Design of Onshore Wind Turbine Structures & Foundations

Wind energy is pivotal in global electricity generation and achieving future essential energy demands and targets. Today, the most commonly used wind turbine tower type is the cantilever tubular steel tower, consisting of a number of cylindrical and/ or conical shell parts. Such towers are fabricated in a factory by a) roller-bending a flat steel plate into a can with the desired cylindrical or conical shape and b) butt-welding the two adjacent longitudinal edges of the can to each other to form a closed shell. The course will cover the design aspects of onshore wind turbine structures including foundations. Structural design aspects will be dealt with for both local and global responses. Load modelling will be done. Geotechnical aspects both for stiff and soft soil will be dealt with.

The foundation for on land wind turbine towers can be grouped into two types: (1) Spread foundations (2) Piled foundations. In both the foundation types, an interface which is embedded in foundation concrete must be provided between the turbine tower and foundation to ensure connectivity and stability. The Design aspects of both these types of foundation will be done.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

The course is intended for Engineers, Operations managers, Fabricators, Applied Scientists, and Technologists interested in the design of onshore wind turbine structures & foundations.

COST

The registration fee of the workshop will be £795 Plus VAT (VAT UK only) which includes course notes.

PAYMENT

We will send you an invoice for the course fee after you have registered on the course. The payment can be made via bank transfer or online credit/debit card payment. If you need any further information, please contact us by email: info@mam.engineer 

PROGRAMME (All times listed refer to local London time)

LECTURER BIO

Dr Joshua Omer is a Senior Lecturer in Geotechnical Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Environment, Kingston University, London. He holds a First- Class honors BE in Civil Engineering, MSc in Structures and PhD in Geotechnical Engineering specializing in Piled Foundations. He has over 30 years, having worked both in industry and academia in the UK and overseas. He has undertaken arrange of consultancy projects and published over 60 research papers in journals and conferences, supervised several PhD students and served as external examiner for PhD theses in UK and overseas universities. Dr Omer is a past recipient of the biannual David Douglas Prize and lecture, awarded by the South Wales Institute of Engineers, UK, for engineering excellence in a paper competition open to all engineers working in South Wales region. He is a former Royal Society Industrial Fellow and winner of the Research & Development award of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Dr Omer is a member of the editorial board of the Geo- engineering Case studies Journal of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE) and represents the British Geotechnical Association in the ISSMGE Technical Committee TC107- Lateritic Soils. He is also a member of the Drilled Shafts Technical Committee of the Deep Foundations Institute, USA.

Moritz Braun, Dr.-Ing. habil., is the head of the department for ship reliability at the German Aerospace Center of Maritime Energy Systems in Geesthacht, Germany. He holds a B.Sc. in mechanical engineering (2012) from University of Rostock, an M.Sc. in Marine Technology (2014) from NTNU Trondheim, and a Doctor of Engineering (2021) and Doctor habilitatus (2025) from Hamburg University of Technology. For his doctoral thesis, he received the Curt Bartsch Award of the German Society for Maritime Technology. His research focuses on the structural integrity and reliability assessment of large engineering structures. He has more than 100 publications in the corresponding fields. He is subcommission chair for ‘Fatigue4WeldedStructures’ at the International Institute of Welding (IIW), German representative in the International Ship and Offshore Structures Congress (ISSC) technical committee ‘III.3 Fatigue and Fracture’, and the deputy chairman of the working group ‘Damages of Ship Structures’ of the German Welding Association (DVS).

Dr. Andreas Gericke is the head of the department for Thermal Joining Engineering at the Fraunhofer Institute for Large Structures in Production Engineering (IGP) in Rostock, Germany. He is a certified International Welding Engineer as well a certified Data Scientist and leasshis research group of over 20 people, including 12 engineers, in the topics of welding, brazing, and thermal spraying and manages various laboratories for material analysis, mechanical testing and welding at Fraun-hofer IGP.

In addition to his research and development activities, he is also a globally operating auditor for the officially notified Testing, Monitoring, Certification body “MVO08” in the field of “Welded Components made from Steel” especially for towers for wind energy plants and an employee of the ISO17025 accredited test laboratory at Fraunhofer IGP. He holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in industrial engineering and a Doctor of Engineering in the field of welding metallurgy. His main research topics focuses on the material science and integrity of thermally joined structures – especially fatigue–and on the development and automation of thermal joining process and quality assurance.

Dr. Gericke is member of various national and international technical commissions and working groups at the German Welding Association (DVS) and the International Institute of Welding focusing on welding processes, material science, design assessment and structural strength, fatigue improvement, automation and HSE.