Associates
CXML Compaq Extended Math Library
DNS Direct Numerical Simulation
ETM Extreme Turbulence Model
EWM Extreme Wind Model
FF full-field time series
FFT Fast Fourier Transform
FFTPACK FFT Package
HH hub-height
IEC International Electrotechnical Commission
LAPACK Linear Algebra Package
LES Large-Eddy Simulation
LLLJP Lamar Low-Level Jet Project
NCAR National Center for Atmospheric Research
NREL National Renewable Energy Laboratory
NTM Normal Turbulence Model
pRNG pseudorandom number generator
TI Turbulence Intensity

v
Introduction
TurbSim is a stochastic, full-field, turbulent-wind simulator. It numerically simulates time series of three-
dimensional wind velocity vectors at points in a vertical rectangular grid. TurbSim output can then be
used as input into AeroDyn-based [1] codes such as FAST [2], YawDyn [3], or MSC.ADAMS® [4].

The underlying theory behind this method of simulating time series assumes a stationary process. To
simulate non-stationary components, TurbSim also has the ability to superimpose coherent turbulent
structures onto the time series it generates.

History
In 1988, Paul Veers of Sandia National Laboratories wrote a program called SNLWIND [5] that could
generate full-field turbulent wind for the u component only. In 1992, Neil Kelley of the National
Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) added several spectral models to SNLWIND and modified it to
generate the v and w components [6]. SNLWIND-3D was the result. During the next five years, NREL
researchers added further modifications, including the Kaimal and von Karman spectral models specified
by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). Gary Desroachers modified it to run on many
different platforms by including C-Preprocessor directives for conditional compilation. In 1997, Marshall
Buhl added the ability to generate binary files that are compatible with Garrad Hassan's BLADED turbine
design code [7].

Both SNLWIND and SNLWIND-3D were written in FORTRAN 77 and required recompilation for
different grid densities and run lengths. This made using and supporting the programs difficult.

In January 2000, Neil Kelley removed all of the spectral models except the two defined by the IEC, and
Marshall Buhl modernized the remaining code by rewriting all but the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT)
routines in Fortran 95 and eliminating the C-Preprocessor directives. This included using dynamic-
memory allocation for the big arrays. He found and fixed a few bugs, modified the input and output file
format, streamlined processes, and added the ability to generate hub-height files in AeroDyn format.
Because the changes were substantial, Marshall renamed the program SNwind (Sandia/NREL Wind) [8].

In 2003, NREL researchers updated the code to allow for the addition of coherent turbulent structures and
results from the Lamar Low-Level Jet Project (LLLJP). Bonnie Jonkman put the spectral models from
SNLWIND-3D back in and replaced the FORTRAN 77 FFT routines with more modern routines from the
Compaq Extended Math Library (CXML). She also made changes to the Cholesky factorization
algorithm, which sped up the code and allowed for a significant reduction in the memory required to run
the program. She eliminated the requirement that the grid be an even number of points in each direction,
and allowed the grid height to be different from its width.

Once these enhancements were in place, the researchers modified it to generate coherent structures with
realistic temporal and spatial scaling, and coherent turbulence time step files became another output
option. The code was then renamed TurbSim (Turbulence Simulator) because of its ability to generate
coherent turbulence.

Neil Kelley has written a companion document, Overview of the TurbSim Stochastic Inflow Turbulence
Simulator [9], to discuss how TurbSim has been developed and some of the theory behind that
development.

1
Retrieving Files from the Archive
Download the TurbSim archive from the NREL web server page at http://wind.nrel.gov/designcodes/.
The file will have a name like "TurbSim_v101.exe." Create a TurbSim folder somewhere on your file
system and put this file there. You can double click on it from Windows Explorer or type
"TurbSim_v101" (or the file name) at a command prompt with the TurbSim folder as the current
directory. This will create some files and folders. Please see Marshall Buhl’s paper Installing NWTC
Design Codes [10] for information on how to set up TurbSim to run in any folder.

You will also need to download the coherent structures archive from NREL’s web server page if you wish
to generate coherent turbulence with TurbSim. The file will have a name like "TSM_structures.exe."
Create a folder somewhere on your file system and put this file there. Execute the program by double
clicking on it or by typing "TSM_structures" at a command prompt with the folder you created as the
current directory. When executed, this archive will create the files and folders used to define coherent
structures. You will need to type the name of the path to these folders in TurbSim and AeroDyn input
files.
Table 1. Files in the TurbSim Archive.
Distributed Files File(s) Description
The list of files that are
ArcFiles.txt
See Table 1 for a list of the files included in the written to the archive.
TurbSim archive. The batch file that
ArcFiles.bat
creates the archive.
The list of changes to
ChangeLog.txt
TurbSim.
Certification Test A sample perl script
used to run TurbSim,
Before using TurbSim, run the certification- RunTurbSim.pl
using a different seed
testing program. It is a batch file called each time.
"CertTest.bat" and is located in the "Test" folder. The Fortran source
To test the installation, edit "CertTest.bat" and set Source\*.*
code for TurbSim.
the environment variables found near the top of A sample AeroDyn
the file to settings that are compatible with your TurbSim_AD.ctp coherent turbulence
system. You will probably have to change only parameter input file.
the "Editor" variable. Then, open up a command The TurbSim program
window, go to the Test folder, and enter TurbSim.exe for 32-bit Windows®
"CertTest" or “CertTest MATLAB” if you have platforms.
access to MATLAB® [11] and would like to see TurbSim.inp A sample input file.
The user’s guide in
plots of the data. TurbSim.pdf
PDF format.
An overview of
TurbSim will run several times. The test TurbSimOverview.pdf TurbSim in PDF for-
procedure will compare the new results to those mat.
stored in the "Test\TstFiles" folder, and it will Files used to run and
write the differences between the output files to a manage the certifica-
file called "CertTest.out." If you have specified Test\*.* tion tests and
the “MATLAB” option, MATLAB will also MATLAB® scripts for
open and plot many results. You must close the reading TurbSim data.
MATLAB program before the test procedure can Files used to run the
continue. Before finishing, the test procedure Test\EventData\*.* certification tests with
will automatically open the “CertTest.out” file coherent turbulence.
My results for the
with the editor you specified with the "Editor" Test\TstFiles\*.*
certification tests.
variable. Scan through the file; the only

2
differences should be the date and time stamps in the headers of the files and the CPU time in the
summary files. If you recompiled TurbSim with another compiler, there may be some slight differences
in the last digit of many of the numbers.

Compiling TurbSim
You should not need to compile TurbSim unless you want to make changes to the code. The archive
contains Fortran code specific to TurbSim as well as the Fortran FFTPACK version 4.1 [12], LAPACK
version 3.0 [13], BLAS [14], [15], and RanLux [16] routines that TurbSim uses. TurbSim also uses the
NWTC Subroutine Library version 1.12, [17] which you will need to download from the NREL web
server page at http://wind.nrel.gov/designcodes/.

The code has been written primarily for the Intel® Visual Fortran compiler. If you want to port TurbSim
to another platform or compiler, you may have to make changes in the NWTC Subroutine Library’s
SysVF.f90 file and possibly the BLAS LSAME() function. If your compiler has trouble with non-
standard compiler directive prefixes, you may also have to remove the code between lines beginning with
!MS$if and !MS$endif in the TurbSim source files. If you have access to an optimized BLAS
library, you are encouraged to link your code with it instead of using the reference BLAS routines
included in the TurbSim archive.

Using TurbSim
To run TurbSim, enter "turbsim [/h] [<RootName.ext>]", where /h and <RootName.ext> are optional.

Examples:

turbsim

This will start TurbSim and open "turbsim.inp". This is equivalent to entering "turbsim
turbsim.inp".
turbsim myroot.tsm
This will start TurbSim and open the input file "myroot.tsm".
All output files will have the specified root file name with different extensions.

Wind components are as follows:

u downwind
v to the left when looking downwind
w up

Input Files
Do not add or remove lines from the sample input files in the archive. TurbSim assumes that parameters
are located on specific lines. See “Appendix A: Sample TurbSim Input File” for an example of a
TurbSim input file.

3
Runtime Options
The first two input values tell TurbSim which one of three pseudorandom number generators (pRNGs) to
use and how to initialize it. The random numbers generated by these pRNGs are used to generate random
phases in all of the spectral models and to determine a number of randomized boundary conditions and
coherent turbulence parameters in the non-IEC spectral models. The first input value is a random seed
that must be an integer between -2147483648 and 2147483647 (inclusive). The second input value is
either a second random seed or the strings “RanLux” or “RNSNLW” which are not case sensitive.

If the second input is a random seed, it must also be an integer between –2147483648 and 2147483647
(inclusive). TurbSim will then use the two seeds to initialize the intrinsic pRNG, which uses two separate
congruential generators together to produce a period of about 1018. This intrinsic pRNG is based on an
algorithm by Pierre L’ecuyer [18] and is identical to the one found in SNwind.

If the second input is the string “RNSNLW,” TurbSim will generate random numbers using the algorithm
found in SNLWIND and SNLWIND-3D. It will be initialized with only one seed.

Finally, if the second input is the string “RanLux,” TurbSim will use Lüscher’s level 3 “Luxury
Pseudorandom Numbers” [19], [20]. This pRNG is based on a subtract-and-borrow algorithm with a
period on the order of 10171 and modified by throwing numbers away to destroy correlations. It will be
initialized with only one seed. We recommend that you use RanLux since our initial tests show that it
seems to be the best behaved of the three generators.

The next eight fields tell TurbSim what you want for output. Valid entries for these flags are the strings
“true” and “false.” They are not case sensitive, and you can use any combination of output types. See the
“Output files” section of this paper for more complete descriptions of these file types.

The first output option is to generate hub-height (HH) time series in binary form. This format contains
time series of HH wind data and turbulence parameters. The second file type also contains time series of
HH wind data and turbulence parameters, but they are stored in formatted (human-readable) form. The
third is HH time series in AeroDyn format.

The fourth and fifth options generate binary, full-field (FF) time series in formats readable by AeroDyn.
The fourth option is a format unique to TurbSim and provides an encoding scheme designed to give
maximum resolution. It contains all the information necessary to decode the time series in one file, but it
is not compatible with BLADED. AeroDyn v12.60, which will soon be released, will support this new file
format; until then, use the BLADED-compatible FF files. Option number five uses an encoding scheme
that provides less resolution in some cases, but it is compatible with BLADED.

The sixth option is binary tower time series, containing points in a line at the tower centerline from the
bottom of the rectangular grid to the ground. If you have chosen to output FF time series in the format
unique to TurbSim, these tower points will be added to the FF binary output file. Otherwise, a separate
tower points binary file will be created, using an encoding scheme similar to the BLADED FF file format.

The seventh output option is FF time series in SNLWIND-3D human-readable format, and the last output
option is coherent turbulence time steps in AeroDyn form. The coherent turbulence feature works only
with non-IEC spectral models when the gradient Richardson number is greater than –0.05. TurbSim also
creates binary FF time series in AeroDyn form when a coherent turbulence time step file is requested. If
no FF time series has been specified, TurbSim will create BLADED-style binary FF files.

The last parameter in this section is a flag to tell whether the turbine rotates in the clockwise direction
when looking downwind. This feature is probably useful only if you want to use FF results with

4
BLADED and compare them to results using AeroDyn. This flag does not have any affect on results
when used with AeroDyn.

Turbine/Model Specifications
The first two parameters are the number of grid points to generate in the vertical and horizontal directions.
Unlike SNwind, which accepted only even numbers, TurbSim allows both even and odd grid-point sizes.

The third parameter in this section is the time step. We set it to 0.05 seconds and recommend that you do
not change it since the time step determines the maximum frequency used in the inverse FFT.

The next parameter is the length in seconds of the data to analyze. This number dictates how many
frequencies will be used to generate the output time series. We recommend that this number be at least
600 seconds. In order to speed up the inverse FFT computations, TurbSim may add a few extra time
steps to ensure that the number of analysis time steps is a product of small prime numbers.

The usable length of the data to output in seconds comes next. This differs slightly from the actual
amount of data that TurbSim will output. Because AeroDyn requires that there be data both upwind and
downwind of the tower in case the turbine is yawed, it insists that there be extra data in the FF files to
shift the data enough to ensure that the turbine will reside entirely within the wind-data domain. TurbSim
always adds the amount of time equal to the grid width divided by the mean HH wind speed to the
requested amount of usable time; this is the length of the output time series. If the analysis time is less
than the output time, TurbSim will use the length of the output time series as the analysis time.

The hub height of the turbine is the sixth parameter in this section. TurbSim works in the metric system
so enter the value in meters.

The next two parameters are the height and width of the grid. TurbSim assumes the diameter of the rotor
disk is the smaller of these two values. If the grid height is larger than its width, TurbSim will place the
top of the rotor disk at the top of the grid. Otherwise, the hub is centered both vertically and horizontally
on the grid. (See Figure 1.) Keep in mind that AeroDyn will test to make sure that the rotor radius plus
the shaft length (the distance from the yaw axis to the hub) is less than half the grid width. The height
and width must be large enough to ensure that no part of the blade can lie outside the grid.

Height = Width Height < Width Height > Width

Figure 1. Example grid and rotor placements.

The last two input parameters in this section are the mean flow angles. These angles will add mean
crosswise and vertical wind directions, which are constant across the entire grid. You should use caution
when using these inputs since AeroDyn marches FF grids through the turbine in the x-direction at the

5
mean hub-height wind speed, regardless of the flow angles. This can possibly give strange results if the
mean flow angles are not small.

The vertical mean-flow angle, parameter nine in this section of the input file, allows you to simulate wind
blowing uphill or downhill. Enter the angle in degrees and do not exceed 45 degrees in magnitude. A
positive value means the wind is blowing uphill.

The last parameter in this section of the input file, the horizontal mean-flow angle, is the wind direction.
Positive angles (enter them in degrees) shift the wind to the left when looking downwind. In the
transformation, the horizontal mean-flow angle is applied before the vertical mean-flow angle. If you are
generating full-field wind files for AeroDyn, we recommend that you introduce a yaw error in your
aeroelastic simulation instead of using a non-zero horizontal mean-flow angle.

Meteorological Boundary Conditions

The first parameter tells TurbSim which spectral model it should use. Valid values are "IECKAI" for the
Kaimal model, "IECVKM" for the Von Karman model, “SMOOTH” for the Risø smooth terrain model,
“WF_UPW”, “WF_07D”, and “WF_14D” for the NREL Wind Farm upwind, seven rotor-diameters
downwind, and 14 rotor-diameters downwind models, “NWTCUP” for the NREL Wind Farm upwind
model modified for NWTC conditions, and “GP_LLJ” for the NREL Great Plains Low-Level Jet model.
The values are not case sensitive. For more information on these models, see the section “Spectral
Models” in this report.

The second input parameter tells TurbSim which IEC standard to use. Enter “1” to use the scaling from
the IEC 61400-1 [21] standard or enter “2” or “3” to use the scaling from the IEC 61400-2 [22] or -3 [23]
standards. If you want to use the scaling parameters from the second edition of the IEC 61400-1 standard
[24], follow your input with the string “-ED2” (i.e. “1-ED2”). Likewise, if you want to use the scaling
parameters from IEC 61400-1, edition 3 [21], input the string “1-ED3”. If the 61400-1 edition number is
not specified, TurbSim will use the scaling from the third edition of IEC 61400-1 for the Kaimal model
and scaling from the standard’s second edition for the von Karman model, which is not defined in the
newer edition. This input is ignored if the spectral model is not “IECKAI” or “IECVKM.”

The third parameter tells TurbSim what turbulence intensity (TI) you want to use with the IEC Kaimal or
von Karman models. Input values of “A”, “B”, or “C” correspond to the standard IEC Normal
Turbulence Model (NTM) turbulence characteristics, with “A” being the most turbulent. You can also
specify the TI in percent instead of choosing the standard turbulence characteristics.

If you enter the string “KHTEST” in the third parameter, TurbSim will allow you to test the effects of a
KH billow. In order to use this feature, you must specify the “NWTCUP” spectral model. TurbSim will
then override the inputs for Richardson number, power law coefficient, and billow type, size, and
location. An LES-type billow centered on the rotor disk will be scaled so that the coherent TKE is at least
30 m2/s2 and the billow achieves a bandwidth of 25 Hz. This billow will last at least half of the usable
length of the output time series, and will start a quarter of the way through the time series. This parameter
is not used in the other spectral models.

The fourth parameter is the type of IEC wind to use. Valid entries are “NTM” for the Normal Turbulence
Model (NTM), “xETM” for the Extreme Turbulence Model (ETM), “xEWM1” for the turbulent Extreme
Wind Speed Model (EWM) using the 10 minute average wind speed with a recurrence period of 1 year,
and “xEWM50” for the turbulent EWM using a wind speed with a recurrence period of 50 years. The
“x” in all three extreme wind models must be replaced with the number 1, 2, or 3, indicating the
respective wind turbine class. The definitions of these types and the wind turbine classes can be found in

6
the 61400-1 Edition 3 standard [21]. This input is used only with the IEC spectral models. If the
turbulence intensity was specified as a percent instead of the standard turbulence characteristics, the wind
model must be “NTM.”

The fifth parameter in this section tells TurbSim how to calculate the mean wind profile. Valid entries are
“IEC” for the profile used in previous versions of TurbSim and SNwind (which uses the power law over
the rotor disk and logarithmic profile above and below the rotor), “LOG” for the logarithmic profile, “PL”
for the power law wind profile, and “JET” for the low-level jet wind profile. The “JET” wind profile is
available only with the “GP_LLJ” spectral model. You may also enter the string “default” here for
TurbSim to pick a wind profile based on the spectral model. Please see the “Wind Profiles” section of
this report for more details on the different wind profile types.

The sixth parameter in this section specifies the height of the reference wind speed (in meters). This
allows you to specify the mean wind speed at a height other than the hub height. TurbSim uses this
reference height with the wind profile type to calculate the HH mean wind speed.

The seventh parameter in this section is for the mean, streamwise wind speed at the reference height. It
will be the mean total wind speed, which is the vector sum of the u, v, and w components. Its value must
be in meters per second. If you use the “JET” wind profile, you may also enter the string “default” here
for TurbSim to calculate a wind speed based on the jet height.

The eighth parameter is the height of the low-level jet in meters. Enter the approximate height at which
the low-level jet wind profile reaches its maximum wind speed, or enter the string “default” if you would
like TurbSim to calculate a jet height for you. This value must be between 70 and 490 meters, but it is
not used when the wind profile type is not “JET.”

The next parameter is the power law exponent, which is used to compute the mean u-component wind
speeds across the rotor disk for the power law wind profile (for both “IEC” and “PL” wind profile types).
Enter a positive number to increase the wind speed with height or enter the string “default” if you would
like TurbSim to use a default value that is based on the specified spectral model.

The surface roughness length is the last parameter in this section. This length is the extrapolated height at
which the mean wind speed becomes zero in a neutral atmosphere, assuming a logarithmic vertical wind
profile. Enter the length in meters, or enter the string “default” if you would like TurbSim to use a default
value that is based on the specified spectral model.

Non-IEC Meteorological Boundary Conditions

If you have specified either the Kaimal or von Karman spectral model, TurbSim will stop reading the
input file at this point. The other spectral models require these additional meteorological boundary
conditions. All of the inputs in this section, with the exception of the gradient Richardson number, can be
replaced with the string “default” which is not case sensitive.

The first parameter in this section is the site latitude in degrees. The latitude is used only to calculate the
default mixing layer depth. The latitude cannot be between -5 and 5 degrees.

Next is the gradient Richardson number. This parameter is the only one in this section that does not
accept the value “default.” Enter zero for neutral conditions, a negative value for unstable conditions, or a
positive number for stable atmospheric conditions.

7
The friction or shear velocity, u*, comes next. Its value must be in meters per second. If you have
entered “default” for the reference wind speed, you must not enter “default” for the u* input parameter.

Following the friction velocity is the depth of the mixing layer. Enter the depth in meters.

Next are the cross-correlation coefficients for u’w’, u’v’, and v’w’. TurbSim uses these coefficients to
correlate the time series of the three wind components. You may have to adjust these numbers to obtain
the desired calculated cross-correlation coefficients or mean Reynolds stresses ( u ′w ′ , u ′v ′ , and v ′w ′ ) in
the TurbSim summary file.

The coherence decrements for the three wind components are the next three parameters in this section.
They must be positive numbers indicating the degree of spatial coherence between points on the grid.
The decrements should be based on the coherence-squared function.

The coherence exponent is the last parameter in this section. Please see the section “Spatial Coherence
Models” of this report for details on how the decrements and exponent for the spatial coherence
function(s) are used.

Coherent Turbulence Scaling Parameters

The coherent turbulence scaling parameters are used with non-IEC spectral models when the gradient
Richardson number is greater than -0.05 and the option to create coherent turbulence time step files has
been selected. TurbSim uses empirical values to calculate when and how coherent events should be
added to the background turbulence. It uses these values to create a coherent turbulence time step file that
AeroDyn will read.

The first parameter in this section is the name of the path that contains the coherent event definition files.
This directory should contain files called “Events.les,” “Events.dns,” and “Events.xtm” as well as one or
more files named “Eventxxxxx.dat” (with the xxxxx replaced with digits). These event definition files and
the associated binary data files that AeroDyn will read are provided in the coherent structure archive on
the TurbSim website (in folder EventData).

The second parameter tells TurbSim which type of coherent event files to use. To have TurbSim
randomly choose between the two included types of event files, type the string “Random” here. You may
also set this parameter to either of the strings “les” or “dns” to use a specific type of event file. TurbSim
will automatically use LES events when the “KHTEST” option is being used.

Set the next parameter to “true” if you wish to randomize the location of the coherent structures in the
rotor disk. A value of “true” will override the next three input parameters (the disturbance scale and the
location of the wave within the rotor disk). Instead, the coherent structures will be randomly chosen to
cover the full rotor disk (75% of the time), only the lower half of the disk (12.5% of the time), or only the
upper half (12.5% of the time).

The fourth parameter in this section is the disturbance scale. This parameter determines the size of the
coherent event data set relative to the rotor disk. It is the ratio of the height of the coherent dataset to the
(assumed) rotor diameter. A value of one will make the coherent structures the height of the rotor disk,
0.5 will make them half the height of the rotor disk. If the “KHTEST” option is used, TurbSim
automatically sets this parameter to 1.0.

The next two parameters in the input file position the coherent structures on the rotor disk. The first input
is the fractional location of the tower centerline from the right to left side (looking downwind) of the

8
coherent event dataset. The coherent
structures are periodic in this direction so
they will cover the grid horizontally,
regardless of the location of the tower
centerline. The second parameter is the
fractional location of hub height from the
bottom of the dataset. To center the
events at the hub, use 0.5 for both
parameters. The structures are constant
above and below the top and bottom of
the dataset. See Figure 2 for a picture of
how the structures are scaled. TurbSim
automatically sets both values to 0.5 when
the “KHTEST” option is used.

The last parameter in this section is used

to determine where the first coherent
structure will be placed in the time step
file. TurbSim will make sure that the first
Figure 2. Scaling the coherent structures dataset.
event in the coherent time step file will
not occur before the time entered here. This feature can be useful if you do not want a turbine to
encounter coherent structures during the startup transient of a simulation.

Spectral Models
TurbSim uses a modified version of the Sandia method to generate time series based on spectral
representation. Several different spectral models are available.

The IEC Spectral Models

TurbSim offers the Kaimal (IECKAI) and von Karman (IECVKM) spectral models as defined in the IEC
standard. Please refer to "IEC 61400-1, Ed. 2: Wind Turbine Generator Systems - Part 1: Safety
Requirements" [24] and "IEC 61400-1, Ed. 3: Wind Turbines - Part 1: Design Requirements" [21] for
details on these models. Both of these models assume neutral atmospheric conditions.

The Risø Smooth-Terrain Model

TurbSim also offers the Risø smooth-terrain model (SMOOTH), based on work by Højstrup et al [25],
[26]. This spectral model is more flexible in the atmospheric conditions it can model than the IEC
spectral models are.

The NREL Wind Farm Models

The three NREL wind farm spectral models are based on measurements taken at a large wind farm in San
Gorgonio Pass, California. A model based on measurements upwind of the wind park (WF_UPW), a
model based on measurements taken at 7 rotor-diameter row-to-row spacing within the wind park
(WF_07D), and a model based on measurements taken at 14 rotor-diameter row-to-row spacing within
the wind park (WF_14D) are available. Please refer to work by Neil Kelley [6] for details on these wind
farm models.

9
The NWTC Model
The NWTC model (NWTCUP) is a modified version of the NREL wind farm upwind model. The basic
spectra in the two models are identical, but we have made some modifications to the cross-correlation-
coefficients, the correlation matrix, the M-O z/L parameter, and u* in order to reflect more accurately the
atmospheric conditions observed at the NWTC [27]. We recommend that you always generate coherent
structures when using the NWTCUP model.

The Great Plains Model

The Great Plains model (GP_LLJ) is based on measurements from the Lamar Low-Level Jet Project in
southeastern Colorado. Please refer to Neil Kelley et al [28] for details of the LLLJP.

This is the only model that allows the user to specify a “JET” wind profile (see the section “Wind
Profiles” in this report for more details on the jet wind profile). The user must then specify either a
requested jet height or enter “default” to allow TurbSim to randomly pick a height, based on the
Richardson number, M-O z/L parameter, and u*. The reference height and wind speed inputs are used to
specify the jet peak wind speed (intensity). For the “JET” model, the user may also enter “default” as the
reference wind speed to allow TurbSim to randomly pick a wind speed, based on the Richardson number,
M-O z/L parameter, and height of the jet.

If a “JET” wind profile is specified, a direction profile is also generated to simulate wind direction
changes with height. This profile is a function of the jet height and maximum wind speed, the gradient
Richardson number, and the friction velocity (u*). Figure 3 gives an example of direction profiles for
three different jets up to 300 m. Sample TurbSim Wind Direction Profiles
300
The coherent structure scaling for the
Great Plains model is also different than
the scaling for the other models. The
GP_LLJ model incorporates scaling 250

based on analysis of data from the

LLLJP.
Height Above Ground Level (m)

200

Output files
TurbSim can generate eight different 150
sets of output files. They take the root
name of the TurbSim input file and add
extensions that indicate what type of
files they are. See the “Runtime 100

Options” section above to learn how to

tell TurbSim which sets to output. 400m jet
TurbSim always generates a summary 50
260m jet
file. 100m jet

Summary Files
0
TurbSim generates a summary file for -30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30
all runs. It has a “.sum” extension. The Wind Direction (deg)
first part of the file tells you what you Figure 3. Example wind direction profiles with the
specified in the input file. After that, GP_LLJ model.

10
TurbSim prints out many statistics for the run. These statistics are calculated using the entire analysis
time so if you have requested a shorter usable time, the statistics of the output time series may be different
than what is displayed in the summary file. Also keep in mind that the turbulence statistics are only for
the background turbulence. They do not include effects of any coherent structures generated in coherent
event time step files. If a coherent event time step file is generated, TurbSim prints the number of events
and the total length of those events in the summary file. If you request BLADED-style FF files or separate
tower output, TurbSim will add another section that tells AeroDyn how to convert the normalized data to
floating-point form.

Hub Height Binary Files

These files are readable by GenPro, a postprocessor from the National Center for Atmospheric Research
(NCAR), and are in machine-readable form. TurbSim gives them a “.bin” extension. At each time step,
TurbSim writes the values of a series of parameters in the binary file. Each value is stored as a 4-byte
floating-point (real) number. See Table 2 for the parameters stored in these files. A MATLAB® script
for reading these files is included in the “Test” folder of the TurbSim archive; it is named
“readHHbin.m”.

Hub-Height Formatted Files

These files contain essentially the same information as the hub height binary files, but the parameters are
written in columns in human-readable form. See Table 2 for the list of parameters. These files carry a
“.dat” extension.

Hub-Height AeroDyn Formatted Files

These human-readable files are in a format compatible with AeroDyn. They carry the “.hh” extension.
See Table 3 for the file format. TurbSim always sets the horizontal wind-shear, vertical wind-shear, and
gust speed parameters to zero in the files. The vertical power-law parameter is the power law exponent.
If input wind profile type is “JET” or “LOG,” the power law exponent is calculated based on the mean
wind speeds at the top and bottom of the rotor
Table 2. Format of Hub Height Binary Files.
disk. Otherwise, it is the value of the input
power law exponent. Parameter Description
Time time
Full-Field TurbSim Binary Files u downwind wind speed
These are binary files designed to be read by uh horizontal wind speed (u+v)
AeroDyn. They have a “.bts” extension.
ut total wind speed (u+v+w)
TurbSim normalizes the data and encodes them
in two-byte integers. The first part of the file is a v sideways wind speed
header that provides information about the grid w vertical wind speed
and tells AeroDyn how to convert the integers to
u’ u fluctuating-velocity component
floating-point values. The wind speeds for the
grids and tower points (if specified) follow that. v’ v fluctuating-velocity component
See “Appendix B: TurbSim Binary Full-Field w’ w fluctuating-velocity component
File Format” in this report for the file format. A u’w’ u-w Reynolds stress component
MATLAB® script for reading these files is
included in the “Test” folder of the TurbSim u’v’ u-v Reynolds stress component
archive; it is named “readTSgrid.m”. v’w’ v-w Reynolds stress component
TKE Turbulent Kenetic Energy
This binary format has been designed so that
CTKE Coherent TKE
AeroDyn does not need to read any other file,

11
including the summary file, to properly convert Table 3. Format of Hub-Height AeroDyn Files.
the data to floating-point form. This format also
provides the maximum resolution possible with Time
this normalization method. Please note that at the
Horizontal wind speed
time of this writing, AeroDyn has not yet been
updated to read these files; continue to use the FF Wind direction
BLADED-style binary “.wnd” files until AeroDyn
Vertical wind speed
v12.60, which will be able to read these files, is
released. Horizontal wind-shear, linear parameter
Vertical power-law, wind-shear exponent
Full-Field BLADED-Style Binary Files
Vertical wind-shear, linear parameter
These are binary files designed to be read by
AeroDyn and BLADED. They have a “.wnd” Gust speed (not sheared by AeroDyn)
extension. TurbSim normalizes the data and
encodes them in two-byte integers. The first part of the file is a header that provides information about
the grid and tells AeroDyn and BLADED how to convert the integers to floating-point values. The wind
speeds for the grids follow that.

When generating these files, TurbSim adds a section to the end of the summary file that tells AeroDyn
how to convert the data to floating-point form. AeroDyn needs to read both the summary file and the
binary FF in order to decode the data. TurbSim uses a newer AeroDyn and BLADED binary file format
than the format SNwind used. In general, this updated format keeps more resolution in the normalized
two-byte integers than the previous encoding method did.

Tower Data Binary Files

These files are similar to the full-field BLADED-style binary files, except they contain data for points in a
single line at the grid center, going from the bottom of the grid to the ground. These files have a “.twr”
extension. TurbSim normalizes the data and encodes them in two-byte integers. The first part of the file
is a header that provides information about the location of the tower points and size of the file followed
by wind speeds. When generating these files, TurbSim adds a section to the end of the summary file that
indicates how to convert the data to floating-point form. See “Appendix C: Tower Data Binary File
Format” in this report for a more complete description of this binary format.

If you have requested FF binary files in TurbSim format, the tower points will be normalized and stored
as two-byte integers along with the grid data in the FF binary file with a “.bts” extension. A separate file
with the “.twr” extension will not be generated in that case.

Full-Field Formatted Files

These files are the traditional format of SNLWIND-3D FF output. These three files are human readable,
but consume five times more storage than the binary files. They are no longer readable by AeroDyn.
There is one file for each component. They have “.u,” “.v,” and “.w” extensions.

The tops of the files have headers with some basic information about the simulation. Blocks of data
follow. The first line in each block has the time and the hub-height wind speed. Following that line is a
table with the number of rows and columns being the number of grid points specified in the input file.
The tables contain the wind speeds for the different grid points. Their orientation appears as if you are
looking upwind (i.e. y increases from left to right and z increases from bottom to top). A MATLAB®
script for reading these files is included in the “Test” folder of the TurbSim archive; it is named
“loadFFtxt.m”.

12
Coherent Turbulence Time Step Files
One of the unique features of TurbSim is its ability to add coherent turbulence events based on data
obtained from numerical simulations of a Kelvin-Helmholtz billow. The data comes from two sources: a
Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) from NCAR, and a Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) from Colorado
Research Associates (CoRA), both of Boulder, Colorado. Because the grid size of the coherent events is
very large (roughly 92 x 92 points), we do not add these events directly to the background turbulence in
TurbSim. Instead, we create a file with a “.cts” extension that contains the times and file numbers of the
subset of LES or DNS data that define the coherent events. AeroDyn then reads this file along with the
background wind file and adds the two wind fields together. As a result, this feature can be used only in
programs that use AeroDyn v12.57 or later.

Wind Profiles
TurbSim offers the user a choice of profiles for the mean wind speed. Figure 4 shows five different mean
wind profiles that were generated using default boundary conditions with the GP_LLJ model and a
Richardson number of 0.076. The low-level jet wind profile is available only with the GP_LLJ spectral
model. The “IEC” wind profile uses the power law profile over the (assumed) rotor disk and the
logarithmic wind profile above and below the rotor disk.

Power Law Wind Profile

The power law wind profile is defined as

α Sample TurbSim Wind Profiles

⎛ ⎞
)⎜⎜ z
500
V (z ) = V (z ref ⎟
⎟
⎝ z ref ⎠

where z is the height above ground, V(z) is

the wind speed at height z, zref is a 400

reference height above ground where the

wind speed V(zref) is known, and α is the
Height Above Ground Level (m)

power law exponent.

300

Logarithmic Wind Profile

The diabatic (logarithmic) wind profile is
defined as
200

ln ( ) −ψ
z
V (z ) = V (z ref ) z0 m

ln (
zref
) −ψ
z0 m
Power law
100 Logarithmic
where z is the height above ground, V(z) is 400m jet

the wind speed at height z, zref is a 260m jet

100m jet
reference height above ground where the
wind speed V(zref) is known, z0 is the
0
surface roughness length, and ψm is a
5 10 15 20
stability function that is zero in neutral Wind Speed (m/s)
Figure 4. Example wind speed profiles generated in
TurbSim with a 12 m/s wind speed at 80 m.

13
conditions (i.e. when the Richardson number is zero).

Low-Level Jet Wind Profile

The low-level jet wind speed profile is defined as

10
V (z ) = ∑ c n ⋅Tn (z )
n =0

where z is the height above ground, V(z) is the wind speed at height z, Tn(z) is the nth order Chebyshev
polynomial, and cn is a Chebyshev coefficient. The Chebyshev coefficients are derived from LLLJP data
and are based on the jet height and maximum wind speed, the gradient Richardson number, and the
friction velocity.

A wind direction profile is also generated with the low-level jet wind speed profile (all of the other wind
speed profiles have constant wind direction over the entire grid). The wind direction profile, like the
wind speed profile, is a Chebyshev polynomial with coefficients derived from the same parameters in the
LLLJP data. See the Great Plains Model (GP_LLJ) in the “Spectral Models” section of this report for
more information.

Spatial Coherence Models

The spatial coherence functions that are implemented in TurbSim are defined below.

Coherence for IEC Spectral Models

The root coherence function for the u-component of the IEC spectral models is defined as

⎛
Coh j ,k = exp⎜⎜ − b ( ) + (0.12 )
fr 2
UHub
r 2
LC
⎞
⎟
⎟
⎝ ⎠

where f is the frequency, r is the distance between points j and k, b is the coherence decrement (either 12
or 8.8, depending on the IEC 61400-1 edition number), UHub is the hub-height wind speed, and Lc is the
IEC 61400-1 length scale.

The coherence function for the v- and w-components of the IEC spectral models is

⎧1 j =k
Coh j ,k = ⎨
⎩0 j ≠k

Coherence for Non-IEC Spectral Models

The root coherence function for all three of the wind components for non-IEC spectral models is defined
as

Coh j ,k = exp⎛⎜ − 0.5b

⎝
( ) r α fr
zm Um
⎞⎟
⎠

14
where b is the input coherence decrement (it may be different for each wind component), r is the distance
between points j and k, zm is the mean height of the two points, α is the input coherence exponent, f is the
frequency, and Um is the mean wind speed of the two points. Please note that the 0.5 multiplier is a result
of the input coherence decrements being based on the coherence-squared function.

Using Coherent Turbulence Time Step Files with AeroDyn

To use the coherent time step files that TurbSim generates, you must create a coherent turbulence
parameter input file for AeroDyn (or modify the example file included in the archive). This file must
have a “.ctp” extension. Enter the name of this file on the WindFile parameter line in AeroDyn v12.57 or
later. As with TurbSim, do not add or delete lines from the sample input file because AeroDyn assumes
parameters are on specific lines. See “Appendix D: Sample AeroDyn Coherent Turbulence Parameter
Input File” in this report for an example of one of these input files.

Parameters That Can Vary From One Simulation to Another

The first parameter is the name of the path that contains the binary data files, which you must get from the
coherent structure archive on the TurbSim website (in folder x90_i16). This directory must contain files
called “Scales.les” and “Scales.dns” which contain scaling parameters for the two event types, and are
used to read and convert 16-bit integer binary data to normalized real numbers. There should also be
three folders in this directory, named “u”, “v”, and “w” respectively, containing data for the three wind
components. Each of these three directories contains files named something like “u_i16_xxxxx.les”.

The parameter CTTSfile should be the name of the coherent time step file generated by TurbSim. It will
have a “.cts” extension.

The parameter CTbackgr is the name of the background turbulence file. This should be the FF wind file
with the “.wnd” or “.bts” extension that was generated at the same time the “.cts” file was created.
AeroDyn will also look for the summary file that goes with a “.wnd” wind file.

The last two parameters in this section are used for decimating the coherent turbulence data. Enter the
decimation factors in the y and z directions. Enter “1” on both lines to use the entire grid. Since this
feature has not been sufficiently tested yet, we recommend that you always use the entire grid.

Suggestions for Generating Coherent Turbulent Structures

Every effort has been made in TurbSim to randomize the occurrence and scaling of coherent event
structures that occur in natural, nocturnal boundary layer flows. Simulations that generate coherent
turbulence time step files have up to twelve degrees of stochastic freedom and are designed to give some
feel of the expected variability in the atmosphere. Because of the degree of variability, we recommend
using a minimum of 31 different random seeds for a specific set of boundary conditions.

If you wish to test the effects of a coherent structure (KH billow), we recommend using the “KHTEST”
option in the turbulence characteristic input parameter with the NWTCUP spectral model. This test
function superimposes one intense coherent event in the middle of the output time series, reducing the
number of stochastic degrees of freedom to no more than four. The gradient Richardson number and
wind shear of the background flow will be overwritten, and TurbSim will use fixed values to scale the
LES-type event. This test function is designed to generate intense turbulence, and does not necessarily
reflect the variability for given boundary conditions.

15
The choice of the gradient Richardson number and hub wind speed largely control the impact of coherent
structures on turbine response. We recommend making at least one series of runs at rated wind speed and
a Richardson number between 0.02 and 0.05. Further discussion on the impact of coherent turbulent
structures on wind turbines is found in [29].

Warnings
• You must use AeroDyn v12.57 or later in order to read TurbSim files correctly.
• If you compile AeroDyn, you must use the compiler option “/assume:byterecl” to read the
TurbSim coherent structures binary files correctly. If you use ADAMS2AD [30], be sure to use
v12.17 or later so that this compiler option is set.
• HH wind files and FF wind files do not have events happening at the same time because AeroDyn
shifts the FF files.
• Because of the way the FFT routine works, we must add extra time to the analysis time to get the
FFT to run efficiently. Because of this and the fact that the output time may be less than the
analysis time, the mean wind speed for the portion of the run you will actually use may be
different from what you specified in the input file.
• The statistics calculated in the summary file are based on the full time series generated (the
analysis time plus any extra time added for the FFT calculations). Because the output time may
be less than the analysis time, these statistics may be different than what can be calculated from
the output files.
• TurbSim occasionally cannot perform the spectral matrix factorizations. If this occurs and you
believe all of the input values are correct, try modifying the coherence matrix by changing the
grid point locations, wind speed, coherence decrements, and/or coherence exponent.
• You should use caution when using mean flow angle inputs with full-field grids for AeroDyn.
AeroDyn marches FF grids through the turbine in the x-direction at the mean hub-height wind
speed, regardless of the flow angles. This can possibly give strange results if the mean flow
angles are not small.

Limitations
• The GP_LLJ spectral model is estimated to be applicable up to a height of 230 meters.
• The SMOOTH spectral model and the coherent turbulence time step files are both estimated to be
applicable up to a height of 120 meters at this time.
• The NWTCUP spectral model is estimated to be applicable up to heights of 100-120 m.
• The wind farm spectral models (WF_UPW, WF_07D, and WF_14D) and the NWTCUP model
are valid up to heights of only about 50 meters.
• We have not been able to generate a grid larger than 19 x 20 points for a 10-minute run of 20 Hz
data on a 32-bit machine. A larger grid requires more than 2GB of virtual memory, which
Windows NT does not permit. Larger grids can be generated on a 64-bit machine.

16
Possible Future Enhancements
• Update the NTWCUP spectral model with spectra derived from LIST data.
• Add the ability to scale the IEC models so that the hub-height statistics of the output portion of
the time series are equivalent to the requested statistics.

Known Bugs
• None.

Caveats
NREL makes no promises about the usability or accuracy of TurbSim, which is essentially a beta code.
NREL does not have the resources to provide full support for this program.

Acknowledgements
TurbSim was written by Bonnie Jonkman under subcontract with the National Wind Technology Center.
Funding for TurbSim came from the U.S. Department of Energy under contract No. DE-AC36-99-
GO10337 to NREL.

Analysis of coherent events was performed by Neil Kelley, Bonnie Jonkman, and George Scott of the
National Wind Technology Center, and Professor Jan Bialasiewicz, and Lisa Redmond of the University
of Colorado at Denver.

The turbulence modeling scaling parameters for the GP_LLJ and NWTCUP spectral models were
developed by Neil Kelley and Bonnie Jonkman.

17
Feedback
If you have problems with TurbSim, please contact Bonnie Jonkman, Neil Kelley, or Marshall Buhl. If
we have time to respond to your needs, we will do so, but please do not expect an immediate response.
Send your comments or bug reports to:

Bonnie J. Jonkman
NWTC/3811
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
1617 Cole Blvd
Golden, CO 80401-3393
United States of America
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: +1 (303) 384-6907
Fax: +1 (303) 384-6901
Marshall L. Buhl Jr.
NWTC/3811
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
1617 Cole Blvd
Golden, CO 80401-3393
United States of America
Web Site: wind.nrel.gov/designcodes/
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: +1 (303) 384-6914
Fax: +1 (303) 384-6901

18
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[22] IEC 61400-2 (March 2006) “Wind turbines-Part 2: Design requirements for small wind turbines.”
2nd edition. International Electrotechnical Commission.
[23] IEC 61400-3 (Draft January 2006) “Wind turbines-Part 3: Design requirements for offshore wind
turbines.” 1st edition. International Electrotechnical Commission.
[24] IEC 61400-1 (1999) “Wind turbine generator systems-Part 1: Safety requirements.” 2nd edition.
International Electrotechnical Commission.
[25] Højstrup, J. (October 1982) “Velocity Spectra in the Unstable Planetary Boundary Layer.”
Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 39.
[26] Olesen, H.R.; Larsen, S.E.; and Højstrup, J. (July 1984) “Modeling Velocity Spectra in the Lower
Part of the Planetary Boundary Layer.” Boundary-Layer Meteorology, Vol. 29.
[27] Kelley, N.; Hand, M.; Larwood, S.; and McKenna, E. (January 2002) “The NREL Large-Scale
Turbine Inflow and Response Experiment – Preliminary Results.” NREL/CP-500-30917. National
Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO.
[28] Kelley, N.D.; Shirazi, M.; Jager, D.; Wilde, S.; Adams, J.; Buhl, M.; Sullivan, P.; and Patton, E.
(January 2004) “Lamar Low-Level Jet Project Interim Report.” NREL/TP-500-34593. National
Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO.
[29] Kelley, N.D.; Jonkman, B.J.; Scott, G.N.; Bialasiewicz, J.T.; and Redmond, L.S. (August 2005)
“The Impact of Coherent Turbulence on Wind Turbine Aeroelastic Response and Its Simulation.”
NREL/CP-500-38074, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO.
[30] Laino, D.J.; and Hansen, A.C. (September 2001) “User’s Guide to the Computer Software Routines
AeroDyn Interface for ADAMS®.” Windward Engineering, LC, Salt Lake City, Utah. Available at
<http://wind.nrel.gov/designcodes/simulators/adams2ad/>.

20
Appendix A: Sample TurbSim Input File

TurbSim Input File. Valid for TurbSim v1.10, 10-Apr-2006

---------Runtime Options-----------------------------------
2318573 First random seed (-2147483648 to 2147483647)
RANLUX Second random seed for intrinsic pRNG, or other pRNG: "RanLux" or "RNSNLW"
False Output HH turbulence parameters in GenPro-binary form? (Generates RootName.bin)
False Output HH turbulence parameters in formatted form? (Generates RootName.dat)
False Output hub-height time-series data in AeroDyn form? (Generates RootName.hh)
False Output FF time-series data in TurbSim/AeroDyn form? (Generates Rootname.bts)
True Output FF time-series data in BLADED/AeroDyn form? (Generates RootName.wnd)
False Output tower time-series data? (Generates RootName.twr)
False Output FF time-series data in formatted (readable) form? (RootName.u, .v, .w)
True Output coherent turbulence time steps in AeroDyn form? (Generates RootName.cts)
True Clockwise rotation looking downwind? (Used only for FF binary files w/ BLADED)

--------Turbine/Model Specifications-----------------------
13 Vertical grid-point matrix dimension
13 Horizontal grid-point matrix dimension
0.05 Time step [seconds]
600 Length of analysis time series [seconds]
40 Usable length of output time series [seconds] (program adds GridWidth/MeanHHWS sec)
84.30 Hub height [m] (should be > 0.5*GridHeight)
80.00 Grid height [m]
80.00 Grid width [m] (should be >= 2*(RotorRadius+ShaftLength))
0 Vertical mean flow (uptilt) angle [degrees]
0 Horizontal mean flow (skew) angle [degrees]

--------Meteorological Boundary Conditions-------------------

"SMOOTH" Turbulence model (IECKAI, IECVKM, GP_LLJ, NWTCUP, SMOOTH, WF_UPW, WF_07D, WF_14D)
"1-ED2" Number of the IEC standard (61400-x, x=1,2,3) with optional 61400-1 edition number
"A" IEC turbulence characteristic ("A", "B", "C" or TI in %) or KHTEST
"NTM" IEC turbulence type ("NTM", "xETM", "xEWM1", or "xEWM50" for x=class 1, 2, or 3)
"IEC" Wind profile type ("JET"=Low-level jet, "LOG", "PL"=power law, "IEC", or "default")
84.30 Height of the reference wind speed [m]
18.2 Mean wind speed at the reference height [m/s]
450 Height of the low-level jet [m] (70-490 m or "default", used only for "JET" profile)
default Power law exponent (or "default")
default Surface roughness length [m] (or "default")

--------Non-IEC Meteorological Boundary Conditions------------

default Site latitude [degrees] (or "default")
0.05 Gradient Richardson number
default Friction or shear velocity [m/s] (or "default")
default Mixing layer depth [m] (or "default")
default U'W' cross-correlation coefficient (or "default")
default U'V' cross-correlation coefficient (or "default")
default V'W' cross-correlation coefficient (or "default")
default U-component coherence decrement (or "default")
default V-component coherence decrement (or "default")
default W-component coherence decrement (or "default")
default Coherence exponent (or "default")

--------Coherent Turbulence Scaling Parameters-------------------

"M:\coh_events\eventdata" Name of the path where event data files are located
"Random" Type of event files ("LES", "DNS", or "RANDOM")
True Randomize the disturbance scale and locations? (true/false)
1.0 Disturbance scale (ratio of wave height to rotor disk).
0.5 Fractional location of tower center from right to left of dataset looking downwind
0.5 Fractional location of hub height from the bottom of the dataset.
30.0 Minimum start time for coherent structures in RootName.cts [seconds]

Figure A-1. Sample TurbSim input file

21
Appendix B: TurbSim Binary Full-Field File Format

Table B-1. TurbSim FF binary file header format

Type (Bytes) Parameter Description

Integer (2) ID Identifies the file as a TurbSim binary file. ID should
have the value 7.
Integer (4) nz The number of grid points in the vertical direction.
Integer (4) ny The number of grid points in the horizontal direction.
Integer (4) ntower The number of tower points below the grid.
Integer (4) nt The number of time steps.
Real (4) dz The distance in meters between two adjacent points
in the vertical direction.
Real (4) dy The distance in meters between two adjacent points
in the horizontal direction.
Real (4) dt The time in seconds between consecutive grids.
Real (4) Uhub The mean wind speed in m/s at hub height.
Real (4) Zhub The height in meters of the hub.
Real (4) Zbottom The height in meters of the bottom of the grid.
i = 1, 2, 3
th
Real (4) Vslope(i) The slope used to scale the i -component 1 from 4-
byte reals into 2-byte integers.

Real (4) Vintercept(i) The intercept used to scale the ith -component1 from
4-byte reals into 2-byte integers.

Integer (4) ncharacters The number of characters in the ASCII string that
gives the TurbSim version number, date, and time the
file was generated. This number is no larger than
200.
i = 1, 2, … ncharacters
th
Integer (1) Characteri The ASCII integer representation of the i character
of the string that gives the TurbSim version number,
date, and time the file was generated.
ACHAR(Characteri) gives the character.

1
The three wind components are defined as u = 1, v = 2, and w = 3.

22
 Table B-2. TurbSim FF binary file grid format

Type Parameter Description

(Bytes)
it = 1, 2, … nt
iz = 1, 2, … nz
iy = 1, 2, … ny
i = 1, 2, 3
The normalized ith-component 2 of the wind
speed at time step it and grid location
(y(iy),z(iz)). To convert to m/s, use
Integer (2) Vgrid_norm(i,iy,iz,it) V grid (i , iy , iz , it ) = V grid _ norm − V intercept (i )
V slope (i )
Y grid (iy ) = − 0 . 5 (ny − 1 )dy + (iy − 1 )dy .
Z grid (iz ) = z bottom + (iz − 1 )dz

iz = 1, 2, … ntower
i = 1, 2, 3
th 2
The normalized i -component of the wind
speed at time step it and tower height
ztower(iz). To convert to m/s, use
Integer (2) Vtower_norm(i,iz,it) Vtower _ norm − Vintercept (i )
Vtower (i , iz, it ) =
Vslope (i )
Ytower = 0 .
Z tower (iz ) = z bottom − (iz − 1)dz

2
The three wind components are defined as u = 1, v = 2, and w = 3.

23
Appendix C: Tower Data Binary File Format
TurbSim tower files have a “.twr” extension. Each file contains a header of 4-byte real and integer
values, followed by 2-byte integer time series of the three wind components at each point on the tower
grid. The wind components at the tower points are normalized and stored in 2-byte binary integers,
exactly the same way AeroDyn/BLADED full-field wind files are written. The tower files have the same
vertical resolution as the full-field grid, with points going downward from the bottom of the full grid in a
single line at the tower centerline.

Table C-1: TurbSim tower data binary file header format

Type (Bytes) Parameter Description
Real (4) GridRes_Z Vertical grid resolution, in m
Real (4) UHub *TimeStep Longitudinal grid resolution, in m
Real (4) Zmax The height of the highest tower point, in m
Real (4) NumOutSteps The number of points in the longitudinal direction
Real (4) NumZ The number of vertical grid points
Real (4) Uhub The mean wind speed in m/s
Real (4) 100 * TI(U) The turbulence intensity of the u-component, in percent
Real (4) 100 * TI(V) The turbulence intensity of the v-component, in percent
Real (4) 100 * TI(W) The turbulence intensity of the w-component, in percent

Table C-2: TurbSim tower data binary file grid format

For each increasing time step (NumOutSteps points),starting at the top of the grid, going downward (NumZ
points) the data are stored as:

Type (Bytes) Parameter Description

1000 ⎛ U ⎞
Integer (2) ⎜ − 1⎟⎟ Normalized u-component of the wind speed
⎜
TI (U ) ⎝ U hub ⎠
1000 ⎛ V ⎞
Integer (2) ⎜ ⎟ Normalized v-component of the wind speed
TI (V ) ⎜⎝ U hub ⎟
⎠
1000 ⎛ W ⎞
Integer (2) ⎜ ⎟ Normalized w-component of the wind speed
TI (W ) ⎜⎝ U hub ⎟
⎠

24
Appendix D: Sample AeroDyn Coherent Turbulence Parameter Input
File
Example Coherent Turbulence Parameter input file (TurbSim_AD.ctp). Valid with AeroDyn 12.57.
# Parameters that can vary from one turbine simulation to the next:
"H:\x90_i16" | CTSpath - Path to coherent turbulence data files
"TurbSim.cts" | CTTSfile - File containing time steps of the coherent turbulence event files
"TurbSim.wnd" | CTbackgr - Name of file containing background wind data (quoted string)
1 | CT_DF_Y - Decimation factor for wind data in the y direction
1 | CT_DF_Z - Decimation factor for wind data in the z direction

==================================================
NOTE: Do not add or remove any lines in this file!
==================================================
For decimation factors, 1 = use every point, 2 = use every other point, etc.

Figure D-1. Sample AeroDyn coherent turbulence parameter input file

25
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The TurbSim stochastic inflow turbulence code was developed to provide a numerical simulation of a full-field flow
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wind turbine design code simulations; inflow turbulence code; TurbSim

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