Robynne Murray is a research engineer at NREL working to develop and validate advanced composite manufacturing processes and novel materials to reduce the cost and increase reliability of wind and water current turbines. This includes hands-on composite manufacturing research in the Composites Manufacturing Education and Technology Facility at the NREL Flatirons Campus, as well as blade design, structural characterization, techno-economic modeling and design code development for composite components.

Her background includes structural and hydrodynamic blade design, as well as experimental research validation in both structural and hydrodynamic testing facilities. She received her Ph.D. from Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and in 2016 became part of the prestigious Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Research Interests

Composite blade materials

Structural characterization

Manufacturing

Turbine testing and loads measurements

Design tool development

Education

Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering from Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Featured Work

Validation of a lightning protection system for a fusion-welded thermoplastic composite wind turbine blade tip, Wind Engineering (2021)

Structural validation of a thermoplastic composite wind turbine blade with comparison to a thermoset composite blade, Renewable Energy (2020)

Recycling glass fiber thermoplastic composites from wind turbine blades, Journal of Cleaner Production (2019)

Added-Mass Effects on a Horizontal-Axis Tidal Turbine Using FAST v8, Renewable Energy (2018)

Techno-Economic Analysis of a Megawatt-Scale Thermoplastic Resin Wind Turbine Blade, Renewable Energy (2018)

Towing Tank Testing of Passively Adaptive Composite Tidal Turbine Blades and Comparison to Design Tool, Renewable Energy (2018)

Predicting Cavitation on Marine and Hydrokinetic Turbine Blades with AeroDyn V15.04, NREL Technical Report (2017)

Patents

Bioderived Recyclable Epoxy-Anhydride Thermosetting Polymers and Resins, U.S. Patent Application No. 17/494514 (2021)

Awards and Honors

R&D 100 Special Recognition Award: Market Disruptor, Services (Bronze Level)–Closing the Loop: Manufacturing Recyclable Wind Turbine Blades with the Thermoplastic Resin System, Robynne Murray and Derek Berry, R&D World (2020)