From blades to tracks: a case study in structural reuse
of curved surfaces for circular design

ACM Symposium on Computational Fabrication (SCF) '
Jesse Pupping*
Marzia Riso*
Mariana Popescu
Adrien Bousseau
Jelle Joustra
Teaser image
Our prototype pumptrack module (seen on the left hand-side of the picture) being tested by a BMX rider. Our module is made of two panels extracted from a decommissioned wind turbine blade, and matches the curvature of standard modules (seen on the right hand-side). Picture by ©Patrick Wetzels, TU Delft.

Abstract

We explore the fabrication of curved surfaces by reusing panels extracted from decommissioned wind turbine blades, using cycling pumptracks as a case study. We first present real-world prototypes of pumptrack modules that we manufactured to evaluate the practicality of this reuse scenario and to define the boundary conditions for harvesting blade panels and assembling a track. We then propose an algorithm to optimize the segmentation of a wind turbine blade into quadrilateral panels whose sides fall within a small set of compatible boundaries. These panels form a library of modules that designers can connect side by side to create pumptracks of various lengths and curvatures. Together, these contributions provide a proof-of-concept of how computer-aided design and manufacturing can support circular design through the reuse of curved surfaces.

Results

Results
Taking 6 blade segments as input (a), our algorithm extracts 36 modules and identify 6 groups of compatible boundaries (b, only a subset of modules and compatibility groups shown). The modules exhibit diverse curvature, twist, and angle between their two extremities, allowing to create tracks with corners (c, top) and rollers (c, bottom).

Video

Citation

@InProceedings{PRPBJ25, author = "Pupping, Jesse and Riso, Marzia and Popescu, Mariana and Bousseau, Adrien and Joustra, Jelle", title = "From blades to tracks: a case study in structural reuse of curved surfaces for circular design", booktitle = "ACM Symposium on Computational Fabrication (SCF)", year = "2025", publisher = "ACM", url = "http://www-sop.inria.fr/reves/Basilic/2025/PRPBJ25" }