Energies, Vol. 18, Pages 5211: Influence of Surface Complexity and Atmospheric Stability on Wind Shear and Turbulence in a Peri-Urban Wind Energy Site
Energies doi: 10.3390/en18195211
Authors:
Wei Zhang
Elliott Walker
Corey D. Markfort
The large-scale deployment of wind energy underscores the critical need for accurate resource characterization to reduce uncertainty in power estimates and to enable the installation of wind farms in increasingly complex terrains. Accurate wind resource assessment in peri-urban and moderately complex terrains remains a significant challenge due to spatial heterogeneity in surface terrain features and atmospheric thermal stability. This study investigates the influence of surface complexity and atmospheric stratification on vertical wind profiles at a utility-scale wind turbine site in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. One year of multi-level wind data from a 106-meter-tall meteorological tower were analyzed to quantify variations in the wind shear exponent α, wind direction veer, and horizontal turbulence intensity (TI) across open-field and complex-surface wind sectors and four thermal stability classes, defined by the bulk Richardson number Rib. The results show that the wind shear exponent α increases systematically with atmospheric stability. Over the open-field terrain, α ranges from 0.11 in unstable conditions to 0.45 in strongly stable conditions, compared to 0.17 and 0.40 over the complex surface. A pronounced diurnal variation in α was observed, particularly during the summer months. Wind veer was greatest and exceeded 30° under strongly stable conditions over open terrain. Elevated TI values peaked at 32 m in height due to flow separation and wake turbulence from nearby vegetation and sloping terrain. These findings highlight the importance of incorporating terrain-induced and thermally driven variability into wind resource assessments to improve power prediction and turbine siting in complex heterogeneous terrain environments.