Structural Composites Research Facility (SCRF)

建议建立一个创新的结构复合材料研究设施（SCRF），用于大型结构的快速疲劳或循环载荷测试。这将首先集中在纤维增强复合材料结构上，例如刚性潮汐涡轮机叶片（例如，由碳纤维和玻璃纤维增强聚合物树脂制成）。该设施将是世界上第一个此类设施，并将使用全新的超高效数字排量再生泵送液压系统。对于潮汐涡轮机叶片的疲劳测试，新型液压致动系统将仅使用传统液压测试系统所需的能量输入的10-15%，并且将比现有液压系统可能的速度快10倍地测试结构（测试频率从0.1 Hz增加到1 Hz）。这将使更多和更快的影响为主导的学术研究，为新材料技术和加速评估潮汐涡轮机叶片的基础工程选项，导致更快的认证和部署到市场。这种能力对于这种新兴的可再生能源复合材料技术的成功至关重要，并将加快现有潮汐海洋能源的转换，而在国家能源需求不断增加的情况下，这种能源目前开发不足。在全国范围内，该设施还将支持所有领域的复合材料基础研究，目标是高价值制造领域的应用，如航空航天，汽车和土木工程应用（例如，桥梁和建筑物的结构健康监测，在循环荷载下承受持续疲劳）。学术界将受益于使用最先进的加速疲劳测试设施，为基础材料和工艺主题开辟新的研究机会。工业界将受益于更好的测试数据降低设计风险，并在可再生能源所需的产品开发周期内减少产品测试时间，航空航天、海军国防、海洋和基础设施部门。

It is proposed to establish an innovative Structural Composites Research Facility (SCRF) for faster fatigue or cyclic load testing of large structures. This will initially be focussed on fibre-reinforced composite material structures, such as stiff tidal turbine blades (e.g. fabricated from carbon fibre and glass fibre reinforced polymer resins). The facility will be the first of its kind in the world, and will use a brand new, ultra-efficient digital displacement regenerative pumping hydraulic system. For fatigue testing of tidal turbine blades, the novel hydraulic actuation system will only use 10-15% of the energy input required by conventional hydraulic testing systems, and will test structures 10 times faster than possible with existing hydraulic systems (test frequency increase from 0.1 Hz to 1 Hz). This will enable more and faster impact-led academic research into fundamental engineering options for new materials technology and accelerated evaluation of tidal turbine blades leading to more rapid certification and deployment to market. Such a capability is critical to the success of this emerging composite materials technology for renewable energy and will accelerate the conversion of available tidal marine energy, which is currently under-exploited at a time of increasing national demand for energy. Nationally, the facility will also underpin fundamental research in composite materials across all sectors, to be targeted at applications in high value manufacturing sectors such as aerospace, automotive, and civil engineering applications (e.g., structural health monitoring in bridges and buildings subject to ongoing fatigue under cyclic loading).Academics will benefit by access to a state-of-the art accelerated fatigue testing facility, opening new research opportunities on fundamental materials and process topics.Industry will benefit by reduced design risk from better testing data and by reduction of product testing time, within the product development cycle times needed in the renewable energy, aerospace, naval defence, marine and infrastructure sectors.