A rapid random flow generator based on ‘GPU stream cubes’ for turbulent wind fields

The computational efficiency bottlenecks of existing random flow generators were analysed. To address these bottlenecks, a three-dimensional turbulent wind field random parallel generator based on GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) acceleration strategies was proposed. The proposed method employs a ‘GPU stream cubes’ strategy to enable efficient parallel synthesis of inlet turbulence. Multiple simulation scenarios were used to evaluate different acceleration schemes and verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The three-dimensional scheme achieves speedups exceeding 100× in most configurations, whereas the one-dimensional scheme provides only limited acceleration. For identical wind-field parameters, the GPU-based results agree well with the traditional CPU-based method, indicating that accuracy and stability are preserved. Four representative urban wind-field cases, from an idealised block to a WRF–CFD multiscale-coupled scenario, further demonstrate the applicability of the method to city-scale inflow turbulence synthesis. In addition, an efficient turbulence generation software tool for wind turbine simulation was developed based on the proposed method.

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Publication Details

Journal
Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics
Published
2026-08-17
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/19942060.2026.2711525
Primary Topic
Wind Energy Research and Development
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

A rapid random flow generator based on ‘GPU stream cubes’ for turbulent wind fields

Kang Cai, Qiang� Li, Mingfeng Huang, Sunce Liao et al.
Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics
Wind Energy Research and Development
article

A rapid random flow generator based on ‘GPU stream cubes’ for turbulent wind fields

Kang Cai, Qiang� Li, Mingfeng Huang, Sunce Liao, Chenguang Guo, Lizhong Wang
article en

Abstract

The computational efficiency bottlenecks of existing random flow generators were analysed. To address these bottlenecks, a three-dimensional turbulent wind field random parallel generator based on GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) acceleration strategies was proposed. The proposed method employs a ‘GPU stream cubes’ strategy to enable efficient parallel synthesis of inlet turbulence. Multiple simulation scenarios were used to evaluate different acceleration schemes and verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The three-dimensional scheme achieves speedups exceeding 100× in most configurations, whereas the one-dimensional scheme provides only limited acceleration. For identical wind-field parameters, the GPU-based results agree well with the traditional CPU-based method, indicating that accuracy and stability are preserved. Four representative urban wind-field cases, from an idealised block to a WRF–CFD multiscale-coupled scenario, further demonstrate the applicability of the method to city-scale inflow turbulence synthesis. In addition, an efficient turbulence generation software tool for wind turbine simulation was developed based on the proposed method.

Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid MechanicsVol. 20(1)
Wenzhou University (CN), Guangxi University (CN), Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (TH), NingboTech University (CN), Zhejiang University (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province
Affordable and clean energy
Openalex Percentile: Top 6%
Wind Energy Research and Development
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