Structural, Material, and Wind Blade TestingHome

Structural, Material, & Wind Blade Testing

The UMaine Composites Center is an ISO 17025 accredited laboratory with more than 20 years of testing experience meeting industry standards from coupon-scale to full-scale, including wind blade testing to IEC 61400-23.

John Arimond
John Arimond

Business Development Manager

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Russell Edgar, M.S.
Russell Edgar, M.S.

Wood Composites Manager

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John Arimond
John Arimond

Business Development Manager

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Contact Structural, Material, and Wind Blade Testing

  • General Information

    Thank you for contacting the Structural, Material, and Wind Blade Testing team at the Advanced Structures & Composites Center. We look forward to working with you!

Research Overview

In 2011 the Advanced Structures & Composites Center finished construction of the Offshore Wind Lab (OWL), a state-of-the-art facility to test the static and fatigue properties of wind blades, adding to the Center’s long resume of structural and material testing capabilities. The 8100 m2 OWL employs more than 260 people with expertise in large-scale and coupon-level instrumentation and testing; composites manufacturing and analysis; finite element analysis; and other modeling techniques. 

The UMaine Composites Center is an ISO 17025 accredited laboratory and can test wind blades to IEC 61400-23 standards. The OWL includes fully equipped, integrated laboratories to develop and test durable, lightweight, corrosion-resistant material solutions for the emerging offshore wind industry and in the fields of structural and material testing and research.

Structural Testing

The UMaine Composites Center is an ISO 17025 accredited testing laboratory with nearly 20 years of testing experience meeting industry standards from coupon-scale to full-scale. Our dedication to industry responsiveness and fast turnaround has led to more than 500 product development and testing projects over the past five years.

Our facility includes fully equipped, integrated laboratories to develop and test durable, lightweight, corrosion-resistant material solutions for a wide variety of industries. These include, but are not limited to:

– Offshore wind energy
– Civil infrastructure
– Electrical utilities

The Center offers expertise in large-scale and coupon-level instrumentation and testing, composites manufacturing and analysis, and finite element analysis.

Material Property Testing

Material Testing Capabilities

Work with our world-class material testing team and facilities.

  • ASTM D256 Determining the Izod Pendulum Impact Resistance of Plastics
  • ASTM D635 Rate of Burning and/or Extent and Time of Burning of Plastics in a Horizontal Position
  • ASTM D638 Tensile Properties of Plastics
  • ASTM D695 Compressive Properties of Rigid Plastics
  • ASTM D696 Coefficient of Linear Thermal Expansion of Plastics Between -30 °C and 30 °C with a Vitreous Silica
  • Dilatometer
  • ASTM D790 Flexural Properties of Unreinforced and Reinforced Plastics and Electrical Insulating Materials
  • ASTM D792 Density and Specific Gravity (Relative Density) of Plastics by Displacement
  • ASTM D953 Bearing Strength of Plastics
  • ASTM D2765 Standard Test Methods for Determination of Gel Content and Swell Ratio of Crosslinked Ethylene Plastics
  • (Methods A and C)
  • ASTM D3846 In-plane Shear Strength of Reinforced Plastics
  • ASTM D4065 Standard Practice for Plastics: Dynamic Mechanical Properties: Determination and Report of Procedures
  • ASTM D4812 Unnotched Cantilever Beam Impact Strength of Plastics
  • ASTM D6109 Flexural Properties of Unreinforced and Reinforced Plastic Lumber
  • ASTM D6110 Determining the Charpy Impact Resistance of Notched Specimens of Plastics
  • ASTM C393 Flexural Properties of Sandwich Constructions
  • ASTM D2344 Short-beam Strength of Polymer Matrix Composite Materials and Their Laminates
  • ASTM D2584 Ignition Loss of Cured Reinforced Resins
  • ASTM D3039 Tensile Properties of Polymer Matrix Composite Materials
  • ASTM D3410 Compressive Properties of Polymer Matrix Composite Materials with Unsupported Gage Section by
  • Shear Loading
  • ASTM D3479 Tension-Tension Fatigue of Polymer Matrix Composite Materials
  • ASTM D3518 In-plane Shear Response of Polymer Matrix Composite Materials by Tensile Test of a ± 45o Laminate
  • ASTM D4255 Standard Guide for Testing In-plane Shear Properties of Composite Laminates
  • ASTM D5379 Shear Properties of Composite Materials by the V-Notched Beam Method
  • ASTM D5528 Mode I Interlaminar Fracture Toughness of Unidirectional Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Matrix Composites
  • ASTM D5766 Open Hole Tensile Strength of Polymer Matrix Composite Laminates
  • ASTM D6115 Mode I Fatigue Delamination Growth Onset of Unidirectional Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Matrix Composites
  • ASTM D6641 Compressive Properties of Composite Laminates Using a Combined Loading Compression (CLC) Fixture
  • ASTM F1679 Using a Variable Incidence Tribometer (VIT)
  • ASTM D905 Strength Properties of Adhesive Bonds in Shear by Compression Loading
  • ASTM D1101 Integrity of Adhesive Joints in Structural Laminated Wood Products for Exterior Use
  • ASTM D2339 Strength Properties of Adhesives in Two-Ply Wood Construction in Shear by Tension Loading
  • ASTM D2559 Standard Specification for Adhesives for Structural Laminated Wood Products for Use Under Exterior (Wet Use) Exposure Conditions
  • ASTM D3165 Strength Properties of Adhesives in Shear by Tension Loading of Single-Lap-Joint Laminated Assemblies

Material Coupon Testing Equipment

Servohydraulic tension-compression test frames

  • 1 x 500 kN capacity
  • 3 x 100 kN capacity
  • 1 x 25 kN capacity

Servohydraulic axial/torsional test frames

  • 1 x 100 kN / 1100 N·m capacity
  • 1 x 25 kN / 100 N·m capacity
  • Drop weight impact testing machine, 1.5-1250 J

Non-Destructive Testing

  • Phased-array ultrasonic inspection
  • Acoustic emission testing
  • Embedded fiber optic strain sensing

Microscopy

  • Optical microscopy
  • Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
  • Environmental SEM
  • Transmission electron microscopy (TEM)
  • Atomic force microscopy (AFM)
  • Microtomography
  • Laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM)

Wind Blade Testing

Design, Fabricate and Test Under One Roof

  • Offshore Wind Lab with 605 sq m strong floor
  • Structural Testing Lab with 240 sq m strong floor
  • Kenway Composite Materials Lab 125 sq m, environmentally controlled
  • Mechanical Testing Lab 110 sq m, environmentally controlled
  • Polymer Characterization Lab 230 sq m
  • 605 m2 strong floor 
  • Blade lengths up to 70 m 
  • Reaction wall static capacity > 30,000 kN·m 
  • Reaction wall fatigue capacity > 20,000 kN·m 
  • MTS FlexDAC and AeroPro testing systems 
  • Six winch frames with 130 kN static capacity 
  • Servohydraulic actuators to 2000 kN capacity 
  • MTS inertial resonance excitation systems 
  • Complete fixturing and instrumentation services
  • Prepreg, tape, and fiber lay-up 
  • Vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding 
  • SCRIMP
  • Extrusion and filament winding 
  • Injection and compression molding 
  • Property enhancement using nanomaterials 
  • Low-logistics concrete formwork 
  • Hybrid concrete / composite structures
  • Computer-aided design in SolidWorks or AutoCAD
  • Finite element analysis in ANSYS or ABAQUS
  • Nonlinear material modeling including impact and fatigue
  • Multiphysics simulation in LS-DYNA
  • Aeroelastic wind turbine analysis in FAST
  • Hydrostatic design and damage stability analysis in GHS
  • Hydrodynamic analysis in Multisurf, WAMIT, and Aqwa
  • Coupled analyses, floating offshore wind focus

IEC 61400-23 Proof Testing

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