StrongWind - Development of innovative and more resistant construction systems and materials for offshore windfarms

This project intends to reduce the investment and operational costs of the wind farms. On the one hand, the investments costs will be reduced by the development of a more efficient and less time and equipment consuming methodology for the installation of the infrastructure, the lower costs of the new material utilised and the decrease on the transportation costs. On the other hand we will reduce the operational costs by developing a high durable steel based construction system for building the off-shore wind turbines towers. This solution integrates: - Corrosion and fatigue resistant high grade steels. - Innovative off-shore tower concept that comprises; an innovative foundation, highly resistant joints and a grid structure. Furthermore, the proposed solution includes the use of enhanced durability corrosion protective coatings that combine graphene, CNT, metallic plated nano-particles and cathodic protective pigments. By combining cost effective conductive CNT and graphene nano-particles the amount of necessary cathodic protective pigments is reduced. As a consequence the mechanical resistance of protective coatings is increased and the resulting protective coating combine anodic, cathodic and barrier corrosion protective mechanism. Moreover self-healing hydrophilic and hydrophobic self-curable hybrid elastomeric materials will be researched as anti-ice and biofouling protective barrier to protect against bacterial corrosion and biofouling attack providing also an enhanced impact resistance. By increasing the durability of steel structures, profitability of offshore wind farms will be also increased. The new joints that will be developed within the project will reduce construction times, save materials and increase durability while allowing easy dismantling and the design of higher structures.