Turbines reveal there's no business like snow business

Let it snow, let it flow – that’s how researchers visualised for the first time how full-sized wind turbines interact with the surrounding air.

Jiarong Hong and his team from the University of Minnesota took advantage of some cold Minneapolis weather to research late-night snowstorms. They shone powerful searchlights through thick blankets of snowflakes to reveal large-scale turbulent flow structures that can’t be replicated in small-scale lab experiments.

(Image: Michele Guala)

A better understanding of this flow could make turbines more efficient and reliable.

Journal reference: Nature Communications, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5216