Dr. Wolf-Gerrit Fruh
Dr. Fruh is a Physics graduate from the University of Freiburg, DPhil in Atmospheric Physics from the University of Oxford and specialises in the application of chaos theory and low-dimensional modelling of geophysical fluid dynamic experiments. He joined Heriot-Watt University as a lecturer in Mechanical Engineering in 1997, primarily teaching fluid dynamics and thermodynamics. Since 2000 he has been a Senior Lecturer in Energy Engineering. In this capacity, Dr. Fruh has been teaching Energy Technology and Renewable Energy and has developed a portfolio of postgraduate taught Masters Programmes.
Recent consultancies include a contribution to the design of small wind turbines, a combined heat and power energy storage system (which involved the construction and testing of a proof-of-concept device), and the techno-economic analysis of a planned hybrid wind-pumped hydro storage installation.
Dr. Fruh's research continues to contribute to fundamental research in the transition to geophysical turbulence. This research has been developed alongside the more recent focus on wind turbine and wind farm aerodynamics, wind energy resource assessment, as well as the integration of variable power generation into the grid. An example of the wind turbine and wind farm aerodynamics is the development of a high-resolution computational fluid dynamics model of a wind turbine in its domain used for evaluating the effect of turbulence on the decay of the wake behind the rotor. This is currently being extended to modelling a full operational offshore wind farm in collaboration with that wind farm’s operator. The work on wind resource assessment has recently addressed the long-term stability of the wind resource in Scotland, and a current PhD student with industrial funding is developing a novel type of MCP wind resource assessment. Most recently, Dr. Fruh has developed an interest in the dynamics of an entire grid be it the national grid or a micro-grid, when supplied with a substantial contribution from variable renewable generation.