In the outer region of fully developed turbulent pipe flow very large-scale motions reach wavelengths more than 8$R$–16$R$ long (where $R$ is the pipe radius), and large-scale motions with wavelengths of $2R$–$3R$ occur throughout the layer. The very-large-scale motions are energetic, typically containing half of the turbulent kinetic energy of the streamwise component, and they are unexpectedly active, typically containing more than half of the Reynolds shear stress. The spectra of the $y$-derivatives of the Reynolds shear stress show that the very-large-scale motions contribute about the same amount to the net Reynolds shear force, d$\overline{-u'v'}/{\rm d}y$, as the combination of all smaller motions, including the large-scale motions and the main turbulent motions. The main turbulent motions, defined as the motions small enough to be in a statistical equilibrium (and hence smaller than the large-scale motions) contribute relatively little to the Reynolds shear stress, but they constitute over half of the net Reynolds shear force.

Simultaneous streamwise velocity measurements across the vertical direction obtained in the atmospheric surface layer (Re_τ ≃ 5 × 10⁵) under near thermally neutral conditions are used to outline and quantify interactions between the scales of turbulence, from the very-large-scale motions to the dissipative scales. Results from conditioned spectra, joint probability density functions and conditional averages show that the signature of very-large-scale oscillations can be found across the whole wall region and that these scales interact with the near-wall turbulence from the energy-containing eddies to the dissipative scales, most strongly in a layer close to the wall, z⁺ ≲ 10³. The scale separation achievable in the atmospheric surface layer appears to be a key difference from the low-Reynolds-number picture, in which structures attached to the wall are known to extend through the full wall-normal extent of the boundary layer. A phenomenological picture of very-large-scale motions coexisting and interacting with structures from the hairpin paradigm is provided here for the high-Reynolds-number case. In particular, it is inferred that the hairpin-packet conceptual model may not be exhaustively representative of the whole wall region, but only of a near-wall layer of z⁺ = O(10³), where scale interactions are mostly confined.

To improve power production and structural reliability of wind turbines, there is a pressing need to understand how turbines interact with the atmospheric boundary layer. However, experimental techniques capable of quantifying or even qualitatively visualizing the large-scale turbulent flow structures around full-scale turbines do not exist today. Here we use snowflakes from a winter snowstorm as flow tracers to obtain velocity fields downwind of a 2.5-MW wind turbine in a sampling area of ~\n36 × 36 m². The spatial and temporal resolutions of the measurements are sufficiently high to quantify the evolution of blade-generated coherent motions, such as the tip and trailing sheet vortices, identify their instability mechanisms and correlate them with turbine operation, control and performance. Our experiment provides an unprecedented in situ characterization of flow structures around utility-scale turbines, and yields significant insights into the Reynolds number similarity issues presented in wind energy applications.

The spatial evolution of a turbine wake downwind of a three-dimensional sinusoidal hill is studied using large-eddy simulations and wind tunnel measurements. The computed flow fields behind the hill show good agreement with wind tunnel measurements. Three different heights of the hill, i.e., h_hill = z_h − 0.5D, ≈ z_h and =z_h + 0.5D (where z_h is the turbine hub height and D is the diameter of the turbine rotor), were considered. The effect of the hill turbine spacing was investigated through a comparative analysis with the turbine wake results in the undisturbed turbulent boundary layer. It is observed that the turbine wakes downwind of the hill with h_hill ≈ z_h and h_hill = z_h + 0.5D recover faster because of the increased entrainment of ambient flow into the turbine wake, which is due to the enhanced turbulent transport in both spanwise and vertical directions. In comparison with the turbine only case, significant increases in the turbulence kinetic energy (TKE) in the turbine wake are observed for the hill-turbine cases with h_hill ≈ z_h and h_hill = z_h + 0.5D. A velocity scale U_T, defined in terms of the thrust force acting on the turbine, is introduced for the turbine-added velocity deficit and TKE. For the turbine-added velocity deficit, U_T is shown to be an appropriate scale at wake locations sufficiently far downwind of the turbine (i.e., greater than or equal to 8D). The vertical profiles of the turbine-added TKE normalized by $U_T^2$ are shown to nearly collapse in the wake both for the turbine only and hill-turbine cases at all locations greater than 4D downwind of the turbine. A simple model for the turbine-added TKE in complex terrain is also proposed based on the new physical insights obtained from our simulations.

Measurements of the instantaneous wake flow from a model wind turbine placed in a turbulent boundary layer were obtained by wall-parallel oriented particle image velocimetry (PIV) in the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory wind tunnel. PIV velocity vector fields were used to investigate mean (expansion angle, wavelength, and wake velocity) and higher order statistics (local slope, curvature, and correlation) describing meandering motions in the turbine wake. These statistics were used to compare the wakes produced by four different wind turbine operating configurations, which include a single turbine operating at two different tip-speed ratios and two turbines aligned with the mean flow. The origin of meandering motions was identified for all cases in the hub vortex signature, which evolved into a stretched or compressed low speed meander in the wall parallel plane, depending on the turbine operating conditions and on the interaction with the wake shear layer. Finally, both autocorrelation and scale-dependent statistics on the velocity minima fluctuations about the meander signature suggest that small scale vortices, found in the hub shear layer and in the wake shear layer, interact with the hub vortex and govern its spatial evolution into large scale wake meandering.