Career

The Wind Engineering and Renewable Energy Laboratory (WiRE) of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL) searches a postdoctoral researcher for a project recently funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. The project aims at investigating the interaction between wind farms and the atmospheric boundary layer using a combination of wind-tunnel experiments, field experiments and numerical simulations. The ultimate goal is to gain fundamental understanding of the underlying physics, and use that knowledge to develop prediction tools that can be used for optimizing the design and control of wind farms.

The main activities to be carried out as part of the aforementioned project include: 

• Studying the structure and dynamics of wind turbine and wind farm flows under controlled conditions (e.g., aerodynamic surface roughness, topography and thermal stratification) at the EPFL atmospheric boundary layer wind tunnel, and in the field using scanning wind lidars.
• Investigating potential wind-farm wake mitigation strategies (e.g., selective yawing or down-regulation of wind turbines).
• Using the wind tunnel and field measurements for the validation and improvement of fast analytical wake models needed for optimizing the design and control of wind farms.

Salary level at EPFL is highly competitive (>88 kCHF per year; exact level depends on experience).

Competences:

The candidate should hold a PhD in engineering, physics or atmospheric sciences, and have experience and a strong publication record in experimental fluid dynamics, turbulence and wind energy. It is desirable that the candidate has experience with wind tunnel measurement techniques such as particle image velocimetry, laser doppler velocimetry and hot/cold-wire anemometry.

Find out more and apply.