Potentials - March/April 2017 - 21

has gained national and international
reputation from major research and
development projects such as the
VolturnUS 1:8, the first grid-connected
floating offshore wind turbine in the
United States and the first in the world
made out of concrete and composite
materials; the inflatable composite
arch bridge technology Bridge-in-aBackpack, now approved in the AASHTO (American Association of State
Highway and Transportation Officials)
Code; the Modular Ballistic Protection System, the first system approved
by the U.S. Army to protect troops in
tents from blast and ballistic threats;
the development of coated wood technology for blast- and hurricane-resistant wood buildings; and the longest
carbon-fiber composite vessel built for
the U.S. Navy.
The UMaine Composites Center
has worked with more than 500
clients worldwide, including 150
Maine-based companies. The center
has received top national awards for
its research including the Charles
Pankow Award for Innovation by the
American Society of Civil Engineers,
Engineering Excellence Awards by
the American Council of Engineering Companies, and the Most Creative Product Award by the American
Composites Manufacturers Association, among others.
Dr. Habib Dagher, the center's
founding director, is a renowned advocate for developing advanced structural systems that simultaneously
optimize structures, materials, and
construction. Dagher holds 28 U.S.
and international patents with eight
additional patents pending. He has
received numerous awards, including,

most recently, being named the 2015
White House Innovations in Transportation Champion of Change, as the
primary inventor of the of the composite arch bridge system technology.

This world-class ocean engineering facility will assist businesses in
developing products for the ocean
economy. These products include
improved boat and ship hulls; ocean

The Alfond W2 Ocean Engineering Lab is capable of
simulating 1,000+ year return period wind and wave
conditions, representing some of the worst storms
possible anywhere on earth at 1:50 scale.
In July 2016, Dagher was named one
of "50 Mainers Charting The State of
Maine's Future" by Maine Magazine.
The UMaine Composites Center is
the largest science, technology, engineering, and mathematics research
and development program located in a
Maine university, and it is at the heart
of one of UMaine's seven Signature
Areas of Excellence-Advanced Materials for Infrastructure and Energy.

alfond W2 ocean
Engineering lab
Over the past two years, the center
has undergone an expansion to its
11 integrated labs to include two
unique facilities: the US$13.8 million Harold Alfond W2 Ocean Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing Labs (Fig. 1).
The Alfond W2 Ocean Engineering
Lab is a unique facility equipped with
a high-performance rotatable wind
machine over a wave basin. The facility is capable of simulating 1,000+year return period wind and wave
conditions, representing some of the
worst storms possible anywhere on
earth at 1:50 scale.

energy devices such as wind, wave,
and tidal energy; aquaculture facilities; oil and gas structures; waterfront infrastructure such as bridges,
piers, docks and port facilities; and
systems to protect coastal cities
from the effects of erosion, sea-level
rise, and extreme storms. The lab
will work with companies around
the world to develop next-generation
ocean devices and structures.
The Alfond W2 Ocean Engineering Lab officially opened for business in November 2015. Since that
time, several clients have tested
products against 1:50-scale wind
and wave conditions.

Leading the nation
in floating offshore wind
The UMaine Composites Center has
led the development of the VolturnUS (Fig. 2), a deepwater floating
offshore wind turbine design that
utilizes a concrete semisubmersible
floating hull and a composite materials tower designed to reduce both
capital and operation and maintenance costs and to allow local manufacturing throughout the United States

Fig1 a panoramic view of the alfond W2 ocean engineering Lab at umaine.

IEEE PotEntIals

March/April 2017

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