Dr. Chrisoph Ruffin – Bridon Bekaert
Presentation Title:
Wire Ropes and the transition to renewal energies
Presen Time: 11:20am
Studies in mechanical engineering finalized with a diploma and a PHD in material science. Topic of the PHD Thesis was “ Fatigue strength and microstructure of ultrafine grained C45”. Afterwards shift to the wire rope industry with different roles in R&D and project management. Actual position: technology lead for the Oil & Gas sector at Bekaert taking care about the portfolio and the product roadmap of the oil & gas / offshore sector.
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Steel wire ropes are integrated in most lifting applications as an element to convert rotational movements into a linear lifting operation. This principle does not change with the transition to renewable energy installations but there are considerable challenges for the ropes considering lifting capacity and lifetime. Scheduled maintenance is an important factor for the next generation of offshore installations and steel wire ropes must maintain their performance. In addition, advanced monitoring of ropes both internally and externally is important to ensure safety of operation but also to plan maintenance (relubrication), change out and to understand rope condition vs discard criteria.
Large offshore cranes (tub mounted, pedestal mounted, leg encircling, etc.) have been used for decades for offshore construction work such as commissioning and decommissioning platforms or for general constructional work. The author(s) will present differences between the traditional Oil & Gas rope applications and the rope challenges seen with renewable installations. Monopile installations are decisive for wind turbine installation and problems and solutions will be presented, with a focus on this particular installation type. Multilayer spooling has been highlighted as a decisive point of interest amongst users where sustaining rope lifetime becomes a key focus area. Such operations can often case significant internal & external damage on ropes and authors will also present how combination of digital vision and magnetic resonance testing (MRT) technologies can give a comprehensive internal and 360 degree external view of the rope to determine its condition in use.Additionally, the transition from shallow water installations to offshore floating installations will lead to huge demands for both steel and next generation fibre mooring ropes.