From single turbine to wind farm wake: a wind tunnel study

Abstract We present a wind tunnel study on wind farm wakes, investigating the wake development of two distinct wind farm layouts (aligned and staggered) using 24 actuator disks. Hub-height wind speeds are measured via hot-wire anemometry up to 40 rotor diameters downstream. Our analysis explores the transition from individual turbine wakes to full wind farm wake formation and subsequent recovery. Results highlight the impact of layout on wake recovery, with the aligned configuration exhibiting faster recovery—likely due to larger lateral turbine spacing and enhanced wake dynamics. Interestingly, behind a streamwise-aligned row of turbines, wake recovery occurs without wake expansion, which deviates from classical wake models and opens up possibilities for improving wake modelling.