.

Studies By English And Spanish Researchers Have Looked At Bridges As A Possibility

There are a lot of big bridges in the world. Why not us them for more than one purpose.

Some of them in mountain areas where the wind blows up and down a valley or ones near the ocean where you get a lot of on shore and off shore breezes would be good locations.

The study is based on models and computer simulations, which were carried out by researcher Oscar Soto and his colleagues in Kingston University (London). Researchers have presented the wind turbines as porous discs in order to evaluate the air resistance and test different kinds of configurations.

“As natural, the more surface is swiped by the rotor, the more power can be produced; however, it was seen that in small turbines the power rate per square meter is higher”, explains Soto, who considers that the configurations with two identical turbines would be the most viable to be installed in viaducts.

If only produced power was evaluated, the best solutions would be the installation of two wind turbines with different sizes – in order to embrace the maximum available space-, or even a matrix of 24 small turbines – due to their power production per surface unit and low weight-, but concerning to viability, the best option is the one which includes two medium sized wind turbines.

Results confirm that each viaduct presents specific energy possibilities and wind potential. In the Juncal Viaduct case, the evaluated power would be about 0.25 MW per wind turbine. So, with two turbines, the total power output would be 0.5 MW, which is classified in the medium-power range.

“This would be the equivalent to 450-500 homes average consumption”, says Soto, who adds: “This kind of installation would avoid the emission of 140 tons of CO2 per year, an amount that represents the depuration effect of about 7.200 trees”.

More information can be found in the original article.

Image from the article and research paper

Energy efficient bridge design

.