Materials & Structures

Team Lead: Jamie Goggins
Email: jamie.goggins@nuigalway.ie

Well documented cases of marine renewable energy devices, marine structures and wind turbine failures resulting from material damage have highlighted the issue of reliability and the importance of adequate durability in their design. Accordingly, lower-cost, high performance materials, processes and surface coatings are being examined, together with validated fatigue lifetime models for the performance of these materials. Additional focus in this research strand addresses the dynamic and fatigue responses of marine and renewable energy devices and structural systems, which is investigated using advanced numerical models and full-scale structural testing in MaREI. Novel structural health monitoring techniques of components are being developed, including the development of detection techniques for underwater image processing, and associated reliability analysis and probabilistic assessments, along with aspects such as the use of tuned liquid column dampers for the control of dynamic responses of floating platforms.