CENTENNIAL HONORS COLLEGE
Western Illinois University
Undergraduate Research Day 2016
PosterPresentation
AnAnalysisofLowLevelVerticalWindShearClimatologyinIllinois
AlexAdams
Mentors:RedinaHermanandChadSperry
Geography
Usingwinddataatvariouselevationsacrossnearly40sitesinIllinois,ananalysisoftheverticalshearat
theselocationswasmade.IthasbeenshownthroughtheWindProfilePowerLawthattheratioofwind
speedsattwoheightsisproportionaltotheratioofthoseheightsraisedtoanexponentα.Thisα,which
describes the current stability conditions of the atmosphere, can vary greatly across a region. In most
wind power assessments, a constant value of 1/7 has been used to predict wind speeds at certain
heights for the strategic placement of wind turbines. This paper attempts to give light to this concept
andexaminehowαvariesovertimeandspace.