Add infrastructure for vertical-axis wind turbines

[vallbog]

Infrastructure for vertical-axis wind turbines

This is a part of a series of PRs aimed to add support for vertical-axis wind turbines in FLORIS. The development structure is outlined in the next section. This PR makes sure that the velocity at each turbine is sampled correctly for both horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWTs) and vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs). It also makes sure that turbine powers are calculated correctly for VAWTs.

More specifically, the PR includes the following:

• Updated TurbineGrid class: Now supports both HAWTs and VAWTs, including a mix of the two in the same farm. A square grid is used for HAWTs and a rectangular grid is used for VAWTs. The number of grid points in each direction (cross-stream and vertically) may now be different to allow for approximately equidistant grid points in farms with only VAWTs.
• Added VerticalAxisTurbine class: This class is similar to the existing Turbine class in simulation/turbine.py. The correct rotor cross-sectional area is now used when calculating the turbine power for a VAWT.
• Updated example 30_vertical_axis_turbine.py: This example was created in Add super-Gaussian velocity model for vertical-axis wind turbines #700 to show a characteristic wake of a VAWT. It now also calculates turbine powers in a layout with tandem VAWTs.
• Added tests/reg_tests/super_gaussian_vawt_regression_test.py

Related PRs and branches

The following branch structure shows how several PRs are related:

                                                                               validation/VAWT-super-Gaussian
                                                                             /
develop -> feature/velocity-deficit-profiles -> feature/VAWT-super-Gaussian -> feature/VAWT-infrastructure

Links:

• feature/velocity-deficit-profiles: Add capability to sample and plot velocity profiles #699
• feature/VAWT-super-Gaussian: Add super-Gaussian velocity model for vertical-axis wind turbines #700
• validation/VAWT-super-Gaussian: See Add super-Gaussian velocity model for vertical-axis wind turbines #700

Impacted areas of the software

Compared to #700, the main changes are in:
floris/simulation/grid.py
floris/simulation/turbine.py

[rafmudaf]

Hi @vallbog Sorry for the delay in any response. August and September are very busy months for us, so we haven't had a chance to consider this work. I will be more available to work with you toward the end of September or definitely beginning of October. Thanks for your patience, and thanks for sending this contribution!

[vallbog]

I understand. Thanks for letting me know!