Biaxial Machine

Tender description

MEECE at Swansea University seeks tenders for a Biaxial-Machine. The load regime experienced by wind, wave and tidal devices is often driven by fatigue loads. Therefore, there is significant scope for cost reduction through characterization of new materials for fatigue under correct operational conditions (e.g. subsea). Flexible elastomeric membrane structures are being utilized by wave energy developers. These membranes are under complex fatigue loads of varying biaxiality under submerged seawater conditions. Currently, these structures do not currently have UK based fatigue testing resources for testing under the expected loads encountered in subsea conditions. Therefore, it is proposed a small-scale biaxial fatigue machine be developed for testing under submerged conditions for elastomeric materials.