Research background
The OWI-lab group conducts fundamental and applied research in the field of advanced signal processing for mechanical engineering and Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) applied to (offshore) wind. The research group has a long track-record in signal processing techniques to characterize the dynamic behaviour of both mechanical and civil structures.
Over the past years OWI-lab has pioneered test and monitoring equipment, data-warehousing solutions and advanced analysis for the offshore wind industry. Currently OWI-lab (VUB) operates and has operated monitoring equipment on 8 offshore wind turbine substructures in the Belgian North Sea, primarily targeting design optimisation and life-time estimation of the substructure. In total the equivalent of 20 years of data is now part of the OWI-lab database. As such OWI-lab operates the largest offshore structural monitoring research database in terms of the number of turbines, quality of sensors and longevity.
The OWI-lab group is a founding member of the IBN Offshore Energy , BruWind and member of BEERA-Wind. OWI-lab group also represents BruWind in the European Academy of Wind Energy .
The OWI-lab group at VUB has collaborated with industrial partners Sirris, Parkwind, C-Power, Otary, Jan de Nul, Engie – Tractebel and CG as well as academic partners such as Leibniz Universität Hannover, MARIN, ETH Zürich, ULg, KU Leuven, UGent and the University of Porto (FEUP).
The research conducted within the OWI-lab group has led to the successful spin-out of monitoring company 24SEA .