The focus is on sustainable infrastructure for the energy transition: Since 2014, the TTH has been conducting experimental investigations into support structures and foundation elements for wind turbines. Thanks to the unique foundation test pit and a 3D tension field, large-scale experiments on onshore and offshore support structures can be carried out here. The results make it possible to validate computational models, optimise the structures and thus improve their structural safety.
“This success is the result of close collaboration between the TTH team and our faculty – with the support of the university – and is a testament to the trust that the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy places in LUH as a long-established and successful centre for wind energy research,” says Prof. Dr. sc. ETH Elyas Ghafoori, Executive Director of the TTH and Head of the Institute of Steel Structures. “We, the TTH team, are looking forward to starting this exciting development project soon, with the support of the faculty and the university.”
In order to meet the increased testing requirements, particularly those of the wind energy industry, the existing testing infrastructure at the TTH is being comprehensively modernised and expanded. This includes, amongst other things, a semi-automated foundation test pit for testing layered soils and high bearing capacities, as well as new testing technology for even higher loads. In addition, a new hall is being built to provide additional testing capabilities of up to 10 meganewtons, utilising state-of-the-art measurement technology, in order to best accommodate the continuous increase in the size of wind turbines.
“The close collaboration between five institutes within the faculty and the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems, which we foster at the TTH, has proved its worth,” adds Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Raimund Rolfes, co-founder of the TTH, Head of the Institute of Statics and Dynamics, and spokesperson for the Collaborative Research Centre on Offshore Megastructures at LUH. “We can look back on 12 years of exciting research using unique large-scale experimental technology, funded entirely by third-party grants, and we look forward to new challenges.”
Five institutes from the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geodetic Science are involved in the TTH and are represented on its Executive Board. The Advisory Board comprises further members from Leibniz University Hannover, the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems and various companies in the wind energy sector. In addition to the TTH, the Marienwerder campus is home to other outstanding research institutions, including the Coastal Research Centre with its large wave-current flume, which is unique worldwide. The TTH itself also houses the Structural Engineering Department of the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems (IWES), the GeCoLab of the Institute for Drive Systems and Power Electronics, and a coordination office of the Centre for Wind Energy Research (ForWind).
More information:
- Test Centre for Support Structures
- Website Fraunhofer IWES
- LinkedIn: News on the 8. Energy Research Programme for Applied Energy Research of BMWE
