Richard J.A.M. Stevens

Professor at the University of Twente

Wind energy · Turbulence · Environmental flows

Publication 128 · Atmospheric turbulence

Modeling Multiscale Atmospheric Interactions in Wind-Farm Power Spectra

Y. Liu, R.J.A.M. Stevens, PRX Energy 5, 023012 (2026).

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Main finding

The model combines slow wind variations shared across the farm with small-scale turbulence that loses coherence between turbines. Together they describe the tested wind-farm power spectra; the separation of these contributions is not unique, and predictive accuracy on independent data remains untested.

Wind-farm admittance and power spectra across frequency, LES compared with the dynamic sweeping model at three wind directions
How to read the figure. Aggregate wind-farm power output from large-eddy simulations (dotted) and the dynamic sweeping model (solid), at inflow angles of 0deg, 26deg and 45deg. (a) The admittance function falls from its correlated to its uncorrelated asymptote; a classical random sweeping model departs from the simulation data at low frequency. (b) Whole-farm and single-turbine spectra separate into correlated, transitional and uncorrelated bands, with the farm spectrum steepening through the transition. Model and simulation track each other across all three bands for the cases tested. Open the full-resolution figure. Figure 5. Y. Liu and R.J.A.M. Stevens (2026). No separate licence is stated here; consult the original publication and credited source before reuse.

Why this matters

Farms smooth fast fluctuations but share slow weather.

Research context

The study draws on random-sweeping, coherence, and wake-decoherence research; Low-frequency wind speed variations and their impact on wind… (read the finding) supplies the moving-frame forcing strategy and the same M5-derived signal. Related later work includes Impact of atmospheric turbulence on performance and loads of…, which frames multiscale turbulence gaps, and Slow wake recovery and low turbulence behind wind farms… (read the finding), which addresses mesoscale-grid wake recovery rather than spectra.

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