Renewable energies is a fundamental core of the iComp2 group at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Our group works together with industrial partners within the NSF funded I/UCRC WindSTAR. There are currently three ongoing projects listed below.
Prof. Maiaru is Assistant Director for Education and Outreach for the WindSTAR center.
Matrix Material Enhancement
Curing results in the spatial variability of mechanical properties of composites and uneven cure consolidation when large structures are manufactured. Different properties can be obtained as a function of different processing conditions which make the correlation between resin properties and its in-situ behavior at the composite level very difficult to establish. As a result, the trade-off between resin properties and composite performance becomes difficult to achieve in the design phase.
Our team is working to enable resin and composite manufacturers to assess various resin formulations in the design phase using minimum testing. Relying on FE models for accurate property predictions will reduce testing in the design phase, thus reducing the head cost of the blade.
PI: Prof. Maiaru (UML) Co-PI: Prof. Amirkhizi (UML), Prof. Griffith (UTD)
Wind Turbine Repair
Wind turbine blades can undergo in-service damage including lightning strikes, impact and, erosion. Depending on the extent of the damage, the repair process can take more than 24 hours to be performed resulting in long and costly turbine downtime. Time- and cost-effective repair procedures are fundamental to reduce the turbine downtime and successfully restore the aerodynamic efficiency and structural integrity of the blade. The state-of-the-art curing cycle for repair is not fully optimized which adds to the turbine downtime. The repair process is highly variable, and it depends on several requirements.
The goal of this study is to determine the optimum cure cycle to perform structural repairs understanding the effect of various curing cycle parameters.
PI: Prof. Maiaru (UML) Co-PI: Prof. Hansen (UML), Prof. Stapleton (UML)
Adhesives Joints
Bondline failure is a crucial critical failure mode in wind turbine blades. Substantial variation in bond line thickness can result in different thermal histories for the adhesive layer due to the exothermic curing of standard adhesives. Predictive guidance regarding the impact of this variability in adhesive cure temperature cycles is minimal. Without guidelines of acceptable variability, excess resources may be placed into avoiding damage by processing at excessively low temperatures and longer processing cycles, which produce no discernible benefits.
The project investigates thermo-mechanical characteristics of thick adhesive joints and develops a computational tool to allow wind turbine manufacturers to optimize curing time without inducing unintended damage in the bond line.
PI: Prof. Stapleton (UML) Co-PI: Prof. Maiaru (UML)