Distinct turbulent regions in the wake of a wind turbine and their inflow-dependent locations: The creation of a wake map

Neunaber, I.; Hölling, M.; Stevens, R.J.A.M.; Schepers, G.; Peinke, J.

doi:10.3390/en13205392

Publication 61 · Wind-farm flow

Distinct turbulent regions in the wake of a wind turbine and their inflow-dependent locations

I. Neunaber, M. Hölling, R.J.A.M. Stevens, G. Schepers, J. Peinke, Energies 13, 5392 (2020).

Read the article Open-access version

Main finding

A wake map distinguishes downstream turbulence stages whose locations shift with inflow turbulence in the tested turbine wakes. It provides a conditional diagnostic of model fidelity, not universal transition distances.

Wake map dividing a turbine wake into near, transition, decay and far regions along the flow — **How to read the figure.** The four downstream wake regions - near wake, transition, decay and far wake - with the diagnostic criteria that identify each. The question marks on the region boundaries indicate that their extent depends on the inflow turbulence rather than sitting at fixed distances. Open the full-resolution figure. Figure 13. I. Neunaber et al. (2020). No separate licence is stated here; consult the original publication and credited source before reuse.

Why this matters

Wakes pass through stages whose distances shift with inflow.

Research context

The wind-tunnel map extends earlier near-wake benchmarks from isolated profiles to downstream region placement. Higher inflow turbulence moves vortex breakdown and recovery upstream, so the reported distances are conditional rather than universal; later yawed-vortex simulations address a different instability setting.

View in the complete publication list Related wind-farm research