K.M.M. van den Bogaard (Kimberly)

Biography

I was born in the Netherlands and grew up nurturing my two main interests; art and physics. I chose to follow the Aerospace Engineering bachelor to combine these two interests through creative problem solving in the engineering field. After my bachelor I decided to join a student team to gain some practical experience as Chief Structures of the Eco-Runner Team Delft. This was especially interesting as we were the first team to make the switch to the hydrogen urban concept competition, providing the opportunity to go through a full design and development phase from scratch. During this year I also learned that sustainability is a passion of mine, hence, I decided to continue my studies with the European Wind Energy Master. Within this master I joined the Structures & Composites profile within the Rotor Design track. This program is a joint degree with the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and meant that I had to study abroad part of the program which has been a great experience.

Hobbies: playing oboe, horseback riding, swimming, art, hiking

Master Thesis Project

Wind energy is a great way to generate renewable energy, however, the technology itself can still improve upon its sustainability. Especially the composite blades pose a challenge regarding sustainability, both in terms of carbon footprint and End-of-Life practices. My thesis focusses on improving the sustainability of wind turbine rotor blades by utilizing bio-based materials. I will investigate the possibilities through a structural redesign of the 12.6m research wind turbine blade from DTU. The main focus is on utilizing natural fibres but attention is also paid to bio-based resin systems and core materials. Finitie Element Analysis will be performed in Abaqus. Load calculations using HAWC2 will provide the design loads and will be iterated for the new design.

Supervised by: Julie Teuwen, Lars P. Mikkelsen (DTU), Philipp U. Haselbach (DTU), Jenni Rinker (DTU)

Used labs: None