Richard J.A.M. Stevens

Professor at the University of Twente

Wind energy · Turbulence · Environmental flows

Publication 124 · Atmospheric turbulence

Slow wake recovery and low turbulence behind wind farms parameterized in mesoscale simulations

W.C. Radünz, J.H. Kasper, R.J.A.M. Stevens, J.K. Lundquist, Wind Energy Science 11, 2723–2747 (2026).

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Main finding

Coarse horizontal grids weaken resolved wake gradients and shear production in the tested mesoscale framework, reducing turbulence and slowing farm-wake recovery. Transfer to other parameterizations or stability regimes requires new tests.

Hub-height wind speed, direction, turbulence and their gradients along a wind farm and its wake
How to read the figure. Hub-height wind speed, wind direction and turbulent kinetic energy along a wind farm and its wake, with the streamwise gradients of the last two beneath, comparing large-eddy simulation against several mesoscale wind-farm parametrisations; the inflow, farm and far-wake regions are shaded. The parametrised cases stay depressed where the simulation has recovered, and the gradient panels show why: the grid-resolved gradients, and the shear production built on them, carry the bias. Figure 8 repeats the comparison across resolutions. Open the full-resolution figure. Figure 7. W.C. Radünz et al. (2026). No separate licence is stated here; consult the original publication and credited source before reuse.

Why this matters

Coarse weather grids can retain wakes too long.

Research context

The comparison uses an idealized neutral LES benchmark to isolate a numerical-weather-prediction bias. Coarse horizontal grids smear the wake deficit, weaken resolved shear production, and slow entrainment; later turbulence and diurnal-forcing studies address additional atmospheric mechanisms rather than this grid-resolution pathway.

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