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Innovation in materials and test protocols, as well as physical and numerical investigations, is required to address the technical challenges arising due to the novel application of components from conventional industries to the marine renewable energy (MRE) industry. Synthetic fibre ropes, widely used for offshore station-keeping, have potential application in the MRE industry to reduce peak mooring line loads. This paper presents the results of a physical characterisation study of a novel hybrid polyester-polyolefin rope for MRE mooring applications through a round robin testing (RRT) approach at two test facilities. The RRT was performed using standard guidelines for offshore mooring lines and the results are verified through the numerical modelling of the rope tensile behaviour. The physical testing provides quantifiable margins for the strength and stiffness properties of the hybrid rope, increases confidence in the test protocols and assesses facility-specific influences on test outcomes. The results indicate that the adopted guidance is suitable for rope testing in mooring applications and there is good agreement between stiffness characterisation at both facilities. Additionally, the numerical model provides a satisfactory prediction of the rope tensile behaviour and it can be used for further parametric studies.

Round Robin Testing (RRT) is a well-known method for assessing the reproducibility of a test or verification of a new test procedure of almost any kind. In the EU funded network COST Action TU1404 ‘‘Towards the next generation of standards for service life of cement-based materials and structures”, an Extended Round Robin Testing program (RRT+ ) was planned as a fundamental tool to obtain input data for a range of concrete properties and validate non-standardised testing techniques. In this paper, detailed information on the planning, conduction and analysis of Phase 1 of the RRT+ is presented. The aim of Phase 1 was to define and confirm the best practice for creating a comparable reference concrete mix for RRT programmes. With a total of 45 laboratories from Europe, Japan and Canada, RRT+ was one of the most extensive round robin testing programmes targeting cement-based materials., The authors also acknowledge the financial support of EDF, France; CEVA Logistics, Austria and Germany; OeBB Infra, Austria; Staten Vegvesen, Norway and Schleibinger Gerate, Germany. The support of the research network COST TU1404 (COST Association) is also gratefully acknowledged.

Durability tests of reflector materials for concentrating solar applications are crucial to guarantee the profitability of the plants and to ensure a proper efficiency during their lifetime. A standard including a set of five accelerated aging tests is close to be published by the Spanish standardization entity AENOR, within the sub-committee AEN/CTN 206/SC117. Under the framework of the STAGE-STE project, a Round Robin Test was organized by six partners to evaluate the comparability of results obtained in their respective laboratories after performing these durability tests. According to the results, in general a good agreement among the partners was found, with negligible to slight reflectance losses. In addition, it was noticed that the reference standard used in the reflectance measurements is of high importance. The conclusions of this work will help to improve the standard in future versions. The research leading to this work has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° 609837 (STAGE-STE). The authors would like to thank the participants of the working group for solar reflectors of WG 2 of the Spanish sub-committee AEN/CTN 206/SC 117.

This study presents a methodology for collaboratively designing laboratory experiments and developing key performance indicators for the testing and validation of novel power system control architectures in multiple laboratory environments. The contribution makes use of the smart grid architecture model as it facilitates the integration of individually developed control functions into a consolidated solution for laboratory validation and testing. The experimental results obtained across multiple laboratories can be efficiently compared, when the proposed methodology is adopted and thus the study offers means of support for improved cooperation in smart grid validation and round robin testing. The work in this paper has been supported by the European Commission under the FP7 ELECTRA IRP (grant no: 609687).

Despite the extensive research that has been conducted on the debonding behaviour of FRP strengthening systems, no standard methodology has been yet established on its experimental characterization. In this context, to assess the performance and reliability of small scale testing on NSM (near surface mounted) FRP strengthening systems, an experimental program was carried out on a series of nine NSM FRP strengthening systems, in the framework of an international Round Robin Testing (RRT). Eleven laboratories and seven manufacturers and suppliers participated in this extensive international exercise, which regarded both NSM and EBR FRP strengthening systems. Test results obtained for the NSM systems by the participating laboratories are discussed and compared in this paper to investigate the feasibility of the adopted single/double pulling shear test method, to investigate the mechanism of bond between NSM FRP reinforcement and concrete, and to investigate the level of variability obtained between the participating laboratories testing the same material batches. It is concluded that the tested variants in the adopted single/double shear pulling test have a significant influence, stressing the importance of the level of detail of standardized test protocols for bond verification. On overall, given the variants included in this study, the obtained variation in bond stress-slip behaviour between the laboratories remained fairly limited., The authors wish to acknowledge the financial assistance of the European Union for the Marie Curie Research Training Network En-Core, and the support of TG 9.3 of the International Federation for Structural Concrete (fib). Hughes Brothers and Fortius, Magmatech, Schock, S&P, Sika, ATP, and Sto Scandinavia AB are acknowledged for their participation in the RRT and for supplying the test materials.

Although an extensive amount of research into the debonding behaviour of FRP strengthening systems has been conducted in literature, no standard methodology has been yet established that represent the actual behaviour. To asses the performance and reliability of small scale testing on NSM (near surface mounted) FRP strengthening systems an experimental program, in the framework of an international Round Robin Testing (RRT) has been carried out on a series of 9 NSM FRP strengthening systems. Eleven laboratories and seven manufacturers and suppliers participated in this extensive international exercise, which was initiated within the framework of the European funded Marie Curie Research Training Network, EN-CORE, with the support of Task Group 9.3 of the International Federation for Structural Concrete (fib). Test results obtained by the participating laboratories are discussed and compared in this paper., (undefined)