Richard J.A.M. Stevens
With collaborators, I develop methods for wind-farm large-eddy simulation and coupled wake–boundary-layer modelling to explain how wind farms interact with the atmosphere.
I also co-developed AFiD-GPU for direct numerical simulation of turbulence and heat transport.
A current result
Low clouds can accelerate wake recovery
In the simulated marine cases, cooling at the top of a low cloud layer strengthens mixing and brings faster-moving air toward the turbines, helping the far wake recover. The effect depends on atmospheric conditions; an operational energy gain has not been established.
Research programme
Wind-farm–atmosphere interaction
How atmospheric conditions govern wind-farm flow, and how large farms feed back on the boundary layer.
Multiscale prediction and physical modelling
Mechanistic and reduced-order predictions connecting turbine wakes, boundary layers, and changing weather.
Turbulence simulation and high-performance computing
Canonical turbulent flows, numerical methods, and scalable simulation tools that underpin the programme.
See the research overview, Selected contributions, or the complete publication list.
WINDFLOW
WINDFLOW is my ERC Consolidator Grant project, awarded in 2023 for the 2024–2029 period. It aims to couple large-eddy simulation to weather-scale models to study wind-farm performance under changing conditions and the farms’ feedback on atmospheric stability, moisture, and atmosphere–ocean energy exchange. Read about the programme →
Group and opportunities
My group currently includes a postdoctoral researcher and PhD students working across these research areas, alongside several completed PhDs and postdocs now at other institutions. I am a member of the Max Planck–University of Twente Center for Complex Fluid Dynamics. The group is based in Physics of Fluids at the University of Twente and collaborates with universities, research institutes, and industrial partners in fluid mechanics, atmospheric science, wind-energy engineering, and scientific computing. Meet the group, or see student projects and vacancy status for PhD and postdoc positions.
Contact
Richard J.A.M. Stevens
Professor at the University of Twente
Wind energy · Turbulence · Environmental flows
Physics of Fluids group
Faculty of Science and Technology
University of Twente
Building Meander
P.O. Box 217
7500 AE Enschede
The Netherlands
T: +31 (0)53 489 5359
E: r.j.a.m.stevens@utwente.nl
ORCID: 0000-0001-6976-5704 ·
Scholar: Google Scholar profile
University profile