AI-assisted grading of end-of-life wind turbine composite materials for a circular economy - PhD Scholarship

This PhD scholarship is offered by the EPSRC CDT in Offshore Wind Energy Sustainability and Resilience, a partnership between the Universities of Durham, Hull, Loughborough and Sheffield. The successful applicant will undertake six months of training with the rest of the CDT cohort at the University of Hull before continuing their PhD research at the University of Sheffield. The project directly aligns with the CDT's aim to achieve a sustainable wind farm lifecycle by developing methods for high-value reuse of composite turbine blades. This PhD will investigate the development of hierarchical Bayesian algorithms to capture the variability of end-of-life composite materials. These algorithms will be combined with destructive and non-destructive test data, and then be used to develop predictive capabilities for grading. This work will establish a foundation for future automated grading systems, which will provide a cost-competitive solution for both the offshore wind energy sector and the wider composites industry. The research addresses the pressing issue of end-of-life blade waste for the wind energy industry, developing machine learning and non-destructive evaluation techniques to efficiently grade the end-of-life material properties. Successful candidates will benefit from a comprehensive taught programme, giving them a broad understanding of the breadth and depth of current and emerging offshore wind sector needs, beginning with an intensive six-month programme at the University of Hull for the new student intake, drawing on expertise and facilities from all four academic partners.