My name is Rui Teixeira, I'm 26 years old Portuguese guy that is currently working at Trinity College in Dublin. This blog that you're seeing was created with the expectation of having a spot where I can present my work, progress and to share my experiences in the following years.
As my first blog ever, I will try not to overdose you with complicated terms and heavy stuff and I'll do my best to bring you to the world of the Wind Turbines engineering.
Well, as you can easily deduce from my brief introduction and the title of the blog I am working on the Probabilistic Optimization of Offshore Wind Turbines Towers. Yes I know... It is a very "cool" theme, but for now, lets start with myself:
I was born in Madeira, a small island in the middle of the Atlantic. It is a very small island that, if you're used to the big mainland, it will for sure make you feel claustrophobic. The island is very beautiful and I completely recommend. Some friends here say that I came from the Jurassic Park due to the island's resemblance... (no, not because I look pre-historic... Well...sometimes...) Its also where Ronaldo the Portuguese player comes from...so, it's always an entertainment here with some Spanish colleagues...
I can tell it was long trip until I ended in Dublin. I left Madeira after high school to study Mechanical Engineering at Porto's University, and I lived there for 8 years between studies and work. I can tell it's a second home, and I'm proud that It's a very good one.
Six months ago, as many people have done these years, I just embraced this new challenge of coming to a completely different country. So far, and we know how hard it can be leaving our comfort, I can tell you that it has been a very positive experience and I'm glad I had this opportunity.
About what I like to do? I'm quite a normal person. I love music, going for a beer, hanging out with friends, football (Sport Lisbon Benfica is like a religion), sports, movies...no strange fetishes... don't worry. Ahh, and love laughing (who doesn't?).
My project, ESR4, named "Probabilistic Optimization of the Design of Offshore Wind Turbine Towers" is part of Marie Sklodowska - Curie ITN Project "TRUSS" funded by the European Union under the Horizon 2020. I'm based, as I said earlier, at the Trinity College Dublin, which is a really really amazing University. One of those where you can feel the pressure of the years of history and big names. Compulsory visit when in Dublin. My supervisor is Prof. Alan O'Connor, and my co-supervisor is Dr. Maria Nogal. With their support I hope that after 3 years of hard work, and I hope not much white hairs, my research results in a successful PhD thesis.
Now, what's this thing of Probabilistic Analysis?
Well, its a progressively more common practice on the engineering field that tries to account for the uncertainties inherent to any physical system (e.g variations in resistance; loads; environmental factors; etc...). You know, everywhere you can find uncertainty.
If you're crazy enough and into quantum mechanics, generally you can even say that yourself, you're just a statistical occurrence in time (quantum mechanics people will kill me for this one).
So, it's important to work on these uncertainties so that one working, on engineering, economy, medicine, politics, all the fields of knowledge, can have a clear overview of the risks associated with every activity.
In my specific case I am focusing my studies in the uncertainty when applied to extreme events that are located in the statistical regions of low occurrence (e.g. high wind velocities, high wave heights). These events can be quite dangerous for the operation of the turbines.
In the first months of activity I have been focused on reviewing the literature to understand better the problems that need to be tackled. Currently, I'm moving to the problem of extrapolating extreme environmental occurrences.
So, this finishes my first post, a very soft and brief overview of everything. It was long enough.
I expect to be "feeding" you with news about my work and further developments on this field. I will try to add some soft posts too whenever possible!
My habitat for the next seasons:
If you come to Trinity and need help with something I'm always around!
If you have any question, anything, feel free to ask me: rteixeir@tcd.ie.
