This doctoral project in Aerodynamics and Environmental Flow will help develop the next generation of wind farm technologies by improving our understanding of how the Earth's atmosphere, the wakes of wind turbines in a wind farm and the wind turbines themselves all interact; the results will be used to inform the placement and arrangement of wind farms, as well as the design of the machines themselves, their structures and control strategies.
Department/School
School of Mechanical Engineering Sciences
Project Description
The combined crises of global climate change and the recently-exposed weakness of supply chains have brought into sharp focus the importance of available renewable resources. Offshore wind power in particular is being considered with renewed urgency in the UK, given the substantial government investment to increase its installed capacity. This doctoral project in Aerodynamics and Environmental Flow will help develop the next generation of wind farm technologies by improving our understanding of how the Earth's atmosphere, the wakes of wind turbines in a wind farm and the wind turbines themselves all interact; the results will be used to inform the placement and arrangement of wind farms, as well as the design of the machines themselves, their structures and control strategies.
In order to minimize the cost of installation, it is desirable for wind turbines to be located as close together as possible. However, this means that in a wind farm, turbines will not be driven by the undisturbed wind- but rather by the wake of the turbine in front of it. This causes complex, unsteady loads which cause fatigue stress on the turbines and reduce their life-cycle.
This experimental project will make use of the unique EnFlo wind tunnel, which is part of the National Atmospheric and Measurement Observation Facility and one of only five worldwide which can simulate the turbulence and temperature characteristics of the Earth's atmospheric boundary layer. The wind tunnel will be fitted with a model array of working wind turbines to simulate a wind farm (either onshore or offshore). The performance of the model wind farm will be measured in a range of different upstream flow conditions which can occur: the behaviour of the system can change significantly with variations in velocity, turbulence and temperature gradients. Measurements of velocity within the wind farm will enable the performance to be linked back to the flow physics, which will in turn enable the improvement of wind turbine and wind farm design guidelines.
How to Apply
Applications should be submitted via the Aerodynamic and Environmental Flow PhD programme page. In place of a research proposal you should upload a document stating the title of the projects (up to 2) that you wish to apply for and the name(s) of the relevant supervisor. You must upload your full CV and any transcripts of previous academic qualifications. You should enter ’Faculty Funded Competition’ under funding type.
Funding
The studentship will provide a stipend at UKRI rates (currently £17,668 for 2022/23) and tuition fees for 3.5 years. An additional bursary of £1700 per annum for the duration of the studentship will be offered to exceptional candidates.
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