Project description
Sustainable reinforcement of offshore wind energy facilities
While offshore wind energy is essential to achieving Europe's climate goals, the foundations of these installations face significant structural challenges. Over time, degradation of the soil-pile interface occurs due to installation effects and cyclic loading from waves, currents and wind, reducing stability and service life. Supported by the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions programme, the ISBMSP project develops a bio-inspired solution using microbially induced calcite precipitation to strengthen interfaces in situ. By harnessing bacteria to form natural mineral bonds, this approach offers a sustainable pathway to enhance the resilience and longevity of offshore wind infrastructure while reducing CO2 emissions.
Objective
"This interdisciplinary research addresses critical challenges in offshore wind foundations by developing MICP technology to reinforce the soil-pile interface. Offshore foundations suffer from frictional resistance degradation due to particle breakage during installation (large displacement shear) and operational phases (long-term cyclic shear), reducing bearing capacity and service life. At this stage, it is impractical to dismantle piles, increase pile length, or expand pile diameter. Therefore, in-situ reinforcement presents a feasible alternative. Current cement/polymer-based binders raise sustainability concerns, prompting the exploration of environmentally friendly MICP technology, which utilizes bacteria to precipitate CaCO3, enhancing cohesion, reducing shear band thickness, and improving dilatancy while minimizing disruption. Main objectives include: 1 explore the macro-micro mechanism governing strength of soil-pile interface; 2) develop a hypoplastic interface model considering MICP’s cementations; 3) clarify the resistance transfer mechanism and failure mode of MICP-reinforced interface, propose a reinforcement quality control strategy; 4) develop a real-time monitoring technique suitable for interfaces. Milestones span 24 months with five key deliverables including journal papers, code, patent, and protocol. WP1 will analyze coupling between cyclic interface shear and MICP cementation, and develop a hypoplastic constitutive model integrating MICP parameters. WP2 will propose an interface reinforcement technology and a quality control protocol. WP3 will validate reinforcement effects using a large-scale shear device, correlating acoustic signals with CaCO3 content for real-time monitoring. By bridging microbial stimulated method and marine engineering, this research pioneers ""alive"" soilstructure interfaces, offering a sustainable pathway toenhance offshore wind infrastructure resilience against climate challenges while reducing CO2 emissions."
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
- engineering and technology civil engineering structural engineering structural health monitoring
- engineering and technology environmental engineering geotechnics
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology bacteriology
- engineering and technology civil engineering structural engineering hydraulic engineering
- engineering and technology civil engineering architecture engineering sustainable architecture sustainable building
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
See all projects funded under this callCoordinator
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
76131 Karlsruhe
Germany
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.