Welcome to WIRE
Mission
The main goal of our research is to improve our understanding and ability to predict turbulent transport of momentum and scalars (e.g., heat, water vapor, pollutants) in environmental flows, with emphasis on the atmospheric boundary layer and wind energy systems. Improved descriptions of those processes are developed and used in engineering, environmental and wind energy applications (e.g., weather, air quality and wind resource assessment models).
Our research involves a synergistic combination of experimental (field and wind tunnel) work, numerical modelling (large-eddy simulation) and theoretical development.
Specific areas of research include:
- Wind energy
- Flow over complex terrain
- Flow in urban canopies
- Large-Eddy Simulation
- Thermally stratified flows
- Boundary-layer turbulence
Last publications
Effect of hills on wind turbine flow and power efficiency: A large-eddy simulation study
Physics of Fluids. 2024. Vol. 36, num. 9. DOI : https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0226544.Evolution of Turbulent Boundary Conditions on the Surface of Large Barchan Dunes: Anomalies in Aerodynamic Roughness and Shear Velocity, Aeolian Threshold, and the Role of Dune Skewness
Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface. 2024. Vol. 129, num. 9. DOI : 10.1029/2023JF007599.Can we trust explainable artificial intelligence in wind power forecasting?
Applied Energy. 2024. Vol. 376, num. Part A. DOI : 10.1016/j.apenergy.2024.124273.A hybrid physics-based and data-driven model for intra-day and day-ahead wind power forecasting considering a drastically expanded predictor search space
Applied Energy. 2024. Vol. 367, p. 123375. DOI : 10.1016/j.apenergy.2024.123375.Influence of wind direction on flow over a cliff and its interaction with a wind turbine wake
Physical Review Fluids. 2024. Vol. 9, p. 064604. DOI : 10.1103/PhysRevFluids.9.064604.Awards
Prof. Fernando Porté-Agel has won the ENAC Polysphère Award (2021-2022). This is the second time in under a decade. He uses concrete examples and novel teaching methods to make fluid mechanics a fun, interactive topic to study.
Prof. Fernando Porté-Agel won a 2016-2017 EPFL Polysphère Award. Every year, the AGEPOLY association awards 5 EPFL professors (one from each School) a Polysphère Award in recognition of the excellence of their teaching.
Vincent Rolin, PhD, received the 2017 Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award, in the field of Energy, Resources and the Environment. The poster was presented at EGU (European Geosciences Union) in Vienna, Austria and is entitled: Counter-rotating vortex pairs in the wake of a vertical axis wind turbine
On May 23rd, 2017, Majid Bastankhah, postdoctoral researcher, received the ENAC – Earth Sciences and Engineering Award, in the field of environmental engineering for his publication entitled : Experimental and theoretical study of wind turbine wakes in yawed conditions, published in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics.
Sina Shamsoddin, PhD, won the first prize – category Dynamic at the 2017 ACCES – Visualization Contest with a project entitled “Flow Through a Vertical-axis Wind Turbine Farm”. Theme this year was Computational Thinking.