Project MultiMat
Offshore Windparks - Technische Zuverlässigkeit im biologischen Kontext
Offshore wind energy promises to become a future market with a large economic and technical potential (Henderson et al., 2003). Due to the fact that offshore maintenance, repair and overhaul are very time-consuming and expensive, a Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system using appropriate sensors will enable event- and status-oriented maintenance, which will lead to
- Reduction in operation and maintenance costs
- Reduction of down-time by improvement of functionality, durability and maintenance of the foundation for offshore wind energy plants
A reliable SHM-System can only be used for viewing the status of the wind energy turbine when being absolutely sure, that the sensors used will operate trusty over a period of 20 years without any maintenance. Contracted by Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology (IWES) it is the goal of IMARE to assess the biological impact on materials and sensor applications in offshore areas.
Offshore sensor techniques and structures are exposed to a wide range of these biological influences. Shortly after the exposition to the marine environment free-floating microorganism colonise the new surface. The result is a complex and diverse community of bacteria, algae and other microorganism.
Henderson, A. R., Morgan, C., Smith, B., Sørensen, H. C., Barthelmie, R- J., Boesmans, B. (2003): Offshore Wind Energy in Europe - A Review of the State-of-the-Art.” Wind Energy, Vol.:6 Issue 1: 35-52.
EUROPEAN UNION: Investing in your future - European Regional Development Fund.
