Wind Energy Experiments
The Braunschweig Wind Energy Experiments (WX) facility is a young, growing organisational unit founded as part of the continuation of wind energy research by the German Aerospace Center (DLR).
Since 2012, various projects funded by PD-E (Program Directorate Energy) such as MERWind, RoDeO, and ViSion have adapted, expanded, and integrated numerical methods, both LoFi (Low-Fidelity - very fast) and HiFi (High-Fidelity - very accurate), based on decades of aeronautical research, for wind energy applications. These methods enable scientific analyses and simulations far beyond the standard level, which are urgently needed to unlock technological potentials in the wind energy industry. These methods themselves represent a "DLR treasure" that will continue to be developed, independently of this project, in projects like LAISA (a follow-up project of ViSion). However, it must be noted that there are several gaps in the DLR's tool repertoire for the complete numerical modeling of wind turbines and wind farms, which need to be addressed by suitable (at least state-of-the-art) methods to ensure the successful deployment of the VWF. The coupling of multidisciplinary methods, with user-dependent focus on different problem areas (loads, noise, energy yield, weight, resilience, cost, etc.), requires a flexible modular software framework.
Research project
PD-E