Giacomo Valerio Iungo
Associate Professor of the Mechanical Engineering Department
Wind Fluids and Experiments (WindFluX) Laboratory
The University of Texas at Dallas
valerio.iungo@utdallas.edu
https://labs.utdallas.edu/windflux/
Abstract
In this seminar, Dr. Iungo will provide an overview of the research performed at the WindFluX Lab of the University of Texas at Dallas on wind farm flows and atmospheric turbulence. As wind turbines keep growing and wind farms become larger encompassing more than hundreds of turbines, understanding and predicting the interaction between the atmospheric boundary layer and wind turbines become imperative to design, install, and control wind power plants. At the UTD WindFluX Lab, investigations typically start from experiments of the atmosphere and full- scale wind turbines performed with the UTD Mobile LiDAR Station. Scanning Doppler LiDARs probe atmospheric turbulence, the aerodynamic performance of wind turbine blades, and wakes, which are hazards for downwind turbines and a source of power losses. The insights from the field measurements are then leveraged to reproduce accurate down-scaled experiments at the UTD Boundary-Layer and Subsonic Wind Tunnel (BLAST). The availability of high-quality wind conditions and state-of-the-art instrumentations, enable detailed characterization of wind turbine operations, optimization of wind farm layouts, and development of innovative control strategies. Field LiDAR data and wind tunnel data are then used to develop models and algorithms to predict wind farm operations, as well as using innovative machine learning models. During the seminar, opportunities for theses, internships, and doctoral fellowships at UT Dallas will be described.
Bio
Giacomo Valerio Iungo obtained a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Pisa, Italy. In 2014, he was appointed as Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Dallas, then Associated Professor with Tenure in 2020. As principal investigator of the WindFluX laboratory, he is actively working in the wind energy domain to develop state-of-the-art facilities, such as a boundary layer wind tunnel and a mobile wind LiDAR station. His research interests lie in understanding the organization of turbulent coherent structures in the atmospheric boundary layer and developing data-driven models to simulate accurately the operations of wind turbines with relatively low computational costs. Dr. Iungo received an NSF CAREER award from the Fluid Dynamics program in 2020.
