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Current projects
01/01/2019 – 31/12/2023
SCB Smart Circular Platform for Pedestrians & Cyclists in a Circular Build Environment
Smart Circular Bridge aims at using renewable bio-composite materials in building infra-structure. Bio-composites are materials that combine natural fibers (for strength) such as flax, with as much as possible, natural resins (“the glue holding the fibers together”). To achieve this, the project will build a total of 3 so-called “self-sensing”, smart bridges. More info
Finished projects
01/05/2018 – 30/04/2021
Model-supported non-destructive testing for the detection of defects in lightweight structures: an industrial solution
The general objective of this project is to develop industrial non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques for damage and defect detection and characterization in composite and 3D-printed structures. The proposed methodologies aim at bringing together innovations in excitation, sensing, digital data processing and numerical modeling. More info
01/04/2018 – 01/04/2021
Lifetime prediction and management of fatigue loaded welded steel structures based on structural health monitoring
The Intercluster project SafeLife joins the expertise of SIM-Flanders with the Offshore community in the IBN Offshore energy. The project SafeLife targets Lifetime prediction and management of fatigue loaded welded steel structures based on structural health monitoring. More info
01/02/2016 – 31/08/2019
Design validation and optimisation and residual lifetime estimation of innovative offshore foundations at the Nobelwind offshore wind farm
The O&O Nobelwind aims to reduce the cost of future offshore wind farms
by in-depth monitoring of the foundation piles and the interface connection. More info
01/01/2016 – 31/12/2019
High-Precision Hybrid Laser-based Additive & Subtractive Manufacturing
Development of high precision manufacturing platforms combining metal additive manufacturing (both directed energy deposition and powder bed fusion) in combination with laser micro machining (e.g. laser ablation). More info
01/02/2014 – 31/01/2018
Next generation of modal parameter estimators for product development and operational testing
This project focus on the development of advanced modeling technique for vibrating structures. Such technique will enable the development of new products in a more effective and economical way. More info
effective Structural Health Monitoring with Additive Manufacturing
Within this Strategic Basic Research (SBO) project, a novel Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), particularly suitable for additively manufactured components, is developed. More info
Cloud4Wake- VLAIO Project
01/04/2023-01/03/2026
Cloud4Wake – Data enriched simulation of wakes for all wind turbines in the North Sea nudged by SCADA data and other field data deployed on cloud
Cloud4wake wants to better investigate the wake effects in wind farms, in such a way that, among other things, the adverse effects (including a lower production capacity) can be tackled and the business case of the farms improves.
WILLOW- H2020 EU Project
01/10/2023-30/09/2026
WILLOW-Wholistic and Integrated digitaL tools for extended Lifetime and profitability of Offshore Wind farms
WILLOW will develop an integrated system that will provide an open-source, data-driven smart curtailment solution to the Wind Farm Operators with the basis of an integrated Wind Farm Control system looking for a trade-off between the power production and the lifetime consumption.
PLATOON- H2020 EU Project
01/01/2020-31/12/2022
PLATOON – Digital PLAtform and analytic TOOls for eNergy
The aim of the EU-funded H2020 project PLATOON was to digitalise the energy sector, enabling thus higher levels of operational excellence with the adoption of disrupting technologies .
Supersized 4.0- VLAIO Project
01/01/2020-31/12/2023
Supersized 4.0- Smart O&M for a fleet of supersized wind turbines in industry 4.0 context
The overall goal of this project is to minimize operational costs through sophisticated O&M strategies for rapid identification of turbine underperformance, for predictive maintenance and for life extension.
RAINBOW- ICON Project
04/01/2021-30/09/2024
RAINBOW-Optimized prediction and decision support for rain erosion and lightning-driven degradation of blades
This project aims to gain insight into the factors that lead to degradation of the turbine blades of offshore wind farms, in particular the erosion of the attack edge, which is related to the material fatigue by impact of precipitation and lightning.
MaSiWEC- SIM &IWT Project
01/07/2018-31/08/2022
MaSiWEC-Material and signal processing based prediction of WEC probability
MaSiWEC aims to provide the wind energy value chain players with an improved understanding, prediction and monitoring of WEC in drivetrain bearings. It was designed around three pillars: 1. Development of a physical degradation mechanism for the dominant type of premature bearing failure: White Etching Cracking (WEC), based on microstructural analysis of failed bearings (led by UGent, MST). 2. Development of a predictive, multiphysics based model for bearing lifetime (led by UGent, Soete Laboratory). 3. Failure propagation assessment methodology based on load and vibration monitoring signals (led by VUB, AVRG). These aspects are integrated in a predictive bearing lifetime model and a vibration-based failure assessment methodology, on the basis of a novel concept of “material based probability of failure”.
POSEIDON- FOD ETF Project
01/10/202130/09/2025
POSEIDON- Providing Off ShorE wInd DigitalisatioN
The project aims to research and develop next generation digital methodologies for the offshore wind assets in the North Sea which are necessary to enhance performance, increase grid stability and security of supply through real-time data-supported decision-making and achieve subsidy-free development of the second zone. The digital platform, advanced analytics and machine learning will allow optimisation of the system within the future regulatory framework and feed into the development of renewable powered fuels, e.g., hydrogen.
SeaFD- cSBO VLAIO Project
01/04/2020-30/06/2024
SeaFD-Realistic CFD wind load computations for offshore wind turbines
Project goal is to Develop a new high-resolution weather model to predict high wind shear and rapid wind direction changes in offshore wind farms, potentially leading to failures of bearings in wind turbines.
BeFORECAST- FOD ETF Project
01/11/2022-30/10/2025
BeFORECAST-Wake-effect included offshore wind power forecasting for smooth operation of the Belgian electricity grid based on advanced data handling and sensor technology, including airborne systems
The ambition of BeFORECAST is to improve weather models for enhanced forecasting of offshore wind power, to allow for a better asset management of the Belgian electricity grid and wind farms.
MP Multi-Use- FOD ETF Project
01/11/2023- 30/10/2025
MP Multi-Use- Multi-(re)-use scenarios for existing offshore infrastructure: a conceptual, economical, legal and structural reliability study
The aim of this project is to investigate the feasibility of utilizing existing offshore infrastructure for hybrid energy generation, integrating wave/tidal energy systems, and accommodating storage technologies.
SMARTLIFE- FOD ETF Project
01/11/2023-30/10/2025
SMARTLIFE-Leveraging model and data-driven digital twins for smart asset management and life
The project aims to develop tools for further optimizing the operation and maintenance of the offshore wind farms, while guaranteeing structural reliability and increasing the chances of extending the life of the offshore wind infrastructure in the Belgian North Sea.
Robust Fleet- FWO Project
01/01/2017-31/12/2020
Robust Fleet-Wide Reinforcement Learning
The world is a connected place, in which the cloud plays an increasingly vital role. Modern wireless sensors allow physical devices to move away from local controllers towards smarter cloud-based architectures. When such devices are similar, aggregating information from many of them allows one to obtain a wider view of the problem, and achieve more effective, flexible and robust control. The challenge is how to organize the control in order to benefit from the similarities. We propose to automate this fleet-wide control using Reinforcement Learning. Our method must process information fast (objective 1), have the ability to share information among devices (objective 2) and continuously incorporate new information (objective 3). Our methods will be valorized in an offshore wind farm setting. The current trend is to place turbines together in a farm to minimize transmission costs and maximize energy output from the available space. Today, each wind turbine decides based on its own sensed information, rather than deciding based on the bigger picture: overall weather conditions, energy demand at that time and the current health conditions of the turbines in the farm. Fleet control will improve predictability of energy output for the electricity grid and reduce the risk of failure by reducing loads on turbines that are already damaged.
HYMOP-IWT Project
01/10/2015-30/09/2019
HYMOP: Hypermodelling strategies on multi-stream time-series data for operational optimalization
HYMOP aims at tackling a collective challenge put forward by a number of Flemish lead user companies: optimizing the operation and maintenance of a fleet of industrial machines. Realizing innovative modeling and data processing/analysis techniques that are able to cope with large amounts of complex data in real-time
WINDSOIL- FOD FTE Project
01/03/2020-30/11/2024
WINDSOIL: Design optimization of offshore wind foundations using improved soil-structure interaction models based on in-situ measurements and medium-scale experiments
The project aims to bring down the levelized cost of electricity by optimizing the design and extending the lifetime of offshore monopile foundations through the development of improved soil-structure Interaction models validated by in-situ measurements and medium scale experiments.
PHAIRYWIND- FOD FTE Project
01/03/2020-28/02/2025
PHAIRYWIND (The offshore wind beneath the wings of young researchers turning the blades of the Belgian offshore wind sector)
The objectives of the PhairywinD project are threefold: research, training and mobility, but it is the link between these objectives that makes this project unique.