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) qualifications 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.
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 is available at www.forwind.de/en/ and https://uol.de/en/physics/research/we-sys.
Please submit your application electronically as one PDF file by 8 January 2025 to wesys.bewerbungen@uni-oldenburg.de and include reference #FW111.
The pdf file must include either in English or German:
• A letter motivating your application
• Curriculum vitae
• 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.
• Grade transcripts and BSc/MSc diploma
• Employment references 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.
