Prediction of wind-turbine fatigue loads in forest regions based on turbulent LES inflow fields

Large‐eddy simulations (LES) were used to predict the neutral atmospheric boundary layer over a sparse and a dense forest, as well as over grass‐covered flat terrain. The forest is explicitly represented in the simulations through momentum sink terms. Turbulence data extracted from the LES served then as inflow turbulence for the simulation of the dynamic structural response of a generic wind turbine. In this way, the impact of forest density,...