Announcement Detail

Tuesday, April 21, 2026

8:00 AM PDT

Join via Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89805920868?pwd=UaxOZeVHZAs9BeKkjqRWbNadZYCIZo.1

Energy & Earth Systems TTA Webinar

Enabling Next-Generation Wind Blades Through Process-Aware Composite Design

Marianna Maiaru, Columbia University

Abstract:

Composite materials are essential to the continued expansion of wind energy, enabling the development of increasingly large and efficient turbine blades. However, as blade lengths surpass 100 meters, significant challenges arise in manufacturing variability, defect control, fatigue reliability, and recyclability. These challenges are largely rooted in the manufacturing process itself, where resin infusion, curing, and thermal gradients introduce microstructural heterogeneity, residual stresses, and defects that ultimately dictate structural performance and lifetime. This seminar presents recent advances in the process modeling of composite materials for wind energy, focusing on a predictive, integrated approach to address these challenges. Particular emphasis is placed on physics-based modeling of thermoset curing for manufacturing and repair, as well as thermoplastic processing, enabling the prediction of residual stresses and their impact on mechanical behavior and fatigue performance. By embedding these capabilities within a multi-scale ICME framework, the work establishes direct links between processing conditions, microstructure, and structural response, providing a pathway to reduce uncertainty and enhance reliability in large-scale blades. Ultimately, this work aims to transition composite blade design from empirical, conservative practices to a predictive, process-driven paradigm, enabling the next generation of high-performance, durable, and sustainable wind energy systems.

Bio:

Marianna Maiaru (Associate Professor in Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at Columbia University) is an expert in Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME), process modeling, and computational mechanics. She received her Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering as a collaboration between Politecnico di Torino in Italy and the University of Michigan. Her research interests include composite structures, damage mechanics, multi-scale analysis, higher-order finite elements, and additive manufacturing. Maiaru has received numerous grants from NASA, NSF, and the Air Force, including the AFOSR Young Investigator Program award in 2020 and the NSF CAREER award in 2022. She received the DEStech Young Researcher Award in 2021 and the AIAA ICME Prize in 2020 and 2022.

Upcoming Talks:

Tuesday, May 19: Elizabeth Barnes, Boston University

Tuesday, June 2: Shamina Shahrin Hossain-McKenzie, Sandia National Laboratories