Periodic Reporting for period 1 - NATURSEA-PV (NOVEL ECO-CEMENTITIOUS MATERIALS AND COMPONENTS FOR DURABLE, COMPETITIVE, AND BIO-INSPIRED OFFSHORE FLOATING PV SUBSTRUCTURES)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2022-11-01 al 2024-04-30
The use of floating photovoltaics (PVs) in offshore environments is rare due to harsh marine conditions. The EU-funded NATURSEA-PV project will develop innovative structural designs capable of handling marine conditions, ensuring durability and minimising (un)installation costs. NATURSEA-PV will improve the overall lifetime, reliability and maintainability of marine substructures for offshore floating PVs and reduce LCOE by using newly developed, environmentally friendly, low-carbon ultra-high-performance concrete. The project will also create a specific predictive simulation toolkit to evaluate mechanical and chemical durability of the new materials. Finally, project partners will collaborate with associations, public bodies and regulators to assess the implementation barriers and potential impacts on the socio-economic activities and the environment, propose corrective measurements and ensure social acceptance of the technology.
Objective
The green transition strategy of the EU aims to a climate neutral economy by increasing the use of renewable energy sources, being offshore floating photovoltaics (PV) one of the target technologies. Although floating PV is already used in shallow inland waters, its use in offshore environments is not common due to the harsh marine conditions and thus requires a revamping of the technology. The main objective of NaturSea-PV is to improve the overall lifetime, reliability, and maintainability of marine substructures for offshore floating PVs and thus reduce its LCOE. For this, NaturSea-PV will develop innovative structural designs capable of handling the marine conditions, at the same time ensuring the durability and minimizing (un)installation costs. The substructures will be built using newly developed environmentally friendly low carbon ultra high performance concrete and will be coated with new biobased antifouling and anticorrosive coatings. A specific predictive simulation toolkit will be developed to assess the mechanical and chemical durability of the new materials under marine conditions and will be validated against experimental data. The new materials and structural design will be first validated in the laboratory (testing), then integrated in prototypes to check the buildability and to be validated in relevant environments. NaturSea-PV will co-develop and co-validate the project results with external stakeholders while assessing the potential environmental and social impacts and perception to verify that the proposed solutions compatible with existing regulations and socio-economic activities taking part in the sea to maximize the impact of offshore floating-PV solutions. The results and knowledge from the project will be managed to have the most effective exploitation (e.g. IP) and widest possible communication and dissemination to forward the implementation of successful floating PV substructures with circular materials and low, competitive, LCOE.
Objective
The green transition strategy of the EU aims to a climate neutral economy by increasing the use of renewable energy sources, being offshore floating photovoltaics (PV) one of the target technologies. Although floating PV is already used in shallow inland waters, its use in offshore environments is not common due to the harsh marine conditions and thus requires a revamping of the technology. The main objective of NaturSea-PV is to improve the overall lifetime, reliability, and maintainability of marine substructures for offshore floating PVs and thus reduce its LCOE. For this, NaturSea-PV will develop innovative structural designs capable of handling the marine conditions, at the same time ensuring the durability and minimizing (un)installation costs. The substructures will be built using newly developed environmentally friendly low carbon ultra high performance concrete and will be coated with new biobased antifouling and anticorrosive coatings. A specific predictive simulation toolkit will be developed to assess the mechanical and chemical durability of the new materials under marine conditions and will be validated against experimental data. The new materials and structural design will be first validated in the laboratory (testing), then integrated in prototypes to check the buildability and to be validated in relevant environments. NaturSea-PV will co-develop and co-validate the project results with external stakeholders while assessing the potential environmental and social impacts and perception to verify that the proposed solutions compatible with existing regulations and socio-economic activities taking part in the sea to maximize the impact of offshore floating-PV solutions. The results and knowledge from the project will be managed to have the most effective exploitation (e.g. IP) and widest possible communication and dissemination to forward the implementation of successful floating PV substructures with circular materials and low, competitive, LCOE.
Work carried out during this period includes the development of eco Ultra High Performance Concretes (UHPCs) using commercial cements having a lower carbon footprint and using industrial by-products. At least two such mixes have been developed, which follow the requirements. Furthermore, promising results have also been obtained for eco-UHPC using geopolymers.
Moreover, polymeric coatings containing up to more than 75% of bio-based monomers (not fossil based) have been prepared. Several bio-monomers were considered for the study. The synthesized coatings have been found to have comparable properties compared to the reference commercial coating.
Regarding research into the modelling toolkit, a new thermodynamic-based microstructural model for blended cement paste hydration and ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) microstructures is being developed. This model effectively predicts and optimizes phase assemblages, porosities, chemical shrinkage, and pore solution compositions. While further experimental validation is needed, this modeling approach complements experimental studies and will facilitate the design of optimal circular mix formulations and curing conditions. Additionally, it will provide essential theoretical parameters for UHPC durability predictions, an area not yet explored in current literature.
A surface treatment modeling tool that uses metadynamics to identify optimal bio-based monomers for antifouling and anticorrosive concrete coatings has been developed and calibrated. This tool facilitates high-throughput screening (HTS) to evaluate and identify monomers with the highest binding affinity to the substrate.
Techniques were employed to extract 2D geometric representations of concrete features from image analysis of ultra-high performance fibre reinforced concrete (UHPFRC) specimens. These 2D geometries were used for Reactive Transport Modeling to simulate chloride ingress phenomena within the UHPFRC material, resulting in multi-region (meso-scale) models. Subsequently, the extracted 2D geometries underwent mesh refinement and were usedto simulate diffusion properties. Future research will expand these methods to incorporate three-dimensional (3D) geometries and improve chloride ingress calculations.
Mechanical modelling tests are underway at macro level. A mechanical damage model is being developed. At this stage, simulation parameters have been sought in the literature (Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio, ...) to use a damage model that takes plasticity into account via Drucker Praguer criterion, for example. The results will need to be validated once the experimental tests have been carried out.
Preparation of lab-scale basin testing tests have started.
Standards of concrete durability tests (such as: chloride ingress, sulfate attack, … etc.) that will be followed in the project has been decided. Concerning coating, the tests will include adhesion to metal and concrete, anti-corrosion, scrub resistance, antifouling properties under both dry and wet conditions following selected standards.
Additionally, preliminary electrical resistivity measurement has been carried out on eco-UHPCs in order to investigate fracture formation and have a preliminary understanding of its behavior compared to the reference mix.
Moreover, polymeric coatings containing up to more than 75% of bio-based monomers (not fossil based) have been prepared. Several bio-monomers were considered for the study. The synthesized coatings have been found to have comparable properties compared to the reference commercial coating.
Regarding research into the modelling toolkit, a new thermodynamic-based microstructural model for blended cement paste hydration and ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) microstructures is being developed. This model effectively predicts and optimizes phase assemblages, porosities, chemical shrinkage, and pore solution compositions. While further experimental validation is needed, this modeling approach complements experimental studies and will facilitate the design of optimal circular mix formulations and curing conditions. Additionally, it will provide essential theoretical parameters for UHPC durability predictions, an area not yet explored in current literature.
A surface treatment modeling tool that uses metadynamics to identify optimal bio-based monomers for antifouling and anticorrosive concrete coatings has been developed and calibrated. This tool facilitates high-throughput screening (HTS) to evaluate and identify monomers with the highest binding affinity to the substrate.
Techniques were employed to extract 2D geometric representations of concrete features from image analysis of ultra-high performance fibre reinforced concrete (UHPFRC) specimens. These 2D geometries were used for Reactive Transport Modeling to simulate chloride ingress phenomena within the UHPFRC material, resulting in multi-region (meso-scale) models. Subsequently, the extracted 2D geometries underwent mesh refinement and were usedto simulate diffusion properties. Future research will expand these methods to incorporate three-dimensional (3D) geometries and improve chloride ingress calculations.
Mechanical modelling tests are underway at macro level. A mechanical damage model is being developed. At this stage, simulation parameters have been sought in the literature (Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio, ...) to use a damage model that takes plasticity into account via Drucker Praguer criterion, for example. The results will need to be validated once the experimental tests have been carried out.
Preparation of lab-scale basin testing tests have started.
Standards of concrete durability tests (such as: chloride ingress, sulfate attack, … etc.) that will be followed in the project has been decided. Concerning coating, the tests will include adhesion to metal and concrete, anti-corrosion, scrub resistance, antifouling properties under both dry and wet conditions following selected standards.
Additionally, preliminary electrical resistivity measurement has been carried out on eco-UHPCs in order to investigate fracture formation and have a preliminary understanding of its behavior compared to the reference mix.
1) Simulation results show feasible innovative substructure designs for offshore photovoltaics for harsh marine environment.
2) Work carried out until now shows promising results for the preparation of novel eco-UHPCs with more than 30% reduction of carbon footprint.
3) Regarding the work in modelling, it will provide essential theoretical parameters for UHPC durability predictions, an area not yet explored in current literature.
2) Work carried out until now shows promising results for the preparation of novel eco-UHPCs with more than 30% reduction of carbon footprint.
3) Regarding the work in modelling, it will provide essential theoretical parameters for UHPC durability predictions, an area not yet explored in current literature.