PostDoc position (f/m/d) Remote sensing techniques for analysing of the flow physics of offshore wind farm clusters

ForWind – Center for Wind Energy Research has a vacant PostDoc position in the research group “Wind Energy Systems” at the Institute of Physics of the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg starting as soon as possible for a limited period of 3 years for a

PostDoc position (f/m/d)
Remote sensing techniques for analysing of the flow physics of offshore wind farm clusters
(TV-L E13, 100%)

Future energy systems will rely on large offshore wind farm clusters with hundreds of turbines. An enhanced understanding of the energy conversion process in such clusters at various meteorological and oceanographic conditions is crucial for the further expansion of offshore wind. There is a growing academic and industrial interest in utilising such knowledge for improved power performance, load control, mitigation of wake losses, power forecasts and auxiliary grid services.

Job Description

Your main objective is to scientifically advance the application of different remote sensing techniques, e.g., scanning lidar (light detection and ranging) and radar, SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar), to develop and validate improvements in the design and operation of offshore wind farm clusters. While your work will focus on open field applications it is crucial to follow an integrated approach which combines measurements in offshore or onshore wind farms with model development, wind tunnel experiments and high-fidelity simulations on different scales. By merging the flow information with operational wind farm data, you will analyse the impact of meteorological conditions on the wind farm cluster.

Among others, your tasks will comprise:

Developing lidar and radar scanning strategies in the field and analysing virtual measurements in numerical wind fields,
Analysing cluster wakes at various meteorological conditions and the effect of mitigation strategies, e.g. wind turbine wake-steering or derating,
Supporting extensive lidar measurement campaigns (onshore and offshore) and further scientific tasks in research projects on flow phenomena in the atmospheric boundary layer (e.g. coherent structures, wind ramps, low level jets, turbulent–nonturbulent transition),
Processing large amounts of data by combining remote sensing measurements, meteorological information, and operational wind farm data,
Cooperating closely with wind farm operators and researchers from fields at different universities and institutes.

Job offer

We offer you the opportunity to further develop your scientific career in a young and lively academic environment. You will be working in the WindLab – one of the university's most modern office and lab spaces – while you will also have the opportunity to do flexible and mobile work. Your pathway is actively supported by, e.g.,

multidisciplinary cooperation with other researchers at ForWind and Fraunhofer IWES in Oldenburg,
direct collaboration with industry while maintaining the links with our national and international partners in academia,
optional secondment at an international research institute
further development of your academic profile, visibility and specific network, e.g. by international conferences, peer-reviewed publications, individual training programme,
selected teaching, including master’s theses and potential PhD students, project acquisition and project management tasks.

The employment is initially limited to three years. The payment is based on the collective agreement for the public service in the German federal states, TV-L E13, for a 100% position.

Candidate profile

Requirements for employment include:

PhD degree in physical or engineering sciences,
university degree (diploma or master) in Physical Sciences, Meteorology, Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering, Wind Energy or in a similar field,
profound knowledge in at least two of the following three fields: experimental or numerical fluid dynamics, statistical analysis of large data amounts, measurement techniques,
extensive experience in programming with at least Matlab or Python,
high motivation and ability to jointly work on applied research topics,
fluency in communicating and reporting in English.

Desired (but not mandatory) qualifications are:

experience in lidar wind measurement and wind field reconstruction,
experience in atmospheric large-eddy simulations,
experience abroad of several months during school, graduation period or employment after graduation,

The Universität of Oldenburg strives to increase the proportion of women in science. Therefore, women are strongly encouraged to apply. In accordance with § 21, para. 3 NHG, female applicants will be given preferential consideration in the case of equivalent qualifications. Applicants with disabilities will be given preference in case of equal qualification. Further, the university cares for a family-friendly working environment and offers a family service centre and children's daycare on campus. Full-time positions can be also turned into part-time ones.

Wind energy research at the Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg has gained international recognition by its integration into ForWind – Center for Wind Energy Research of the Universities of Oldenburg, Hannover and Bremen and the national Wind Energy Research Alliance of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems (IWES) and ForWind.

At ForWind, we maintain and value collaboration between our research groups and partner institutions such as the European Academy of Wind Energy members. In Oldenburg, our 50 researchers from physics, meteorology and engineering are collaborating at the »Research Laboratory for Turbulence and Wind Energy Systems« centred on wind physics. Our mission is to develop an improved understanding of atmospheric and wind power plant flow physics required to serve the global demand for clean and affordable electricity. Therefore, we conduct laboratory experiments, free-field measurements and HPC-based numerical simulations. The main topics include the description and modelling of wind turbulence, the analysis of interactions of turbulent atmospheric wind flow and wind energy systems, as well as control of wind turbines and wind farms. The covered scales range from small-scale turbulence up to meteorological phenomena. Our research facilities comprise three turbulent wind tunnels, various equipment for free-field measurements at on- and offshore wind farms and a high-performance computing cluster. Almost all our projects combine analyses at more than one of these infrastructures. For instance, virtual lidar measurements can be performed in simulated three-dimensional flow fields to verify the analysis algorithms. Our multi-lidar systems, equipped with up to three scanning lidars, are particularly important for the abovementioned research.

The pdf file must include either in English or German:

Curriculum vitae including list of publications and presentations
Grade transcripts and BSc/MSc/PhD diploma
Employment references
A one-page research statement. You are requested to present your notion of the further development of the advertised topic and your scientific profile.

An optional attachment is a second PDF file containing your PhD Thesis and research papers.

We are looking forward to receiving your application.

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Job details

Title

PostDoc position (f/m/d) Remote sensing techniques for analysing of the flow physics of offshore wind farm clusters

Published

2024-05-31

2024-06-23 23:59 (Europe/Berlin)
2024-06-23 23:59 (CET)

ForWind concentrates wind energy research in the northwest and connects 30 institutes and working groups of the universities of Oldenburg, Hannover...

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