UnsteadyNonlinearSimulationCFDSoftware

RIAMCOMPACTNaturalTerrainVersion
(LESTurbulenceModel)

IndispensableToolforComplexTerrain

SoftwareiscompatiblewithmultiCPUandmultiGPU
parallelcomputing

VenturecorporationinitiatedfromKyushuUniversity,Japan

RIAMCOMPACTCO.,LTD.
www.riamcompact.com

IndispensableToolforComplexTerrain

FASTLESCALCULATION
ACCURATEFLOWSIMULATION
FLOWVISUALIZATIONforPRECISETURBINESITING

RIAMCOMPACT(ResearchInstituteforAppliedMechanics,KyushuUniversity,COMputationalPredictionofAirflow
overComplexTerrain),anunsteadynonlinearsimulationCFDsoftware,wasdevelopedspecificallyforaccurateflow
simulation for complex terrain. The software's calculation code is based on the LargeEddy Simulation (LES)
turbulencemodel.Afteryearsofdevelopment,thecodehasbeensuccessfullyfinetunedandoptimised.Withthe
useofmultiCPUandmultiGPUparallelcomputing,fastLEScalculationisnowachievable.

Terraininducedturbulenceovercomplexterrainisanimportantissuetoconsiderduringturbinelayoutplanning.
RIAMCOMPACTfeaturesenhancedflowvisualizationwhichenablesnumericalsimulationresultstobevisualizedin
theformofgraphicalanimations.Excessiveturbulencespotscanbequicklyidentified.Highwindspeedwithlow
turbulence areas suitable for
turbine placement can be
accurately determined, making
this an indispensable tool not
just

for

assessment

turbulence
but

also

risk
for

maximizing production of your

windfarm.

WHATDOESNONLINEARANDUNSTEADYMEAN?

(a)Unsteadynonlinearmodel(LES),RIAMCOMPACT (b)Steadynonlinearmodel(RANS)

Unsteady nonlinear models (LES turbulence model) such as RIAMCOMPACT simulate the wind flow that we
experienceeveryday.Thewinddisturbancescanbeunderstoodintuitively.Nonlinearmodelsareapplicableforboth
flatterrainandcomplexterrainwithsteepslopes.Steadynonlinearmodels(RANSturbulencemodel)simulatethe
sameresultsbutareaveragedintime.DetailsofthetransientturbulentstructurecanonlybesimulatedbyLES.

WHYRIAMCOMPACT?

HighAccuracy

CalculationsolverisbasedonLES(LargeEddySimulation)turbulencemodel.

LESismoreaccuratethanRANS(ReynoldsAveragedNavierStokes)simulationsforsolvingtransientturbulence
flowsimulation.

FastCalculation
WiththeuseofIntelmulticoreCPUandNVDIAmultiGPUprocessors,fastcalculationspeedcanbeachieved
evenwithouttheuseofsupercomputers.

TheoptimisedLESSolverisabout10timesfasterthanothercommercialsoftware.

EasytoUse

Onlyafewcalculationparametersarerequiredfromuserinputs.

UsersdonotneedtohaveindepthspecializedknowledgeofCFD.

FlowVisualization

Simulation results in the form of animation with a wide range of visualization techniques available (velocity
vectors, speed contours, color shading, streamlines, pathlines, streaklines, trajectories of tracked particles,
timeline,surfacepathrendering,etc)

UsefulFeatures

Userfriendlymeshgenerationengine

Acceptsawiderangeofelevationdata(WAsPmapfile,ALOSsatellitetopographydata,etc)afterconversion

Timeseriesdataofthethreecomponentsofthewindvelocitycanbeexported.
Batchandsimultaneouscalculation

SimulationdatacanbeexportedtoGoogleEarth

Productionoutputbasedonsimulationresultscanbeestimatedwithwakelossmodelincluded.

RIAMCOMPACTsoftwarehasbeenvalidatedagainstwindtunnelexperiments(Bolundislandetc)

Therelativeerrortotherealobservationdataofanannualaveragewindspeedwaswithin10%.

MultiPlatform

OperatesonvariouscomputersystemsfromsingledesktopPCtosupercomputer.

CompatiblewithIntelmulticoreCPUprocessorsandNVIDIAmultiGPUprocessors.

LEADINGCFDSOFTWAREINJAPAN
With over 60 licenses sold mostly in the wind energy sector but also in the nonwind energy sectors.
RIAMCOMPACTistheleadingLESbasedCFDsoftwareinJapanforwindenergyapplications.Belowisjustashort
sampleofthecustomers.

EurusEnergyHoldingsCorporation

KyushuElectricPower

JPOWER/ElectricPowerDevelopmentCo.,Ltd.

WestJapanEngineeringConsultants,Inc.

JapanWindDevelopmentCo.,Ltd.

CTECHCORPORATION

EcoPowerCo.,Ltd.(COSMOOILCo.,Ltd.)

TsubasaWindfarmDesign

MitsubishiHeavyIndustries,Ltd.

BeijingTsinghuaUniversity,Beijing,China


FASTLESCALCULATION

RIAMCOMPACThasbeenoptimisedto
solve LES equations in a fast and
efficient manner. Comparison of
computation speeds for simulations
using 50 million grid points under the
same condition are given in the table
below.

NECsupercomputer

Benchmark testing: 3D simulation of

complex turbulence field around an
isolatedhill

BoldnumbersindicatethespeedratiowithrespecttoasingleCPUontheSX9F(NECsupercomputer).
Numbersinsideparenthesesrepresenttheactualcomputationtime.MemoryUsage:approximately15GB

KEYTECHNICALREFERENCES
1.
2.

3.

4.

GrahamLi,S.Takakuwa,T.Uchida,ApplicationofCFDforTurbulenceRelatedOperationalRisksAssessmentof
WindTurbinesinComplexTerrain,EWEA2013
T. Uchida, Y. Ohya and K. Sugitani, Comparisons between the wake of a wind turbine generator operated at
optimal tip speed ratio and the wake of a stationary disk, Modeling and Simulation in Engineering, Volume
2011
T. Uchida, T. Maruyama and Y. Ohya, New Evaluation Technique for WTG Design Wind Speed using a
CFDmodelbased Unsteady Flow Simulation with Wind Direction Changes, Modelling and Simulation in
Engineering,Volume2011
T.UchidaandY.Ohya,LatestDevelopmentsinNumericalWindSynopsisPredictionUsingtheRIAMCOMPACT
CFDModelDesignWindSpeedEvaluationandWindRisk(TerrainInducedTurbulence)DiagnosticsinJapan,
Energies,Vol.4,pp.458474,2011

5.

6.

T.UchidaandY.Ohya,VerificationofthePredictionAccuracyofAnnualEnergyOutput
atNomaWindParkbytheNonStationaryandNonLinearWindSynopsisSimulator,
RIAMCOMPACT,JournalofFluidScienceandTechnology,Vol.3,No.3,pp.344358,
2008
T.UchidaandY.Ohya,MicrositingTechniqueforWindTurbineGeneratorbyUsing
LargeEddySimulation,J.WindEng.Ind.Aerodyn.,Vol.96,pp.21212138,2008

Pleasevisitthecompanyhomepageforacompletelistofreferences.

APPLICATIONSofRIAMCOMPACT

Wakesimulationincomplexterrain

Sitingandannualoutputpredictionincomplexterrain

APPLICATIONSofRIAMCOMPACT

(a)Fr=(nonstratifiedflow)

(b)Fr=1(stablystratifiedflow)
Predictionofadvectionanddispersionofvolcanicgases
(Miyakeisland)

Predictionofairflowpastrealurbanarea

RIAMCOMPACTisdevelopedby
Dr.TakanoriUchidaAssociateProfessor(DirectorofRIAMCOMPACTCO.,LTD.)
ResearchInstituteforAppliedMechanics(RIAM),KyushuUniversity
Fukuoka,Japan

Email:takanori@riam.kyushuu.ac.jp

RIAMCOMPACTisdistributedby
GrahamLiFounderandChiefArchitect
TsubasaWindfarmDesign,Tokyo,Japan

Tel:818023792899
Email:rc@twdwind.com
URL:www.twdwind.com