Jamie Goggins

Ollscoil na Gaillimhe – University of Galway | NUI Galway · School of Engineering

Recently, tidal energy has gained attention as an attractive renewable source of power generation. In this context, tidal turbine foils must operate in harsh conditions and extremely variable dynamic loads. Considering the expensive dynamic tests required for these large structures, developing validated dynamic models could be valuable for failure...

The urgency of the transition towards sustainable living cannot be overstated. This article introduces a user-friendly tool to assist non-expert users in monitoring and managing their energy consumption and carbon footprint in dwellings. This tool benefits householders, facility managers, and policymakers, as it simplifies the complex energy monito...

The renewable energy sector is actively exploring opportunities for sustainable energy generation from global tidal and river resources. However, the challenges associated with the high initial investment, maintenance, life expectancy, transmission costs, and potential social and environmental impacts of tidal turbine systems have reduced stakeho...

Despite many studies examining different strategies to mitigate embodied carbon (EC) emissions during the design, construction, and use stages of buildings, no methodical approach can be followed to implement these strategies systematically. Thus, the current study tries to fill this gap by developing a procedure that combines, classifies, and prio...

Cities are at the forefront of the global climate crisis, facing increasing pressure to transition towards sustainable practices. Green Public Procurement (GPP) emerges as a promising tool for driving sustainable urban development, enabling public sector entities to integrate environmental considerations into their procurement decisions. However, t...

The renewable energy sector is strategically focused on mitigating risks associated with tidal energy converters to lower the cost of tidal energy to allow it to become a significant contributor to the renewable energy mix. In this study, dynamic testing was used to assess the structural performance of a next-generation helical crossflow tidal turb...

Significant inelastic deformations induced in structural systems lead to structures possibly possessing some degree of permanent lateral deformation following major seismic events. These permanent deformations have led to considerable research being conducted over the past 20 years into developing structural systems that exhibit self-centring behav...

This poster mainly highlights on the findings of a survey conducted among 39 green public procurement (GPP) experts based in Ireland and European countries. The surveyed individuals play a crucial role in putting GPP into action, encompassing decision-makers, procurement officers, and team members actively engaged in procurement practices. By gathe...

This Poster highlights the significant impact of Green Public Procurement (GPP) on the deployment of wind energy in Ireland. It highlighted the significant role public procurement plays in accelerating wind energy adoption. By choosing GPP-compliant suppliers and practices, public authorities can directly influence the sustainability and efficiency...

As drone technology grows in popularity, its application to automate aspects of society is increasing at a similar rate, where drones are now being trialled for delivering payloads over short distances. In order to progress the technology, 3D composite printing is being used to develop complicated parts for improved aerodynamic design that can be p...

Our current reliance on fossil fuels is the primary contributor to global warming and threatens our survival. Renewable energy is currently considered the leading solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Energy extraction from the ocean tides (tidal turbines) can help fulfill the global renewable energy demand and combat world climate crises. I...

As the world shifts its reliance from fossil fuels to renewable energy, a reliable, predictable and dependable source of energy is vital; tidal energy provides such a solution. In 2021, the cumulative installed capacity of tidal stream energy in Europe, since 2010, reached 30.2 MW, which is roughly three times as much as the rest of the world. The...

Tidal energy, a clean, predictable and reliable renewable energy source, can play an important role in creating a carbon-free energy system in Europe. The cumulative tidal stream technology deployed in Europe was 27.9 MW in 2020, which contributes to 77% of the global total tidal energy device installations. Under a high growth scenario, about 2388...

Horizontal axis tidal turbines are similar to wind turbines in both geometry and principle of operation, yet they need to withstand much heavier loadings and extreme conditions in a harsh operating environment. Consequently, the loadings on tidal turbine blades need to be accurately evaluated within the design stage to ensure they can withstand loa...

As tidal energy nears commercial viability, the reliability and safety of a tidal energy device becomes more prevalent. A key aspect for determining their reliability and safety, along with reducing risk during operational deployment, is the structural integrity of tidal turbine blades. Therefore, a validated model for predicting the structural int...

Education for sustainable development (ESD) is a growing research field, particularly over the last decade. Measuring the level of ESD that is currently embedded in curricula is useful for planning the further implementation of sustainability-related teaching. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a useful benchmark for sustainability topics...

Over the last two decades, the tidal energy industry has laid the groundwork for creating commercially viable tidal power generation projects to strengthen sustainable energy policies around the world. At the end of 2021, the cumulative installation of tidal stream technology that has been deployed in Europe reached 30.2 MW, where the majority of t...

Residual strength models are widely used to predict the fatigue life of composite laminates under highly variable loads. However, they often require considerable experimental effort to accurately determine model parameters. This paper introduces a new approach for predicting the residual strength of composite materials with less experimental data....

Our current reliance on fossil fuels is the primary contributor to global warming and threatens our survival. Renewable energy is currently considered the leading solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Energy extraction from the ocean tides (tidal turbines) can help fulfill the global renewable energy demand and combat world climate crises. I...

Space constraints in urban areas can make it difficult to utilise renewable energy resources, like solar energy systems. However, this limitation can be overcome by utilising building façades to produce energy. Up to 40% of the global energy demand is due to the energy consumed by buildings, which also account for 33% of the global greenhouse gas (...

This paper presents a structural performance study of a fibre-reinforced composite blade for a 1 MW tidal turbine rotor blade that was designed for a floating tidal turbine device. The 8-m long blade was manufactured by ÉireComposites Teo and its structural performance was experimentally evaluated under mechanical loading in the Large Structures Re...

Currently, wind energy, a reliable, affordable, and clean energy source, contributes to 16% of Europe’s electricity. A typical modern wind turbine design lifespan is 20 years. In European Union countries, the number of wind turbines reaching 20 years or older will become significant beyond 2025. This research study presents a methodology aiming to...

Renewable energy is now accepted as the preferred alternative for electricity generation and as the replacement for fossil fuels. In recent years, tidal energy has shown promise as it is a more reliable source of renewable energy, compared to wind and solar, and 12 GWh of electricity from tidal energy was generated in 2020. As tidal technologies mo...

Education for sustainable development is a growing research field, particularly over the last decade. This paper expands on previous research titled "Embedment of the SDGs in engineering degree programs", in which a keyword scanning tool was created to quantify the level of SDG coverage within a list of learning outcomes. The methodology in this pa...

Many universities have not yet measured their carbon footprints. With Ireland’s Government’s increasing climate ambition under the newly constructed carbon budgets, all sectors of the Irish economy will soon be required to report on and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Scope 3 is the most neglected area of emissions measurement, even though on aver...

This paper offers a culturally sensitive analysis of measures to improve the energy performance of households. Comparing and combining insights from two recent sustainable energy initiatives in Ireland, we show how integrated approaches that work with participants’ everyday practices and their links with people and place can yield substantial and s...

This paper presents the positive experience of facilitating over 300 community-engaged engineering projects at an Irish higher-education institution. The projects are framed by a research orientation, a commitment to civic engagement, and building university–community partnerships, city–university partnerships, and partnerships with other official...

Identifying occupants' heating behaviour in residences is important to understand how occupants drive heating energy demand and how heating demand varies across homes. Hence, several direct (e.g., heating appliance or heating energy use monitoring) and indirect (e.g., indoor environmental quality monitoring) approaches have been deployed to study a...

Tidal energy has seen a surge of interest in recent years with several companies developing technology to harness the power of the world’s oceans where the operational capacity in Europe was over 11 MW in 2020. One such developer is the partnership of SCHOTTEL Hydro (Germany) and Sustainable Marine (UK) who have developed a scalable multi-turbine d...

S-N curves are used in the design of composite structures to estimate their fatigue behaviour. In this work, an empirical fatigue model has been developed based on one first proposed by Sendeckyj. To reduce the complexity of the nonlinear optimization in the Sendeckyj wearout model, a new constraint is derived based on the material S-N fatigue curv...

Quantifying the wider benefits of energy efficient building retrofits is crucial to incentivise householder retrofit investments. This research recognises the value of key performance indicators (KPIs) for assessing and demonstrating retrofitting benefits and provides an assessment of KPIs for evaluating retrofits. An integrated framework for evalu...

The EU H2020 MaRINET2 project aims to improve the quality, robustness and accuracy of physical modelling and testing practices implemented by test infrastructures. A key element of the project is a round robin testing program where generic wave, floating wind, and tidal devices are tested in different infrastructures in order to assess the impact t...

The self-centring system presented in this paper is a novel damage control technique designed to improve the resilience of concentrically braced frames (CBF) under seismic action. Namely, traditional CBFs can undergo large residual drifts following an earthquake event which can limit the opportunity for cost-effective repair of the structure. Addit...

Renewable energy is now viewed as being the preferred alternative to electricity generation from fossil fuels. In recent years, tidal energy has shown promise as it is a more reliable source of renewable energy, compared to wind and solar, where 15 GWh of electricity from tidal energy was generated in 2019. As tidal technologies move closer to comm...

Created by the gravitational pull of the moon and sun, the ocean current can be predicted with complete accuracy. Tidal turbines convert the power in ocean currents to energy, by reducing the flow velocity, making this a predictable and reliable resource. A key component of the tidal turbine is the blades, where their quality in manufacturing has a...

Over the past 30 years, wind energy has been established as one of the leading forms of renewable energy. As the industry grows so too does the size of the wind turbines themselves – large wind turbines can now generate up to 15 MW. However, with larger turbines comes additional structural challenges to overcome, where one such challenge is erosion...

This paper presents a study of the structural response of a rotor blade that was designed for a 1 MW floating tidal turbine device. The 8 m long blade was manufactured by ÉireComposites Teo and its structural performance was experimentally evaluated under mechanical loading in the Large Structures Research Laboratory at National University of Irela...

As the world shifts to using renewable sources of energy, wind energy has been established as one of the leading forms of renewable energy. As the requirement for wind energy increases, so too does the size of the turbines themselves, where the latest turbines are 10 MW with a turbine diameter in excess of 190 m. The design and manufacture of the b...

Lattice structures offer enhanced stiffness-to-weight characteristics for structures in highly mass sensitive applications like aviation and aerospace. The adaptability of composite materials allows for further optimisation of the structural layout of the lattice to reduce mass for primary aerospace structures. The attachment point on the lattice i...

Conventional concentrically braced frames (CBFs) undergo many cycles of inelastic deformation during seismic excitation. This inelastic deformation leads to the possibility that a structure will remain in an out-of-plumb position, even if it has performed as required by current design codes. This paper presents an improved steel braced framing syst...

In recent years, great emphasis has been seen to reduce the environmental footprint of the activities in our daily lives. Food is essential for all life, and its production may have a significant environmental impact if it is not properly monitored. In this chapter the environmental impact associated with the production of dairy products, along wit...

As the world strives to remove its reliance on fossil fuels, wave energy presents a reliable source of renewable energy with a very high potential. Numerical simulations offer an inexpensive alternative, in comparison to physical modelling, for the development of wave energy converters. In this paper, a computational fluid dynamics model of the CEC...

As the world shifts to using renewable sources of energy, wind energy has been established as one of the leading forms of renewable energy. However, as wind turbines get increasingly larger, new challenges within the design, manufacture and operation of the turbine are presented. One such challenge is leading edge erosion on wind turbine blades. Wi...

There is strong evidence both internationally and in Ireland that the correct installation of passive prevention systems in new buildings is the most cost-effective way of protecting the population against radon. Previous work considering membranes, granular fill material in the aggregate layer beneath the slab and sump system has been conducted in...

Seismic design codes seek to limit structural displacements in order to minimise damage, but no explicit consideration is usually given to the state of the structure after the earthquake, which can be critical for re-occupancy, monetary losses and the rapidity of repair. In this paper, shake table testing of single-storey self-centring concentrical...

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), agreed by the United Nations in 2015, are receiving significant attention in engineering policy and practice. However, it is unclear whether current and future engineering graduates will be equipped to contribute significantly to the achievement of these goals and deliver sustainable engineering solutions....

In recent years, there has been a shift in seismic design from moment-resisting frames to concentrically braced frames (CBFs) due to their simpler construction and cheaper costs. CBFs resist the actions created in seismic events through energy dissipation in the form of plastic deformations in braces. This paper analyses the performance of a novel...

The Large Structures Research Group of MaREI, Orbital Marine Power Ltd and ÉireComposites Teo. have designed a full-scale blade for a next-generation 2 MW tidal turbine as part of the H2020 FloTEC project. The 8.5 m long blade will be tested under static load conditions through the H2020 MaRINET2 transnational access programme and fatigue condition...

This study carried out a series of large-scale experimental tests and numerical simulations to investigate the performance of a passive opened top-end pipe as an alternative solution for passive soil depressurisation systems for indoor radon mitigation. Measurements were conducted in terms of wind velocity, extracted air velocity and negative press...

http://www.epa.ie/pubs/reports/research/health/research332.html

The construction industry is a large contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. Recently, the industry has begun to consider sustainability alongside technical merit, cost and programme when analysing construction options. In many projects, a significant proportion of emissions arise from ground improvement requirements to support infrastructu...

As the world moves to a greater reliance on renewable energy, a vital component will be the predictability and dependability of the energy source; tidal energy provides such a solution. Horizontal axis tidal turbines are the most mature technology of all the marine renewable energy devices currently under development, as full-scale porotypes are al...

The construction industry is a large contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. Recently, the industry has begun to consider sustainability alongside technical merit, cost and programme when analysing construction options. In many projects, a significant proportion of emissions arise from ground improvement requirements to support infrastructu...

Radon is a radioactive gas originating from uranium, present in all rocks and soils in the Earth's Crust; emanating from the ground, radon can be released into the atmosphere. It is the greatest source of natural radioactivity exposure for the population and, as declared by the World Health Organization (WHO), the leading cause of lung cancer only...

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Abstract. As the world shifts to using renewable sources of energy, wind energy has been established as one of the leading forms of renewable energy. However, as wind turbines get increasingly larger, new challenges within the design, manufacture and operation of the turbine are presented. One such challenge is leading edge erosion on wind turbine...

1.9 million housing units in Ireland are required to be retrofitted for the existing Irish national housing stock to be considered nearly zero energy building (nZEB). This paper assesses optimum retrofit packages aimed at improving the building material thermal efficiencies and energy demand of gas-heated semi-detached and end-terraced houses in Ir...

This article assesses the impact of the energy recovery from the digestate on the economics of biomethane produced from the organic fraction of municipal solid waste. Six waste-to-energy routes are investigated and assumed to be deployed in the regional context of the Republic of Ireland. Anaerobic digestion without energy recovery, and landspreadi...

This article provides a novel designing tool that integrates life cycle and techno-economic analysis in a spatially-explicit optimisation model for the supply chain for biomass-derived synthetic natural gas production from forestry residues, identifying the configurations, including number of plants, locations, sizes, that minimise the environmenta...

Government- and community-initiated energy retrofits of existing residential buildings abound across Europe. This paper argues that retrofitting initiatives need to extend their current emphasis on technical-material changes to include an equally strong focus on researching and potentially changing the energy-related expectations, aspirations and a...

Tidal turbine applications will place composite materials such as glass-fibre-reinforced polymers (GFRPs) and carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers under surprisingly high pressure due to the significant water depths they operate in (to depths of 50 m). The technical reliability of tidal turbines must be guaranteed despite the high dynamic loads resulti...

There is a dearth of data and evidence in the literature to assist the industry in determining the most appropriate strategies for large-scale deep retrofitting of non-domestic buildings to achieve healthy low-energy buildings. Support to decision-making and enabling deep retrofit of these buildings requires approaches such as long-term renovation...

The Large Structures Research Group of MaREI, Orbital Marine Power Ltd and ÉireComposites Teo. have designed a full-scale blade for a next-generation 2 MW tidal turbine as part of the H2020 FloTEC project. The 8.5 m long blade will be tested under static load conditions through the H2020 MaRINET2 transnational access programme and fatigue condition...

This paper focuses on the structural design and optimisation of a 1 MW tidal turbine blade, with the goal of reducing the blade design and manufacturing costs. The blade model optimisation was conducted using an in-house software BladeComp, developed in the Large Structures Research Group at NUI Galway. The blade design and modelling cover a range...