ForWind – Center for Wind Energy Research has a vacancy in the team »Energy
Meteorology« of the research group »Wind Energy Systems« at the Institute of
Physics of the University of Oldenburg starting as soon as possible for a
PhD position / Research Assistant (f/m/d)
Multiscale Modelling of Wind Energy Wake Effects in Northern Europe
(E13 TV-L, 75%)
In European countries around the North Sea the future energy system will rely on
large offshore wind farm clusters with hundreds of wind turbines. Adjacent wind
farm clusters will interact with each other. The energy yield of downstream wind
plants will depend on the dynamic characteristics of the wake of upstream
clusters. Accurate weather predictions will require considering such wind farms
in operational weather forecasting.
Job description
Your work will be an integral contribution to a joint project with partners from
industry and research institutes in Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. You
will work closely with the National Weather Service to develop and implement a
wind farm parameterization in their operational weather forecast model. A unique
wind farm parameterization for higher-order turbulence closure schemes will be
developed. The development will be based on data from your cutting edge large-
eddy simulations. A comparison with measured data will facilitate quality
control and uncertainty assessment of the modelling.
Among others, your tasks will comprise:
• Large-eddy simulations of several kinds of marine atmospheric boundary
layers and their interaction with large offshore wind farm clusters,
• Validation of the large-eddy simulation model in benchmarks,
• Derivation of budgets of higher-order turbulence moments from the large-
eddy simulations,
• Derivation of a new wind farm parameterization for mesoscale models
applying a higher-order turbulence closure scheme,
• Validation of the mesoscale model applying the new wind farm
parameterization by comparison with LES.
Job offer
We offer you the opportunity to 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 towards the PhD is
actively supported by, e.g.,
• multidisciplinary cooperation with other researchers at ForWind and
Fraunhofer IWES in Oldenburg,
• optional secondment at an international research institute,
• development of personal, scientific, and teaching skills through an
individual training programme and selected teaching tasks,
• opportunities to present scientific results at international conferences
and through peer-reviewed publications to extend your specific network,
• structured supervision of PhD process.
The employment is initially limited to three years with an intention to further
prolong up to four years to facilitate a PhD. The payment is based on the
collective agreement for the public service in the German federal states, TV-L
E13, for a 75% position.
Candidate profile
Requirements for employment include:
• a qualifying university master’s degree in Physical Sciences,
Meteorology, Engineering Physics, Mechanical Engineering with focus on fluid
dynamics or Wind Energy
• profound knowledge in numerical simulations of atmospheric flows,
• very good skills in the statistical analysis of large amounts of data,
• high motivation and ability to jointly work on applied research topics,
• aptitude and willingness to pursue a PhD,
• very good English skills.
Desired (but not mandatory) requirements are:
• experience in using the PALM software for the simulation of atmospheric
flows,
• experience in mesoscale simulations,
• experience abroad of several months during school, study period or
employment after graduation,
• and good German skills.
The University 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 center and children’s daycare on campus.
Research environment at ForWind – Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg
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.
Contact
For questions regarding this job opportunity, please contact Dr. Gerald
Steinfeld at +49(0)441/798-5073 or preferably by email at gerald.steinfeld@uni-
oldenburg.de. Further information on ForWind and our research group,
respectively, is available at www.forwind.de/en/ and https://uol.de/en/physics/
research/we-sys.
Please submit your application preferably electronically as one PDF file by
08.01.2025 to wesys.bewerbungen@uni-oldenburg.de. Please refer to the job number
#CFD111 in the subject line.
The PDF file must include either in English or German
• A letter motivating your application.
• Curriculum vitae
• Grade transcripts and BSc/MSc diploma
• Employment references
• A one-page research statement. You are requested to present your notion
of the field of the advertised PhD topic and some initial ideas for tackling it.
A second PDF file containing your Master Thesis or relevant research papers (if
available) is an optional attachment.
We are looking forward to receiving your application.
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