"
METU Center for Wind Energy - MetuWind" is being
established in the leadership of the Dept. of Aerospace
Engineering and is a collaborative effort of eight
METU departments including Aerospace, Mechanical,
Electrical-Electronics, Materials and Civil Engineering
as well as Department of Architecture, Department of
City and Regional Planning and Department of Business
Administration. This is a three-year multi-million dollar
project funded by the State Planning Agency of Turkey. The
center will be a part of the Renewable Energy, Eco-systems
and Sustainability Research Platform of METU. The center
will have test facilities and state-of-the-art measurement
equipment for wind energy related research.
Potential areas of research include unsteady rotor aerodynamics, integrated design of wind turbine systems, wind farm design and optimization, topographical analysis and micrositing, energy storage, power electronics and smart grid systems, innovative control techniques and adaptive control, smart structures, composites (thermoplastics), mechanics of composite materials, material characterization, damage mechanics, structural optimization, structural dynamics and aeroelasticity, innovative manufacturing techniques for composite blades, tower and foundation design, architectural integration.