WAsP Engineering

WAsP Engineering is a PC program for the estimation of extreme wind speeds, wind shears, wind profiles and turbulence in complex (and simple) terrain. Version 1.0 was launched in July 2001 at the 2001 European Wind Energy Conference and Exhibition in Copenhagen. Present version is 2.0, originally released in July 2005.

The purpose of WAsP Engineering is to support the estimation of loads on wind turbines and other civil engineering structures situated in complex terrain. The wind properties that are treated are:

• Extreme wind speeds, e.g. the 50-year wind. If a wind turbine is well situated on a hill the mean wind speed and thereby the power production can be increased significantly compared to that over flat terrain. Unfortunately, the 50-year wind will increase correspondingly, maybe calling for increased strength of the blades or other parts of the turbine.
  
  
• Wind shears and wind profiles. Strong mean wind shears (large differences in the mean wind speed over the rotor) give large fluctuating loads and consequently fatigue on the wind turbine blades, because the blades move through areas of varying wind speed.
  
  
• Turbulence. Turbulence (gusts of all sizes and shapes) causes dynamic loads on various civil engineering structures, including wind turbines. The strength of the turbulence varies from place to place. Over land the turbulence is more intense than over the sea. Also the hills affect the structure of turbulence. We model various terrain dependent properties of turbulence.

A report on the WAsP Engineering project may be downloaded by clicking here. The report contains a complete description of the turbulence modelling in moderately complex terrain, implemented in WAsP Engineering. Also experimental validation of the model together with comparison with spectra from engineering codes is done.

• Windfarm Assessment Tool
• Comparison of WASP and WAsP Engineering
• WAsP Engineering spatial view
• WAsP Engineering site view
• WAsP Engineering transect view
• WAsP Engineering extreme winds
• Extreme Wind Atlases by NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data
• The stand-alone IEC turbulence simulator

The WAsP Engineering software package

The WAsP Engineering software package consists of four Microsoft installer files: the WAsP Engineering program, the WAsP Climate Analyst, the WAsP Map Editor and the WAsP Licencing System. The installation files may be downloaded from the software download page. Scripts are found at the script download page. In addition, the package contains the Windfarm Assessment Tool (WAT), a set of sample data files and several demonstration projects. Documentation is included as on-line help files.