Mechanical Design, Materials & Additive Manufacturing

Mechanical Design, Materials & Additive Manufacturing is dedicated to develop multidisciplinary methods to design, evaluate, and manufacture innovative materials and technologies of wind turbine mechanical components, such as drivetrains, and metal structures. This research section combines modeling and analysis, material-level to full scale experiments, health monitoring and prognosis, and additive manufacturing to advance technology development, improve reliability, and, hence, reduce the cost of energy at both design and operation stages.

Disciplines

  • Material Science
  • Tribology
  • Fracture mechanics
  • Data Analytics
  • Multibody Dynamics
  • Vibration and Acoustics
  • Contact Mechanics
  • Diagnosis and prognosis
  • Reliability assessment
  • Additive manufacturing

Competences

  • Microstructural characterization
  • X-Ray tomography
  • Mechanical testing
  • Electron microscopy
  • Drivetrain contact analysis and design optimizations
  • Crack propagation analysis
  • Fatigue and failure analysis
  • Multi-physics modeling (mechanical, thermal, and corrosion)
  • Analytical and finite element modeling
  • Drivetrain loads and response analysis

Research area & applications

  • Drivetrain modeling, testing, and monitoring
  • Advanced materials for wind turbine bearings
  • Welding repair of cast iron and gear teeth
  • Automated printing and repair of structures
  • Wind farm controls and layout optimizations on mechanical reliability
  • Wake steering on drivetrain reliability
  • Remaining useful life estimation – mechanical components
  • Bolted & welded wind turbine joints
  • Corrosion fatigue & protection for offshore structures
Yi Guo

Yi Guo Professor and Head of Section Mobile: +45 93513582