Welcome to WIRE
Mission
The main goal of our research is to improve our understanding and ability to predict turbulent transport of momentum and scalars (e.g., heat, water vapor, pollutants) in environmental flows, with emphasis on the atmospheric boundary layer and wind energy systems. Improved descriptions of those processes are developed and used in engineering, environmental and wind energy applications (e.g., weather, air quality and wind resource assessment models).
Our research involves a synergistic combination of experimental (field and wind tunnel) work, numerical modelling (large-eddy simulation) and theoretical development.
Specific areas of research include:
- Wind energy
- Flow over complex terrain
- Flow in urban canopies
- Large-Eddy Simulation
- Thermally stratified flows
- Boundary-layer turbulence
Last publications
Explainable modeling for wind power forecasting: A Glass-Box model with high accuracy
International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems. 2025. Vol. 167, p. 110643. DOI : 10.1016/j.ijepes.2025.110643.TimeGPT in load forecasting: A large time series model perspective
Applied Energy. 2025. Vol. 379, p. 124973. DOI : 10.1016/j.apenergy.2024.124973.Theoretical and experimental study on power performance and wake characteristics of a floating wind turbine under pitch motion
Applied Energy. 2025. Vol. 378, p. 124767. DOI : 10.1016/j.apenergy.2024.124767.Effect of roof fence shape on flow over a building and its impact on wind turbine performance
Renewable Energy. 2025. Vol. 238, p. 121859. DOI : 10.1016/j.renene.2024.121859.Control-Based Distance Protection for Tie Line Between Offshore Wind Farms and MMC During Single-Phase Grounding and Interphase Faults
IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics. 2025. DOI : 10.1109/TIE.2025.3552188.Awards
Prof. Fernando Porté-Agel has won the ENAC Polysphère Award (2021-2022). This is the second time in under a decade. He uses concrete examples and novel teaching methods to make fluid mechanics a fun, interactive topic to study.
Prof. Fernando Porté-Agel won a 2016-2017 EPFL Polysphère Award. Every year, the AGEPOLY association awards 5 EPFL professors (one from each School) a Polysphère Award in recognition of the excellence of their teaching.
Vincent Rolin, PhD, received the 2017 Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award, in the field of Energy, Resources and the Environment. The poster was presented at EGU (European Geosciences Union) in Vienna, Austria and is entitled: Counter-rotating vortex pairs in the wake of a vertical axis wind turbine
On May 23rd, 2017, Majid Bastankhah, postdoctoral researcher, received the ENAC – Earth Sciences and Engineering Award, in the field of environmental engineering for his publication entitled : Experimental and theoretical study of wind turbine wakes in yawed conditions, published in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics.
Sina Shamsoddin, PhD, won the first prize – category Dynamic at the 2017 ACCES – Visualization Contest with a project entitled “Flow Through a Vertical-axis Wind Turbine Farm”. Theme this year was Computational Thinking.