Postdoc Position in Wind Energy

Postdoc Position in Wind Energy

University of Twente

Enschede, Netherlands

€ 4,241 - € 5,538 per month gross

Are you passionate about contributing to the energy transition? Do you want to work on material damage analysis and coating lifetime prediction with industrial relevance? As part of the SHIELD project, a collaborative project between Suzlon, TU Delft and the University of Twente, the Production Technology group at the University of Twente is offering an 18-month postdoc position in the field of wind energy. The project strives to develop a digital twin for wind turbine blades capturing effects of rain droplet induced erosion based on meteorological data, material data, experimental data and field observations.

Key takeaways

Rain erosion of wind turbine blades is one of the main causes for maintenance of (offshore) wind turbines. In order to increase lifetimes, leading edge coatings are developed. These coating materials are tested in the laboratory but their performance does not always align with field observations. Within this project, we strive to close the gap between laboratory test campaigns and field observations by including the local impact conditions on the blade with the cumulative damage analysis. Moreover, a predictive tool will be developed that allows site-specific analysis based on large meteorological datasets (from sources such as MSWEP, ERA5 and KNMI) that build on experimental measurements.

As a postdoctoral researcher in this project you will:

• Develop simulation tools for local droplet impact conditions at the wind turbine blade based on test conditions and meteorological conditions;
• Test industry relevant coating materials for high velocity liquid droplet impact performance in the laboratory;
• Implement droplet size dependent and impact velocity dependent cumulative damage models in a digital twin based on meteorological data for site-specific performance prediction of coated turbine blades;
• Derive guidelines for coating materials, control strategies and maintenance strategies for (offshore) wind parks around the world.

We are looking for a colleague who is comfortable with experimental work in a laboratory as well as programming in (preferably) Python or Matlab.

Your profile

• Highly motivated researcher who is driven by curiosity;
• A PhD degree or equivalent in Mechanical Engineering, Sustainable Energy, Applied Mathematics or similar;
• Experimental and theoretical skills in polymer material testing and/or liquid droplet impingement, experience with rain erosion for wind turbine blades is a pre;
• Experience with programming in scripting languages like Python or Matlab, with a focus on large dataset analysis;
• Good team-working abilities and a positive can-do mentality;
• Proficiency in English, both spoken and written (we require a TOEFL > 90 or IELTS > 6.5 score).