zEPHYR - PhD position in Acoustics of urban wind turbines

The objective of this research project is to study and develop innovative numerical methods in order to predict the noise radiated from wind turbines located in complex urban environments. The near-field prediction of the wind turbine noise will be carried out using low-order semi-analytical models and finite-element solvers developed at SISW. The propagation of sound waves in urban environments, over large distances, including meteorological, turbulence and topography effects, will be assessed using CSTB outdoor propagation models and auralization techniques. This project will aim at designing a complete workflow, starting from the wind turbine and meteorological inputs, to the far field audio rendering in a complex urban environment. If successful, the proposed strategies will be further developed into a research prototype within the commercial software Siemens Simcenter 3D. 

The PhD will be mainly based at SISW for 18 months and at CSTB for 18 months, under supervision of Dr. Le Bras and Dr. Maillard. The PhD applicant will be registered at the University of Twente in the Netherlands, under the supervision of Prof. Leandro De Santana. Several secondments are foreseen at the partner institutions of the zEPHYR network: at the University of Twente, Siemens Gamesa (Denmark), the von Karman Institute (Belgium) and the Wageningen University (the Netherlands).