Staff profile

Please check out my personal webpage for more information: www. majidbastankhah.com

I received a BSc (2009) followed by a MSc (2012) both in Mechanical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology in Iran. I then moved to the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, where I completed a PhD (2017) in Mechanical Engineering. I was a postdoctoral researcher in the Wind Engineering and Renewable Energy (WiRE) Laboratory at EFPL in 2017-2018. Since November 2018, I have been with the Department of Engineering at Durham University as an Associate Professor since July 2022, and prior to that as an Assistant Professor in 2018- 2022. 

In my research, I employ theoretical, numerical and experimental approaches to study aerodynamics of wind turbines and wind farms. My research aims at narrowing the gap between theory and practice, and it contributes towards addressing important wind-farm optimisation challenges that the wind energy industry currently faces. I conduct laboratory experiments to study scaled-down wind turbines and wind farms under fully controlled conditions. I complement these studies with mathematical modelling to extract useful information that can be applied outside the laboratory in real world problems. The models developed in these works are widely used both in research and industry and implemented in several wind energy software packages such as FLORIS of NREL and PyWake of DTU, among others. I am currently the Durham's PI and the work-package leader of the UK-US bilateral research project (Innovate UK - N89640) working on the subject of wake steering for floating wind turbines, as part of a big consortium comprising several industrial (DNV, Equinor, NREL, MPS) and academic (Durham University, Cornell University) partners. 

Apart from doing research, teaching has been an important part of my academic career, and I enjoy teaching thermo-fluid courses and design new modules in both undergraduate and graduate levels.

Motivated master students and prospective PhD students who are interested in wind energy aerodynamics are welcome to get in touch directly for more information on available projects.

Honors and Awards

(2021) Teaching Excellence award
Department of Engineering, Durham University

(2017) Earth Sciences and Engineering Award for the best publication in the field of environmental engineering, EPFL, Switzerland.

(2014) Outstanding Poster (OSP) Award (link), EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria.

(2014) Best Poster Presentation, 21st Symposium on Boundary Layers and Turbulence, Leeds.

(2013) Best Poster Award, Green days, EPFL, Switzerland

(2009) National Gold Medal in the Mechanical Engineering Olympiad, Iran.

(2009) Ranked 1st in the Nationwide M.Sc. Entrance Exam in Mechanical Engineering among more than 15000 participants, Iran.

• Wind Energy Aerodynamics
• Experimental Fluid Mechanics
• Turbulent Flows
• Atmospheric Boundary Layer Flows

• 2021: Special Issue Editor in the journal of Energies:
• 2020: Guest Editor in Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy:
• 2019: Session chair in Wind Energy Science Conference (WESC), Cork, Ireland:

Conference Paper

• the cumulative wake of wind turbines in wind farms. Presented at Wind Energy Science Conference (WESC), Hanover, Germany
• Bastankhah, M., & Porte-Agel, F. (2014, December). A new analytical model for wind turbine wakes. Presented at International Conference on Aerodynamics of Offshore Wind Energy Systems and Wakes (ICOWES 2013), Lyngby, Denmark
• Bastankhah, M., & Porte-Agel, F. (2018, December). Interaction of miniature wind turbines with turbulent boundary-layer flows. Presented at Wind Energy Science and Wind Tunnel Experiments, Oldenburg, Germany
• Bastankhah, M., Dios Romero, I., & Porte-Agel, F. (2014, June). Optimization of wind farm performancebased on yaw angle control. Paper presented at 21st Symposium on Boundary Layers and Turbulence (BLT), Leeds, UK
• boundary-layer flows: A wind tunnel study. Presented at 55th Annual Technical Meeting of the Society of Engineering Science (SES2018), Madrid, Spain
• Bastankhah, M., & Abkar, M. (2019, December). Wake Flow Structure Behind Multi-rotor Wind Turbines. Presented at Wind Energy Science Conference (WESC), Cork, Ireland
• Bastankhah, M., & Porte-Agel, F. (2015, April). A wind-tunnel investigation of wind-turbine wakes in differentyawed and loaded conditions. Paper presented at European Geosciences Union (EGU), Vienna, Austria
• evolution downstream of yawed wind turbines: a theoretical study. Presented at Wind Energy Science Conference (WESC), Hanover, Germany
• Bastankhah, M., & Porté-Agel, F. A wind-tunnel investigation of wind-turbine wakes in yawed conditions. Presented at Wake Conference 2015, Visby, Sweden

Journal Article

• LoCascio, M. J., Bay, C. J., Martínez‐Tossas, L. A., Bastankhah, M., & Gorlé, C. (online). FLOWERS AEP: An Analytical Model for Wind Farm Layout Optimization. Wind Energy, Article e2954. https://doi.org/10.1002/we.2954
• LoCascio, M., Bay, C., Bastankhah, M., Barter, G., Fleming, P., & Martinez-Tossas, L. FLOWERS: An integral approach to engineering wake models. https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2021-116. Manuscript submitted for publication
• Fuentes Holden, J. P., Gan, L., Sims-Williams, D., Gilbert, J., Osborne, P., & Bastankhah, M. (2024). Characterisation and Integration of Piezoelectric Trimorph Actuators for Blade Active Surface Control on a Scaled Wind Turbine. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 2767(9), Article 092094. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/2767/9/092094
• Bastankhah, M., Mohammadi, M. M., Lees, C., Diaz, G. P. N., Buxton, O. R., & Ivanell, S. (2024). A fast-running physics-based wake model for a semi-infinite wind farm. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 985, Article A43. https://doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2024.282
• Mohammadi, M., Bastankhah, M., Fleming, P., Churchfield, M., Bossanyi, E., Landberg, L., & Ruisi, R. (2022). Curled-Skewed Wakes behind Yawed Wind Turbines Subject to Veered Inflow. Energies, 15(23), Article 9135. https://doi.org/10.3390/en15239135
• Bastankhah, M., Shapiro, C. R., Shamsoddin, S., Gayme, D. F., & Meneveau, C. (2022). A vortex sheet based analytical model of the curled wake behind yawed wind turbines. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 933, Article A2. https://doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2021.1010
• LoCascio, M. J., Bay, C. J., Bastankhah, M., Barter, G. E., Fleming, P. A., & Martínez-Tossas, L. A. (2022). FLOW Estimation and Rose Superposition (FLOWERS): an integral approach to engineering wake models. Wind Energy Science, 7(3), 1137-1151. https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1137-2022
• Speakman, G. A., Abkar, M., Martínez‐Tossas, L. A., & Bastankhah, M. (2021). Wake steering of multirotor wind turbines. Wind Energy, 24(11), 1294-1314. https://doi.org/10.1002/we.2633
• Bastankhah, M., Welch, B. L., Martínez-Tossas, L. A., King, J., & Fleming, P. (2021). Analytical solution for the cumulative wake of wind turbines in wind farms. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 911, Article A53. https://doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2020.1037
• Porte-Agel, F., Bastankhah, M., & Shamsoddin, S. (2020). Wind-Turbine and Wind-Farm Flows: A Review. Boundary-Layer Meteorology, 174, 1-59. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-019-00473-0
• Bastankhah, M., & Abkar, M. (2019). Multirotor wind turbine wakes. Physics of Fluids, 31(8), Article 085106. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5097285
• Aubrun, S., Bastankhah, M., Cal, R., Conan, B., Hearst, R., Hoek, D., Hölling, M., Huang, M., Hur, C., Karlsen, B., Neunaber, I., Obligado, M., Peinke, J., Percin, M., Saetran, L., Schito, P., Schliffke, B., Sims-Williams, D., Uzol, O., Vinnes, M., & Zasso, A. (2019). Round-robin tests of porous disc models. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1256, https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1256/1/012004
• Bastankhah, M., & Porté-Agel, F. (2019). Wind farm power optimization via yaw angle control: A wind tunnel study. Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, 11(2), Article 023301. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5077038
• Bastankhah, M., & Porte-Agel, F. (2017). A New Miniature Wind Turbine for Wind Tunnel Experiments. Part I: Design and Performance. Energies, 10(7), Article 908. https://doi.org/10.3390/en10070908
• Bastankhah, M., & Porté-Agel, F. (2017). Wind tunnel study of the wind turbine interaction with a boundary-layer flow: Upwind region, turbine performance, and wake region. Physics of Fluids, 29(6), Article 065105. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4984078
• Bastankhah, M., & Porté-Agel, F. (2017). A New Miniature Wind Turbine for Wind Tunnel Experiments. Part II: Wake Structure and Flow Dynamics. Energies, 10(7), Article 923. https://doi.org/10.3390/en10070923
• Bastankhah, M., & Porté-Agel, F. (2016). Experimental and theoretical study of wind turbine wakes in yawed conditions. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 806, 506-541. https://doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2016.595
• Bastankhah, M., & Porté-Agel, F. (2014). A new analytical model for wind-turbine wakes. Renewable Energy, 70, 116-123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2014.01.002

Presentation

• Bastankhah, M., & Porte-Agel, F. (2016, April). Analytical modeling of turbine wakes in yawed conditions. Poster presented at European Geosciences Union (EGU), Vienna, Austria
• Bastankhah, M., & Porte-Agel, F. (2014, April). Effects of positive versus negative yaw angles on wind-turbine performance: an application of BEM theory. Poster presented at European Geosciences Union (EGU), Vienna, Austria