The Study on the Offshore Use of Vertical-Axis Wind Turbines

The wind energy researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have been re-evaluating vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) in order to help solving some of the energy-generating problems concerning the offshore breezes.

Although the idea of VAWTs has been known since the first days of wind energy research,  now the VAWT architecture can transform the offshore wind technology.  It offers three major advantages that are able to cut down on  the wind energy costs. 

1. A lower turbine center of gravity ( allowing the improvement in stability afloat and lower gravitational fatigue loads).
2. Reduction in machine complexity.
3. Improved scalability to large sizes.

Furthermore, the drivetrain on a VAWT is at or, at least, near the surface, which provides the ease of maintenance and is less time-devouring. All the above-mentioned factors lead to the substantial reduction of the maintenance costs.

Sandia is carrying the research as a result of Department of Energy (DOE) solicitation for providing the advanced rotor technologies for the U.S. offshore windpower generation. The project is going to take 5 years and is going to cost $ 4.1 million. Eventually, it is also going to revolutionize the construction industry as VAWTs are elegant, mechanically simplistic and consist of fewer parts, because they don’t need a control system, pointing them towards the blowing wind to generate power.

Image source:

http://www.wholesale-electrical-electronics.com

A New, Improved Method for Detecting and Measuring Bridge Damage

The rating systems worked out and developed by a group of Kansas State University scientists could prevent bridges from the risk of collapsing and make them so much safer, as a result of the introduced technology.
The group of civil engineers have been collaborating in the attempt to better detect and measure damage risk in concrete bridges. The researchers were successful at creating a rating system that is more accurate in describing the level of damage in a bridge. Such “bridge health index” can be also applied to other structures including dams, gas pipelines, buildings and airplanes. What an amazing discovery invented to the benefit of  construction  industry!
The collaboration between the researchers and engineers resulted in developing methods of taking bridge measurements and then using finite element analysis and neural network modeling to calculate things back and detect bridge damage. The problem may arise when the cracks in the bridge have indeed been measured, but there are no objective ways to calculate to what extent it is damaged.
At present, the researchers, supported by some graduate students have been building and training the health index system using synthetic bridges, which are able to simulate the way a bridge acts under specific conditions. As a result, a network based on thousands of simulations has been built. Hopefully, some final solution will be arrived at soon, the more so Kansas Department of Transportation provides some financial support for the research to continue.

The Future Is Now: Self – Healing Concrete a New Solution for the Construction Industry

What sounded like a fiction, even not so long ago, now has a chance to become perfectly real, together with the development of “self – healing” concrete by the researchers at Northumbria University. Is it the end of cracks in concrete buildings?
Dr Alan Richardson, a Senior Lecturer in Construction at the School of the Built and Natural Environment, has used a ground-borne bacteria (bacilli megaterium ) to create calcite, which is a crystalline form of natural calcium carbonate. Later on it can be used as a blocker to the concrete’s pores, which prevents water from entering the formula and prolongs the life of the concrete.
The bacteria, owing to which a breakthrough  discovery was possible is grown on nutrient yeast, minerals and urea, then added to the concrete itself. Supplied with its nutritive substances within the concrete, the bacteria has a perfect environment to breed and spread. As a result it acts as a filler, sealing the cracks and preventing any subsequent deterioration.
It has been widely hoped that the discovery of concrete-healing bacteria could lead to a cost-efficient solution for the construction industry and has the outstanding commercial potential.