Novel Composite Materials and Processes for Offshore Renewable Energy

Introduction to MARINCOMP International Symposium

Prof. Conchúr Ó BrádaighInstitute for Materials and processes,

School of Engineering, The University of EdinburghDate: Friday 1st September 2017

Venue: NMCI, Cork, Ireland

Acknowledgements• European Union FP 7 Programme• Project Partners• Invited Speakers • National Maritime College of Ireland• Sean McAuliffe• Sponsors: MaREI/ERI/UCC; NMCI; U. of Edinburgh• EWTEC • All of you for turning up

MARINCOMP Project (2014-2018)Novel Composite Materials and Processes for Marine Renewable Energy EU Grant Agreement FP7 - 612531

• Overall aim to reduce the cost of offshore wind and tidal turbine blade structures and enable the drive toward lower cost per kilowatt renewable energy for both industries.

• Develop and optimise carbon-fibre reinforced composite materials which are tailored for long-term durability in the marine environment, and can be processed rapidly and cost- effectively.

• Based on novel, single-part powder epoxy systems that can be processed rapidly with a low exotherm.

EU FP7 Marie Curie Industry-Academia Partnerships & Pathways (IAPP)

Universities Industries

Manufacturing & testing

Wind Energy OEM, design

Tidal Energy OEM, design

Carbon Fibre supplier

Project Management, design

UD towpreg line, fatigue, processing

2D & 3D fabrics, sensors, cost modelling

48 month Project Started Feb 1st 2014

102 months secondments

43 months recruitment

(Universities)

Scientific and Technological Objectives

• Develop a manufacturing process for optimisation of thick (up to 150mm) carbon fibre structures using a novel powder-epoxy formulation

• Develop the in-situ cure monitoring of thick (up to 150mm) carbon-fibre laminates using fibre-optic and associated sensing technologies

• Develop a database of composite durability properties in fatigue and seawater immersion and employ it in offshore wind blade designs

• Develop 3-D stitched carbon fabrics for transition regions of tidal turbine blades

• Develop a cost-performance-processing model for composites usage in marine renewable energy

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UD Towpreg Line

Fatigue

Thick Section Processing& Modelling

Wind spar transition demonstratorEmbedded strain sensors

3D Fabrics

Tidal blade design

Novel Powder Epoxy Reinforced with Carbon Fibre

Cost Modelling

Under construction at U. of Edinburgh – first testing in Q4 2018Funded by EPSRC Strategic Equipment Fund

Structural Composites Research Facility

Some structures have to tested in fatigue by hydraulic loading, rather than resonant testing, e.g. tidal turbine blades, composite bridge sections, pipelines etc.Possible testing of carbon fibre aircraft structures ? e.g. wing boxes

• Uses Digital Displacement Hydraulics™ from Artemis Intelligent Power

• With regenerative pumping, will be 85% more energy efficient than conventional hydraulics

• Will be able to test tidal blades in fatigue x 10 faster → 4 months rather than 3 years to carry out 10 million lifetime fatigue cycles

Agenda for the Day – Session 1

9.20am – 9.45am Keynote: Low Cost Carbon Fiber and Novel Resin Systems for Marine and Hydrokinetic Composite Structures - Prof Dayakar Penumadu (U. of Tennesee)

9.45am – 10.10am Keynote: Durability of composites for MRE considering environmental impact - Dr. Peter Davies (IFREMER, Brest)

10.10 – 10.50am Keynote: Towards a New Paradigm for High-Fidelity Testing and Integrated Multi-Scale Modelling of Composite Substructures and Components - Prof Janice Barton & Prof Ole Thybo Thomsen (U. of Southampton)

10.50 – 11.15am Coffee break & posters

Agenda for the Day – Session 2

11.15 – 1.00pm MARINCOMP Partner presentations & questions:

University of Edinburgh (James Maguire and Parvez Alam)

EireComposites (Conor Glennon, Dimitrios Mamalis and Thomas Dooher)

University of Ulster (Tony Zhao and Shafqat Rasool)

University College Cork / Cork Institute of technology (Vesna Jaksic)

Scotrenewables Tidal Power (Finlay Wallace)

Toray Carbon Fibres Europe (Pierre Luzurier)

1.00 – 2.00pm Lunch + posters

Agenda for the Day – Session 3

2.00 – 2.25pm Keynote: IACMI 9 Meter Technology Demonstrator Blade - Dr Klaus Gleich(Johns Manville)

2.25 – 2.50pm Keynote: Advanced modelling and physical testing of composite tidal turbine blades - Dr Jamie Goggins (MaREI, NUI Galway)

2.50 – 3.30pm Panel Discussion (Keynote Speakers)

3.30 – 3.35pm Closing remarks – Tomas Flanagan, EireComposites

3.35pm Lab Tours of LIR National Ocean Test Facility

4.15pm Ends

4.30pm Bus back to UCC