DAYTON — The University of Dayton Research Institute said it has been awarded $270,000 from the state’s technology-supporting Third Frontier program to design and test fiberglass and resin materials and structures for towers to support electricity-generating wind turbines.

UDRI researchers are responding to the wind energy industry’s interest in building taller towers. The composite materials could make it easier to transport the tower sections to a wind farm site, said Brian Rice, division head for multi-scale composites and polymers at the institute.

The challenge is to produce composites strong enough to support the burden of wind turbines that can weigh as much as 100 tons, and resist buckling under the stress of the rotating machinery, Rice said. Composites are more resistant to corrosion than the steel currently used for wind turbine towers.

UDRI researchers are working on a separate Air Force advanced-materials contract to develop smaller, composite-materials wind turbines for power generation in remote military locations. That program, in cooperation with Twenty First Century Energy of Fairborn, began in 2009. The Air Force is providing $1 million for the second year of the contract research which begins in May, UDRI officials said Wednesday, Feb. 24.

UDRI also said it received a $41,500 grant from the National Science Foundation in January to design and test sensors for wind turbines, to monitor the structural health of wind turbine blades and provide warnings if they need repair or replacement. Mound Laser and Photonics Center Inc., Miamisburg, is to manufacture the sensors, UDRI officials said.