Wind Energy Engineering

Basic Skill: Civil Engineering

Civil Engineers are characterised by their expertise in structural engineering. They are responsible for the tower and foundation of a wind turbine, and study its interaction with the soil.

The programme therefore focuses in steel and concrete construction, as well as planning and economic aspects. Moreover, fibre-reinforced rotor blades is a field of activity for civil engineers.

Competence Areas

Dimensioning of support structures
Project Planning, Production, Construction and Operation

Competence Area: Constructive dimensioning of support structures

As a civil engineer, you are responsible for the design of the foundation and tower, which nowadays exceeds 150 meters for modern onshore wind turbines. For offshore wind turbines, you design the supporting platform beneath the sea level as well and simulate the interaction between the turbine and the sea bottom and the sea state. In order to validate the theories used in the simulation, the test centrum for support structures are to your disposal for large-scale experiments.

During your studies, you will have the possibility to put the newly acquired knowledge into praxis by learning various software programs. Excel and Matlab are basic software tools that are widely used within our research. However, prior knowledge is not required. Depending on the specialization and personal interest, further software tools might be added to that list. Check the module description for further information on software. A software catalogue with discounted offers for students enrolled at the Leibniz University can be found here. The university and the institutes offer tutorials for most of the software tools mentioned above.

Highlights

Rotor blade design for wind turbines

Perform an aerodynamic and structural design of a rotor blades with regard to energy yield and load optimizing in Matlab
Production of a model rotor blade of approx. 2m length that will be given as a price to the student with the best homework

Experimental set-up in the test centrum for support structures Hannover

Support structure of offshore wind turbines

Research of calculation methods for the design of offshore wind turbine support structures, taking into account wave loads, fatigue and vibrational excitations

Fibre Composite Lightweight Structures

The students gain a comprehensive knowledge about fibre-reinforced polymers as a material and how to design and calculate fibre-reinforced lightweight structures.

Competence area: Project planning, production, construction and operation

As a civil engineer with a specialisation in „Project planning, production, construction and operation“, you are responsible for the planning- and economical aspects of the wind industry. You plan and optimise wind park layouts and learn all the important steps from the build to operation. As a civil engineer, you apply your gained knowledge to the foundation and support structures of wind turbines and advise in the management, for example with financial questions in the production and project planning.

During your studies, you will have the possibility to put the newly acquired knowledge into praxis by learning various software programs. Excel and Matlab are basic software tools that are widely used within our research. However, prior knowledge is not required. Depending on the specialization and personal interest, further software tools might be added to that list. Check the module description for further information on software. A software catalogue with discounted offers for students enrolled at the Leibniz University can be found here. The university and the institutes offer tutorials for most of the software tools mentioned above.

Highlights

Rotor blade design for wind turbines

Perform an aerodynamic and structural design of a rotor blades with regard to energy yield and load optimizing in Matlab
Production of a model rotor blade of approx. 2m length that will be given as a price to the student with the best homework