Iowa State University engineers are testing concrete wind turbine towers that could be much taller than the steel variety, thus improving power production.

They applied 100,000 pounds of force with a motorized device every 1.25 seconds, and the test section’s panels moved a tenth of an inch.

Sri Sritharan, ISU’s Wilson Engineering professor in civil, construction and environmental engineering, said in a news release the tests found that the material stood up just fine. There was no damage after 200,000 tests.

“It’s fair to say these tests were a success,” Sritharan said. “I think we’ve made great progress in validating a new concept of using prefabricated concrete for taller wind turbine towers.”

The taller concrete sectional towers could reduce production costs in addition to getting turbine blades into better wind, the engineers found.

The work is backed by an 18-month, $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. Sritharan’s Iowa State research team also includes Julienne Krennrich, project manager and assistant director of the Engineering Research Institute; Shibin Lin, a postdoctoral research associate, and doctoral students Bin Cai and Robert Peggar. Read more