Abstract
Analytical models provide fast estimation of key wake characteristics, such as velocity deficit and wake-added turbulence. In this work, we compare different models for velocity deficit and wake-added turbulence against large-eddy simulation (LES) data, varying in thermal stability, wind veer, turbulence intensity, and turbine size and thrust coefficient. It is observed that, while certain models performed well under certain conditions, they did not yield consistent agreement across all LES cases. As the (semi-) analytical models rely on empirically fitted parameters to relate ambient flow conditions with wake characteristics, their accuracy is limited by the data used in the original studies. Therefore, we suggest future research to broaden the data in terms of ambient flow and turbine operating conditions, in order to obtain robust input parameters for these models. In addition, future development of models strongly depends on a better physical understanding of wind turbine wakes under thermal stability and wind veer effects.