Paul Murdy is a mechanical engineer at NREL. He originally joined NREL in 2019 as a post-doctoral researcher focused on structural validation methods for wind turbine blades. Now as a research engineer, he is working to develop composite materials manufacturing and structural validation methods for a variety of renewable energy systems, primarily in marine renewable energy. This includes the development of novel materials and manufacturing processes for large composite structures to reduce costs and increase reliability and recyclability, as well as structural design, finite element analysis, techno-economic analysis, and structural health monitoring. More recently, he has been investigating the application of additive manufacturing materials and techniques to design and manufacturing processes for renewable energy structures.

Research Interests

Composite structures

Marine energy structures

Wind turbine blades

Structural validation method development

Additive manufacturing

Education

Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Montana State University

M.Eng., Mechanical Engineering, University of Sheffield

Featured Work

Subcomponent Validation of Composite Joints for the Marine Energy Advanced Materials Project, NREL Technical Report (2023)

Characterization and Repair of Core Gap Manufacturing Defects for Wind Turbine Blades, Journal of Sandwich Structures and Materials (2022)

Leveraging the Advantages of Additive Manufacturing to Produce Advanced Hybrid Composite Structures for Marine Energy Systems, Applied Sciences (2021)

Investigating Core Gaps and the Development of Subcomponent Validation Methods for Wind Turbine Blades, SciTech Wind Energy Symposium (2020)