Structures for offshore renewable energy production

Thema:: Maritime and offshore; Offshore renewable energy

We aim to enable safe, reliable and cost-effective operation of offshore structures, both new and existing, for renewable energy production. These structures play a very important role in the energy transition of the XXI century, and it is crucial that they can operate in an optimal way.

Offshore structures

This means maximising renewable energy output with minimised downtime and optimised maintenance (time and resources). However, these offshore structures operate in extreme conditions of temperature, humidity and combined loading (e.g. strong wind and waves), which lead to complex structural degradation phenomena, such as corrosion and fatigue.

Viability of these structures will depend on optimised designs, reduced down-time, optimised maintenance resources and activities, and increased structural reliability. It is crucial to be able to understand, measure and predict the behaviour of such structures and their uncertainties, so that it becomes possible to keep their initial price at a competitive level, and to execute and plan maintenance only when and where actually needed.

Why TNO?

An effective utilisation of different renewable energy sources (e.g. wind, sun) implies different types of structures. Hence, we divide our activities in three main research areas (see below), for which we aim to become a knowledge orchestrator and trusted advisor. The level of maturity in each area is different, and so are our corresponding research objectives.

Lifetime prediction for foundations
Lifetime prediction of composite blades
Large floating structures

1. Lifetime prediction for foundations

Our focal areas include:

Corrosion-fatigue modelling and testing of base material and welded connections
Combining data, models and probabilistics for bolted ring-flange life predictions
Development of customized test setups for different scales from coupon to large components

Image: Van Oord

2. Lifetime prediction of composite blades

Our focal areas include:

Modelling and customised testing of critical wind turbine blade failure modes (e.g. thick adhesive bond line failure, delamination) in mixed-mode loading
Development of tools for damage detection in composite structures based on monitoring data
Prediction of wind turbine blade service life using model updating based on data collected from operational blades offshore

3. Large floating structures

Our focal areas include:

Modelling and testing of (components of) dynamic power cables for large floating solar platforms and floating wind turbines
Load determination in mooring lines for large floating solar platforms and floating wind turbines
Identifying and testing the behaviour of large floater interconnectors
Modelling the aero-hydro-structural loading interactions for large floating solar platforms and floating wind turbines

Image: SolarDuck

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Richard Pijpers

Functie:
Business developer
Hello, I am Richard Pijpers, a business developer within the Maritime Structures cluster. You can consult me on issues related to maritime constructions.

More about Richard
- Standplaats:
  Delft - Molengraaffsingel (NEXT)
- Telefoon:
  +31 6 11 13 59 34
- Email:
  Email Richard
- LinkedIn:
  Richard on LinkedIn
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Informatietype:: Article

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