Brief communication: An elliptical parameterisation of the wind direction rose

Abstract

Abstract. This brief communication presents a parametric model for the wind direction rose, based on ellipse geometry. Such a model supports standardisation and identification of generally representative cases, while also enabling systematic analyses of wind rose “shape” impacts on the benefits of proposed wind farm design and control innovations. Formulations include analytical wind direction rose modelling, model fitting to measured data via gradient descent minimisation of sum-of-square errors, and goodness-of-fit measures. Testing on wind direction data from real offshore wind farms confirms good performance, indicating that this parametric model is useful to wind energy research and development efforts. Possible model extensions are also discussed, including their benefits and drawbacks.