Postdoctoral Research Associate (853844)
FTE:1 (35 Hours/Week)
Operational wind farms are experiencing excessive rates of main bearing (MB) failure, with bearing populations only
attaining around half of their design life and costing the wind industry over £100 million per wind farm per lifetime. The
MB is an operationally critical drivetrain component which enables transmission of wind energy to the generator, while
protecting downstream components. Our recent work on MB fatigue and wind field interactions identifies unbalanced
rotor loading (from wake impingement, gusts and other flow phenomena) as a key driver of MB lifetimes. Wind turbine
and wind farm control provide opportunities to mitigate or avoid these loads. Such mitigation of flow-phenomena induced
load impacts, including reducing the frequency of partial-wakes across wind farms, could significantly reduce MB failures
and greatly improve the levelised cost of energy (LCOE) for wind farms. The EPSRC funded Control for Main Bearing
Lifetime (CONFORMABLE) project will, therefore, characterise and quantify control impacts on MB lives in order to
develop novel wind turbine and wind farm controllers that extend MB lifetimes and reduce LCOE.
The advertised role is for a postdoctoral Research Associate position (until Nov 2029) within the CONFORMABLE team,
specialising in tribology, bearing modelling, lubrication and reliability. You would be a key contributor to the bearing
modelling and analysis work stream, while also being provided with a range of professional development and leadership
opportunities within the project. You will be embedded within the CONFORMABLE team, led by two senior academics.
Formal interviews for this post will be held on a date to be confirmed
Informal enquiries about the post can be directed to Edward Hart, (edward.hart@strath.ac.uk
Postdoctoral Research Associate (853844)
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