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Completed Collaborative Research Projects

Maritime safety aspects regarding installation and maintenance of offshore wind turbines

The research project addresses safety issues that arise during the deployment of installation and maintenance vessels for offshore wind turbines. The focus is on requirements and issues that may arise during the installation of offshore wind turbines (WTGs) in the North Sea and Baltic Sea. Safety aspects are important when using vessels during installation, operation, maintenance and dismantling of WTGs. These safety aspects may involve different scenarios, although the physical causes are similar. A fundamental exploration of the physical phenomena and the interdisciplinary development of simulation models is crucial to develop powerful technological solutions to safety issues without incurring a disproportionate amount of time and costs.

The aim of the research project is to support industry, national and international organisations in increasing the safety of ships and WTGs. To this end, computational methods are being developed that can simulate the behaviour of ships and WTGs during various operations under real operating conditions. They help to avoid endangering people and damaging the environment.

The research project deals with computer-aided simulations that enable the prediction of possible accident scenarios, sequence of events and consequences of damage. A database of capsizing and sinking incidents will be created to provide test cases and validate numerical methods. The methods developed in the research project can be used to analyse accident scenarios and improve the safety performance of new vessels and WTG designs.

The evaluation of the numerical results will also make it possible to define different categories of preventive and operational measures that can reduce the probability of accidents and their consequences. Preventive measures could change the design characteristics so that a particular problem would not occur and/or would have less serious consequences. Operational measures could reduce the consequences of an accident. These measures can be applied during an accident to reduce the extent of damage and lower the consequences; e.g. evacuation plans are developed in advance for different cases and can be applied depending on the extent of damage.

A special feature of the planned numerical investigations is the simultaneous consideration of the complicated interaction between different phenomena. These include, for example, the change in hydrostatic behaviour of offshore wind turbines during installation, collision with floating units, global failure of the ship's structure due to local damage, flooding in high seas, limited manoeuvrability of service vessels due to damage to steering gear in heavy seas, etc.

The research programme comprises six work packages (WP) for the numerical simulation of the dynamic behaviour of ships and WTGs in safety-critical situations. The following institutes and professors are involved in the project.

Forschungs- und Wissenschaftsstiftung Hamburg

Innovation and Product Development for Aging Users

The work packages of the InnoAge project cover a comprehensive range of topics related to innovation and product development for aging users comprising the macro (markets in national economies) and micro-level (the individual user). Moreover, projects cover the product lifecycle divided into the two major phases of innovation and diffusion.

WP1 focuses on the market level along product innovation and the early phases of diffusion of a product.
WP3 and WP4 analyze characteristics and behavior of the individual users and therefore focus on the micro level.
WP2 analyzes the meso-level of user networks. These user networks are an important link to transfer findings from the micro level to the macro level and back.
WP5 combines the micro and meso level in the diffusion phase by simulating the behavior of individual users in networks during the diffusion phase.

This simulation could potentially be extended to the diffusion on the macro level or to user innovators on the micro level.

Finally, a further (external working package) focuses on the determinants of job satisfaction in aging workforces.

Learn more on our projectwebsite: https://www.tuhh.de/innoage/.

Researchers in the Fundamentals for synthetic biological systems cluster are hoping to make a breakthrough in biotechnology by developing more effective processes of producing, for example, chemicals and biopharmaceuticals. Eight TUHH researchers are working in this field with colleagues from the University of Hamburg and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) at DESY. Their objective is on the one hand to optimize existing metabolic processes and on the other to develop new, synthetic metabolic processes for the biotechnological production of, for instance, new types of medicines or regenerative energy sources. The researchers hope, for example, to make a breakthrough in synthesizing hydrogen from biomass to fuel cars. This establishes a new field of research at TUHH, at the interface of life sciences and engineering, and could revolutionize biotechnology and life sciences altogether. The researchers involved believe that the significance of this new field of research into synthetic system biotechnology is comparable with that of the development of semiconductor technology for electro- and information technology.

“The linking of chemistry, biology and engineering sciences in this cluster is unique and will pave the way for a successful application to the next National Excellence Initiative,” said the cluster coordinator, Professor Dr. An-Ping Zeng. Professor Zeng, a bioengineer, is Head of the TUHH Institute for Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering. He is an internationally acknowledged expert in the as yet young discipline of systems biology.

Prof. Dr. An-Ping Zeng

Integrierte Materialsysteme (IMS)

Researchers in the Integrated Material Systems cluster are looking for tailor-made materials for industrial lightweight construction. The objective of this state excellence cluster applied for jointly by the TUHH, the GKSS research centers, DESY, and the University of Hamburg, is to develop completely new kinds of composite materials made from polymers, ceramics and metals. In doing so, nanostructures will be implemented in macroscopic components. The aim is to develop materials with completely new properties, properties that it has so far been impossible to combine, for example extreme hardness with the greatest possible degree of ductile malleability. Such materials would be ideal, for example, for making false teeth. They could also be used in aviation. The coordinator of this cluster project is Professor Dr.-Ing. Gerold Schneider, Head of the Institute for Advanced Ceramics at the TUHH.

Materials and material technologies form the basis of a strong-selling one billion euro industry in Germany. Among the most important branches of industry in the Hamburg metropolitan region and the neighboring federal states of North Germany are the aviation and automotive industries, the wind power industry and the Port of Hamburg, where lightweight structural components play a key role.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Gerold Schneider

Biokatalyse2021

In the course of their development, microorganisms have acquired a wide variety of properties. When these properties are used in industrial applications - for example in the food, cosmetics or chemical industries - experts speak of "industrial biotechnology". In order to promote this research and economic field more strongly in Germany, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is funding five strategic partnerships as part of the BioIndustry 2021 competition, in which players from science and industry come together in a cluster. One of these clusters is "BIOKATALYSE2021 - Sustainable Biocatalysis on New Paths".

The cluster has set itself the goal of achieving improvements in the areas of economic value creation, competitiveness and employment through an interdisciplinary network based on technical core competences and basic knowledge. Fifteen globally active large companies and 19 companies from the SME sector are participating in the project.

The different focal points and business models of the participating industrial partners ensure the commercialisation of the research results along the entire value chain - from enzyme screening to production and downstream processing to the end product. The necessary innovations are supported by a broad, interdisciplinary network of 22 research groups from universities and research centres.

The overall coordination is carried out by Prof. Dr. Garabed Antranikian (scientific director), head of the Institute for Technical Microbiology at the Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg, and Dr. Helmut Thamer (lead cluster management), managing director of TuTech Innovation GmbH. They are supported operationally by the coordination office BIOKATALYSE2021-Office.

The cluster "Sustainable Biocatalysis on New Paths" will systematically research the great potential of industrially relevant biocatalysts from microorganisms in a joint and interdisciplinary research cooperation between industry and science and transfer it into an industrial application as well as into established structures.

[Translate to Alternative:] Homepage des Clusters "Biokatalyse 2012"

KLIMZUG-Nord

The focus of KLIMZUG-NORD is on the development of techniques and methods for mitigating the consequences of climate change and adapting society and the economy to the increased risks posed by climate change.

In the future, climate change will intensify the already existing areas of tension between the growing metropolis of Hamburg and the surrounding rural region, as well as between the demands of a dynamic economic region and the requirements of nature conservation. The integration of all important actors and decision-makers in the region into a common adaptation strategy (integrative approach) is crucial for the success of adaptation to climate change.

The project pursues a combination of scientific, economic and technological expertise. Political, administrative, scientific and private-sector actors join forces to form a climate network in order to strengthen the dialogue between science, business and politics with the aim of jointly identifying the consequences of climate change and specific focal points for action for the metropolitan region up to the time horizon 2050.

Six universities, six research institutes, ten public authorities and institutions close to public authorities and ten companies are directly involved in KLIMZUG-NORD. In addition, there are numerous other associated partners. The five-year KLIMZUG-NORD project has a total volume of 29 million euros. It is mainly funded by the federal government with about 15 million euros. The participating institutions are contributing considerable funds of their own. A further approx. 1.2 million euros are being contributed by the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.

[Translate to Alternative:] Link auf die Homepage von KLIMZUG-NORD

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