The afternoon sessions of the Digital Twinning Workshop will consist of two breakout sessions, with two track options during each session. The schedule, moderators, and descriptions of breakout sessions are found below.
| 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM | Track 1: Drivetrains and Blades: Trends and Peculiarities | Track 2: Wake Interaction Modeling and Validation |
| 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM | Track 1: Multiphysics Turbine Modeling | Track 2: Foundation Design |
Drivetrains and Blades: Trends and Peculiarities
Moderator: Sauro Liberatore (Tufts University)
Description: The drivetrain components of wind turbines operate in demanding mechanical environments, and their failure represents a significant contributor to maintenance costs. Preventive maintenance and strategies aimed at minimizing downtime are widely regarded as the most effective solutions for reducing these expenses. Meanwhile, the wind industry’s reluctance to instrument turbine blades is becoming increasingly unsustainable given the current size and projected future trends of wind turbine blade size. Implementing practical hardware updates, enhanced instrumentation, and advanced system modeling are considered essential best practices for mitigating maintenance costs. Tufts University is at the forefront of addressing these critical challenges through pioneering research programs. This workshop is seen as a platform for dialogue among industry leaders and researchers, fostering discussions on shared challenges, successes, and setbacks, with the goal of establishing a collective path forward.
Wake Interaction Modeling and Validation
Moderator: Eleonora M. Tronci (Northeastern University)
Description: As offshore wind farms scale up, understanding and accurately modeling wake interactions is more critical than ever for optimizing performance and reducing uncertainty in digital twin applications. This session will examine recent advances in wake modeling, ongoing challenges in data collection and validation, and the integration of metocean data to improve model fidelity. Speakers will share insights on novel modeling approaches, data needs, and strategies for closing the gap between simulations and real-world observations. The session aims to foster collaboration between researchers and practitioners by highlighting shared challenges, showcasing emerging solutions, and identifying priorities for future research and field validation efforts.
Multiphysics Turbine Modeling
Moderator: Rad Haghi (Tufts Univeristy)
Description: This session explores the integration of the diverse physical phenomena that a wind turbine faces. Multiphysics modeling connects aeroelasticity, structural dynamics, fluid mechanics, and control systems into a valuable foundation for digital twins of offshore wind turbines. Participants will discuss methods for effectively coupling physics-based models, addressing key challenges in model fidelity, computational efficiency, and validation against real-world operational data. The session will focus on recent developments in multiphysics modeling to improve turbine performance prediction and reliability.
Foundation Design
Moderators: Aaron Bradshaw (University of Rhode Island)
Speakers: Federico Pisanò (NGI), Zack Westgate (UMass)
Description: The foundation system is integral part of any fixed-bottom offshore wind turbine structure. This breakout session provides an overview of the key geotechnical engineering aspects that must be considered in either the design of offshore wind structures or in the development of digital twins. Three short presentations will be given by industry and academic experts that will provide an overview of site investigations, including the integration of explorations and geophysics, as well as geotechnical modeling. The application of these aspects will be demonstrated through two case studies involving digital twinning of structures from the Block Island Wind Farm (BIWF) and the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind farm (CVOW).