Periods of constant wind speed: how long do they last in the turbulent atmospheric boundary layer?

<p>We perform a statistical analysis of the occurrence of periods of constant wind speed in atmospheric turbulence. We hypothesize that such periods of constant wind speed are related to characteristic wind field structures that, when interacting with a wind turbine, may induce particular dyna...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: D. Moreno, J. Friedrich, M. Wächter, J. Schwarte, J. Peinke
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Copernicus Publications 2025-02-01
Series:Wind Energy Science
Online Access:https://wes.copernicus.org/articles/10/347/2025/wes-10-347-2025.pdf
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1832542828100583424
author D. Moreno
J. Friedrich
M. Wächter
J. Schwarte
J. Peinke
author_facet D. Moreno
J. Friedrich
M. Wächter
J. Schwarte
J. Peinke
author_sort D. Moreno
collection DOAJ
description <p>We perform a statistical analysis of the occurrence of periods of constant wind speed in atmospheric turbulence. We hypothesize that such periods of constant wind speed are related to characteristic wind field structures that, when interacting with a wind turbine, may induce particular dynamical responses. Therefore, this study focuses on characterizing the constant wind speed periods in terms of their lengths and probability of occurrence. Atmospheric offshore wind data are analyzed. Our findings reveal that long constant wind speed periods are an intrinsic feature of the marine atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). We confirm that the probability distribution of such periods of constant wind speeds follows a Pareto-like distribution, admitting power law behavior for periods exceeding the large-eddy-turnover time. The power law characteristics depend on the local conditions and the precise definition of wind speed thresholds. A comparison to wind time series generated with standard synthetic wind models and to time series from ideal stationary turbulence suggests that these structures are not characteristics of small-scale turbulence but seem to be consequences of larger-scale structures of the atmospheric boundary layer and thus are multi-scale. Given the results, we show that the continuous-time random walk (CTRW) model, as a non-standard wind model, can be adapted to generate time series of the wind speed whose statistics match the statistics of observed periods of constant wind speed.</p>
format Article
id doaj-art-72778565fe70409cb420177ca01fa8d1
institution Kabale University
issn 2366-7443
2366-7451
language English
publishDate 2025-02-01
publisher Copernicus Publications
record_format Article
series Wind Energy Science
spelling doaj-art-72778565fe70409cb420177ca01fa8d12025-02-03T15:23:11ZengCopernicus PublicationsWind Energy Science2366-74432366-74512025-02-011034736010.5194/wes-10-347-2025Periods of constant wind speed: how long do they last in the turbulent atmospheric boundary layer?D. Moreno0J. Friedrich1M. Wächter2J. Schwarte3J. Peinke4School of Mathematics and Science, Institute of Physics, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, GermanySchool of Mathematics and Science, Institute of Physics, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, GermanySchool of Mathematics and Science, Institute of Physics, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, GermanyNordex Energy SE & Co. KG, Erich-Schlesinger-Straße 50, 18059 Rostock, GermanySchool of Mathematics and Science, Institute of Physics, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany<p>We perform a statistical analysis of the occurrence of periods of constant wind speed in atmospheric turbulence. We hypothesize that such periods of constant wind speed are related to characteristic wind field structures that, when interacting with a wind turbine, may induce particular dynamical responses. Therefore, this study focuses on characterizing the constant wind speed periods in terms of their lengths and probability of occurrence. Atmospheric offshore wind data are analyzed. Our findings reveal that long constant wind speed periods are an intrinsic feature of the marine atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). We confirm that the probability distribution of such periods of constant wind speeds follows a Pareto-like distribution, admitting power law behavior for periods exceeding the large-eddy-turnover time. The power law characteristics depend on the local conditions and the precise definition of wind speed thresholds. A comparison to wind time series generated with standard synthetic wind models and to time series from ideal stationary turbulence suggests that these structures are not characteristics of small-scale turbulence but seem to be consequences of larger-scale structures of the atmospheric boundary layer and thus are multi-scale. Given the results, we show that the continuous-time random walk (CTRW) model, as a non-standard wind model, can be adapted to generate time series of the wind speed whose statistics match the statistics of observed periods of constant wind speed.</p>https://wes.copernicus.org/articles/10/347/2025/wes-10-347-2025.pdf
spellingShingle D. Moreno
J. Friedrich
M. Wächter
J. Schwarte
J. Peinke
Periods of constant wind speed: how long do they last in the turbulent atmospheric boundary layer?
Wind Energy Science
title Periods of constant wind speed: how long do they last in the turbulent atmospheric boundary layer?
title_full Periods of constant wind speed: how long do they last in the turbulent atmospheric boundary layer?
title_fullStr Periods of constant wind speed: how long do they last in the turbulent atmospheric boundary layer?
title_full_unstemmed Periods of constant wind speed: how long do they last in the turbulent atmospheric boundary layer?
title_short Periods of constant wind speed: how long do they last in the turbulent atmospheric boundary layer?
title_sort periods of constant wind speed how long do they last in the turbulent atmospheric boundary layer
url https://wes.copernicus.org/articles/10/347/2025/wes-10-347-2025.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT dmoreno periodsofconstantwindspeedhowlongdotheylastintheturbulentatmosphericboundarylayer
AT jfriedrich periodsofconstantwindspeedhowlongdotheylastintheturbulentatmosphericboundarylayer
AT mwachter periodsofconstantwindspeedhowlongdotheylastintheturbulentatmosphericboundarylayer
AT jschwarte periodsofconstantwindspeedhowlongdotheylastintheturbulentatmosphericboundarylayer
AT jpeinke periodsofconstantwindspeedhowlongdotheylastintheturbulentatmosphericboundarylayer