STTR Phase I: Development of an Innovative Ultra High Performance Concrete Foundation System with Bio-inspired Surfaces to Support Renewable Offshore Wind Turbines

这个小型企业技术转让(STTR)第一阶段项目的更广泛影响是开发一种具有市场价值和成本效益的美国制造的基础系统，以支持海上风力涡轮机(OWTs)。美国计划中的海上风能生产一直在快速增长，预计该行业在未来20年内价值将超过1万亿美元。尽管在过去10年里，美国的海上风能装机容量只有42兆瓦，但在沿海各州的大力支持下，计划中的项目一直在迅速增长，目标是到2030年达到30千兆瓦，到2050年达到110千兆瓦。实现海上风能的目标需要这些能源系统具有成本效益和创新的组成部分。海上风能系统的主要成本之一是其基础，成本通常在项目总成本的14%至34%之间。OWTs通常被支撑在大直径的基础上，而美国没有能力制造这种基础，而是依赖于在国外制造的基础。因此，提出了一个美国制造的基础设施系统，以支持可再生的海上风能基础设施，增强国内供应链，并减少对外国制造基础设施的依赖。这项研究的结果是美国制造的替代方案，每米节省一半以上的成本，使替代能源利用技术得到更广泛的采用。拟议项目的目标是开发一个美国制造的、受生物启发的、增强能力的基础系统，以支持海上风能基础设施，为当前使用的系统提供技术改进和成本节约。拟议的项目还提供：(1)通过提供与现有手段和方法类似的重量和安装方法而易于采用；(2)比目前使用的OWT基础具有更好的耐久性和更长的使用寿命；(3)提高施工速度，促进可伸缩性。此外，拟议的系统将允许进行优化设计，增加基础容量并改进安装过程。初步试验表明，与目前使用的地基系统相比，在长期循环荷载作用下，建议的设计可以提高地基承载力高达100%，类似于OWTs经历的情况。建议的概念可用作打入桩、吸力沉箱、锚杆或重力基础，为美国海上风能产业提供多种选择。为实现该项目目标，本研究将集中于：(1)验证海洋环境条件的关键材料特性；(2)基础横截面的结构设计；(3)海洋环境中拟建基础的安装分析；以及(4)对仿生设计对基础能力的影响的调查。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project is to develop a marketable and cost-effective U.S. manufactured foundation system to support offshore wind turbines (OWTs). The planned offshore wind energy production in the U.S. has been growing rapidly and the industry is expected to be worth more than $1 trillion within the next two decades. Although only 42 megawatts (MW) of offshore wind energy were installed in the U.S. during the last 10 years, planned projects have been growing rapidly targeting 30 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 and 110 GW by 2050, with strong support from coastal states. Achieving the targets of offshore wind energy requires cost-effective and innovative components of these energy systems. One of the main costs for offshore wind energy systems is their foundations, with costs typically ranging from 14% to 34% of the overall project cost. OWTs are commonly supported on large-diameter foundations, which the U.S. does not have the capability to fabricate and instead relies on foundations fabricated abroad. Therefore, a U.S.-manufactured foundation system to support renewable offshore wind energy infrastructure, enhance domestic supply chains, and reduce dependency on foreign manufactured foundations is proposed. The result of this research is a U.S.-manufactured alternative with savings of over half the cost per meter, enabling wider adoption of alternative energy harnessing technologies.The goal of the proposed project is to develop a U.S.-manufactured, bio-inspired, enhanced capacity foundation system to support offshore wind energy infrastructure that provides technical improvements and cost-saving to currently used systems. The proposed project also provides: (1) ease of adoption by providing similar weight and installation approaches to current means and methods; (2) better durability and longer service life than currently used OWT foundations; and (3) improved speed of construction promoting scalability. Furthermore, the proposed system will allow for optimized design, increasing the foundation capacity and improving the installation process. Preliminary tests show that the proposed design could improve the foundation capacity by up to 100% compared to that of the currently used foundation systems when subjected to long-term cyclic loading similar to those experienced by OWTs. The proposed concept could be used as a driven pile, suction caisson, anchors, or gravity base providing several options for the offshore wind energy industry in the U.S. To achieve the project goal, this research will focus on: (1) verification of key material properties for marine environmental conditions, (2) structural design of foundation cross-sections, (3) installation analyses on proposed foundations in marine environments; and (4) investigations of the effects of the bio-inspired design on foundation capacity.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.