Researchers from the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Faculty of Architecture at Gdansk University of Technology are developing a system to manage decommissioned wind turbine blades for re-use in construction and architecture. The blades are overwhelmingly made of polymer composite material.
They are mainly sandwich structures consisting of glass and carbon fabrics and resin. Thanks to their high fibre content, they have a very high strength-to-weight ratio and excellent load-bearing capacity and durability, which at the same time makes them difficult to dispose of, reports the university.
Playground equipment, bicycle sheds, aggregate for construction – among other things, this is how worn-out wind turbine blades can be recycled. Researchers from the interdepartmental research team at the Gdansk university hope that the solutions they have developed will not only help protect the environment, but also increase the availability of building materials.
