Role Description

As multi-gigawatt offshore wind farms expand globally, their enormous wakes extend for tens of kilometres, triggering unprecedented "wake disputes" between neighbouring wind farms. This challenge is further complicated at the multi-gigawatt scale by a newly emerging phenomenon: the ability of these massive farms to generate atmospheric gravity waves, leading to highly complex, two-way interactions between the wakes and the overlying atmosphere. While the wider project combines both experimental and computational tools, this position at Durham University focuses on the numerical and mathematical modelling of these complex atmospheric phenomena.

This is a multifaceted research role that draws on mathematical modelling, high-fidelity numerical simulation, and close experimental collaboration. Working alongside our partners at Imperial College London, you will integrate your mathematical models and computational results with their complementary experimental wind-tunnel and water-flume data. Leveraging your strong background in high-fidelity simulations and mathematical modelling, you will use these combined datasets to develop a new generation of mathematically rigorous, physics-based reduced-order models. These novel models and parameterisations will ultimately be integrated into meso-scale weather models to aid in the design and performance prediction of future multi-gigawatt offshore wind installations. This is an exciting opportunity for a researcher with strong computational and mathematical expertise to work at the forefront of renewable energy and de-risk the next generation of offshore wind projects.