The European Union has launched a research project to develop durable, low-cost composite materials for large load-bearing buildings such as bridges, offshore structures and wind turbine blades. The DACOMAT (Controlling Composite Damage) project began in January 2018 and will run until December 2021. The project is part of the EU Vision 2020 program and aims to support and encourage research in composites in European research areas.
The European Commission included a budget of 5.9 million euros. Industry and research teams from five different countries are working on the project, which is coordinated by the Norwegian Science and Industrial Research Foundation (SINTEF), one of Europe's largest independent research organizations, which is based in Trondheim, Norway. Participants will jointly develop durable composite materials, quality monitoring solutions and technical inspection tools in the manufacturing process.
The project's top choices include the development of damage-resistant composites that can withstand heavy loads, such as bridges and wind turbine blades. Researchers will focus on the development of fiber-reinforced plastics and laminated composites. The goal of the project is to make the bridge a longer service life while reducing life cycle costs by 30%. In the case of wind turbine blades, the goal is to increase service life by 30% and reduce costs by 50%.
The focus of the project is to predict the properties of the composite material and combine the material characteristics to make the final composite material resistant to damage and prevent fracture propagation. These features will extend the life of structural components without the cost of refurbishment and condition monitoring, thereby significantly reducing life cycle costs.
Monitoring the condition of offshore wind turbines and other offshore structures is indeed very difficult and expensive, so researchers are developing technologies that can use optical and acoustic sensors to monitor the development of fractures.
This project can generate the following products:
Material certification guidelines;
Structural health testing and damage assessment solutions;
Full life cycle cost and life cycle assessment methods for large composite structures.