First Measurement Campaign in WINSENTvalid Successfully Completed
In the WINSENTvalid joint project, the first measurement campaign with unmanned aerial vehicles, lidar systems and the measuring masts of the WINSENT test site took place at the end of March 2025.
The project team had to wait a few days for the right wind conditions. At the end of March 2025, the first coordinated measurement campaign (intensive oberservation period, IOP) in the WINSENTvalid project was finally able to start. The wind flowed from the valley over the escarpment, the Albtrauf, to the meteorological masts and the research wind turbines of the WINSENT test site.
In order to record the air movements in front of and behind the escarpment, the project partners from the University of Tübingen and the University of Stuttgart had their unmanned aerial vehicles PARASITE and ANDROMEDA take off simultaneously in the valley and on the test site. In addition, six long-range wind lidars carried out RHI (Range Height Indicator) and PPI (Plan Position Indicator) scans in the surrounding area. One of the locations: a platform of the north-western meteorological mast at hub height, from where the inflow conditions could be recorded in detail with scans down to the valley.
The aim of the measurement campaign was to quantify the influence of the research wind turbines on the flow conditions, to reduce uncertainties in the existing model chain through additional measurement data and to gain insights into the effects of the research wind turbines on the atmospheric environment, in particular on the thermal stratification and the stratification of water vapor as well as the fluxes of latent and sensible heat and momentum in the lower atmosphere. The campaign also serves as a benchmark for the IEA Wind Task 57 JAM.
A total of three IOPs are planned in WINSENTvalid to cover seasonal differences. Scientists from the ZSW, the University of Stuttgart, the University of Tübingen and Esslingen University of Applied Sciences took part in the current campaign.