WAsP CFD

The purpose of the WAsP CFD model in windPRO is to enable windPRO users to calculate the wind resources in semi-complex or complex terrains.

WAsP CFD in windPRO works much the same way as a traditional WAsP analysis and it needs the same data for the calculation, i.e. at least some wind data, a digital elevation model and a roughness model. Due to the very demanding nature of the CFD calculations, the actual CFD analysis is made on the HPC cluster operated in-house by EMD.

When submitting a WAsP CFD calculation to the EMD HPC cluster, you are only sending terrain and roughness data, no confidential site wind measurements is sent to the cluster.
The model can calculate both a wind resource maps and individual wind turbine positions, but the actual CFD-analysis is always done in tiles with the central domain sized 2 km x 2 km.

In order to operate WAsP-CFD in windPRO you will need:

• WAsP 11 (or higher)
• windPRO 2.9 (or higher)
• Individual WAsP CFD Calculation credits or an EMD WAsP CFD Subscription

User benefits

• High-resolution CFD calculations based on the WAsP model experience, the industry-standard flow model for energy yield calculations.
• No need to invest in own expensive in-house CFD software license.
• No need to have dedicated in-house CFD expertise and skills.
• No need to invest in own expensive in-house high-performance computer resources.
• Delivery of WAsP CFD results are typically within hours compared to several days or more when using own in-house CFD calculation resources.
• CFD calculations seamlessly integrated with windPRO for energy yield calculations and site suitability analyses.
• Easy sharing of CFD results with your colleagues through windPRO.
• Flexible subscriptions terms allowing you to handle varying demands for your CFD calculations.
• Very attractive prices compared to other CFD alternatives for performing high-quality and high-resolution CFD calculations on your projects.

Set-up of a WAsP-CFD calculation

The WAsP-CFD analysis is very similar to the WAsP analysis and it requires the same data, but with an extended 20 km distance requirement for the orography. In this guide we assume that you have already prepared the data in windPRO for a WAsP calculation i.e. processed your wind data, made a roughness-classification and added the height contours within an eight km distance from the site.

Now, the terrain data needs to be prepared for the CFD analysis as the CFD model requires the orography in a distance minimum 20 km from the site. The WAsP CFD model consumes height contours (not grid data). These contours can be stored or created from either in a line-object or in a grid-elevation object. Please note that WAsP CFD is limited to handle not more than two million points. windPRO will check if your terrain data meets this requirement.

If you have your ‘normal’ WAsP orography data in a line object covering a distance approximately 10 km from your site, then just press the ‘extend’ button in the line object to add the extra contours to your existing local data. In the far field, the 10 m or 20 m contour separation is enough.

If your original elevation data originates from gridded sources, it may be advantageous to store the data in a grid elevation object. If your data covers a distance less than 20 km from the site, you must add more data from other sources such as SRTM. It is enough if you use a contour separation of 10 m or 20 m in the far field.

Roughness lines should cover an area minimum 20 to 30 km from the site.

Pricing

WAsP CFD Calculations Credits cost EUR 100 / USD 120 per credit. Purchased credits will be added to your user account upon payment.

Each WAsP CFD calculation credit allows you to make a CFD calculation for a tile of 2 km x 2 km on the EMD HPC cluster. The tiles are easily defined in windPRO.

A complete WAsP CFD calculation for a “normal” project site will typically require 3 to 6 tiles, depending of the project area. The CFD results are usually delivered to your computer within a few hours after the calculation has been submitted to the EMD HPC cluster.

As an alternative to purchasing individual credits, you can instead choose one of our favourable EMD WAsP CFD subscription options.

Subscription Details

Our EMD WAsP CFD subscriptions are attractive for companies wishing to have continuous and flexible access to run high-resolution CFD calculations directly from windPRO without any investments in own software, computer resources or in-house expertise.

The EMD WAsP CFD subscriptions have been designed to give the subscriber flexibility to run CFD calculations for both small and large and projects and will also enable you to handle unexpected project work without having to change your subscription.

The EMD WAsP CFD subscriptions are offered as annual subscriptions at fixed prices with a specified number of WAsP CFD calculation credits included.

The subscription will start the following month after payment has been received and be valid for one year. All WAsP CFD calculation credits included in an EMD WAsP CFD annual subscription are added to your user account upon your payment and can be used throughout the entire subscription period according to the weekly limitations of use shown in the price table.

Unused WAsP CFD calculation credits will expire at the end of the subscription and cannot be carried forward to a new subscription. Two weeks before the end of the subscription, you will receive an auto-generated notification by e-mail, if you have unused calculations credits left in your account.

Upgrade from one EMD WAsP CFD subscription to a larger subscription type within the annual subscription period is possible by paying the price difference between the two subscription types; however, the original subscription date expiry remains unchanged. When upgrading, your account will be credited the difference of WAsP CFD credits between the two subscriptions + any remaining WAsP CFD credits from your original subscription. Downgrade of a subscription is not possible. Other subscription options are available upon request.

Subscription Prices

The following annual EMD WAsP CFD subscriptions are offered: