Dr.-Ing. Lutz Loh, a graduate and doctoral candidate at Mainz University of Applied Sciences, has been awarded the 1st prize of the Rheinhessen Chamber of Industry and Commerce for 2023 for his outstanding dissertation on the load-bearing capacities of wind turbine towers in segmental construction. Lutz Loh submitted his work, which was graded summa cum laude, for a cooperative doctorate at the University of Wuppertal. The award, which is endowed with a total of 5,000 Euro, is given for outstanding scientific work conducted at a university in the Rheinhessen region of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce and which can be expected to be directly or indirectly implemented in the industry. A total of three prizes were awarded to young researchers and one prize for the “best of the best” in the field of professional development. The awards ceremony was held on June 19, 2024 at the Rheinhessen Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Mainz.
“We are particularly pleased that this award recognizes the contribution to society of a thesis whose topic is of the utmost relevance to the expansion of renewable energies, where wind power as we know plays a decisive role. With his dissertation, Dr. Loh has achieved a major scientific advance in the field of calculations for concrete towers made of prefabricated segments, making an invaluable contribution to the energy transition in Germany and the expansion of wind energy worldwide,” said Prof. Dr. Susanne Weissman, President of Mainz University of Applied Sciences, at the award ceremony.
Focus on durability and stability
In his dissertation, the recipient of the award dealt with the structural analysis of segmented concrete towers for wind turbines. Wind turbine towers are usually built as hybrid towers, with the upper third of the tower consisting of steel tubes and the lower two thirds of precast reinforced concrete elements stacked on top of one another. Hybrid towers are the most cost-effective construction method for onshore hub heights of more than 100 meters and are the most commonly used towers in this area internationally. In practice, the segmented concrete towers are designed using a very simple but inconsistent calculation model due to a lack of alternatives, which provides reliable calculation results for gaping joints between segments but is unreliable for over-pressed segment joints. Existing damage to wind turbine towers in the area of the segment joints proves that the current calculation models are not sufficient in terms of the durability and, in some cases, the stability of wind turbine towers. In his work, Lutz Loh has developed a new model for calculating the torsional load-bearing capacity of dry segment joints, which enables a continuous calculation of the shear forces that can be absorbed for over-pressed and gaping joints.
New calculation model
“With his research work, Lutz Loh has made a significant contribution to the safe and sustainable construction of wind turbines,” says Prof. Dr.-Ing. Andreas Garg, who supervised the dissertation at Mainz University of Applied Sciences. “The calculation models for torsional behavior that have been used in practice to date provide unsatisfactory results that, in extreme cases, can lead to major damage to the segment towers. Using an outstanding scientific methodology, Lutz Loh has developed a completely new calculation model that eliminates the existing deficits in the design practice. This will enable a resource-saving and simultaneously safe design of wind turbines in practice in the future.”
Lutz Loh’s work is accompanied by an example of how the new calculation model can be used in practice. This means that the new findings can be expected to be implemented directly in the industry.
Dr. Lutz Loh successfully completed the bachelor's degree program in International Civil Engineering and the master's degree program in Construction in Existing Contexts at Mainz University of Applied Sciences from 2010 to 2016. He then worked as a research assistant at the Institute of Innovative Structures at Mainz University of Applied Sciences on research projects related to the construction of wind turbines. During this time, he wrote his doctoral thesis on the load-bearing capacity of wind towers in segmental construction, which he submitted to the University of Wuppertal in 2022 for a cooperative doctorate. Since summer 2022, Dr. Loh has been working for the renowned engineering firm Verheyen Ingenieure in Bad Kreuznach.