Context

The sustainability of offshore renewable energy structures, for periods of up to 15 years, remains a major challenge to the sector. The manufacture of these structures is often based on combinations of materials assembled with structural bonding. The long-term performance of such hybrid structures (resistance to the marine environment and fatigue) is still unclear and requires more research. This lack of knowledge leads to the use of exaggerated safety factors, or limits the introduction of innovative multi-material structures. It is therefore essential to study the lifespan of these bonded multi-material structures and particularly to in-service monitor the health of the glue seal.

Objective

To gain a full understanding of the behaviour over time of glued multi-material structures in a saturated environment.

Scientific and technical contents

• Development and demonstration of instrumentation inside the glue seal and at the glue/substrate interface
• Proposal of analytical models to optimise glued multi-material structures in the marine environment meeting standard requirements
• Updating and development of design and maintenance rules for the design of glued tidal turbine blade structures

Resources

Project sheet (PDF)

Partners and funding

This project is led by ENSTA Bretagne and France Energies Marines.

The total project budget is €910K.

This project receives funding from France Energies Marines and its members and partners, as well as French State funding managed by the National Research Agency under the Investments for the Future Programme (ANR-10-IEED-0006-08).

Photo crédit: ENSTA Bretagne