Wind turbine blade fatigue tests: lessons learned and application to SHM system development

Conference · Thu Jun 28 04:00:00 EDT 2012

OSTI ID:1044876

Taylor, Stuart G ^[1]; Farinholt, Kevin M ^[1]; Jeong, Hyomi ^[2]; Jang, JaeKyung ^[2]; Park, Gyu Hae ^[1]; Todd, Michael D ^[1]; Farrar, Charles R ^[1]; Ammerman, Curtt N ^[1]

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1. Los Alamos National Laboratory
2. Chonbuk National University, Korea

This paper presents experimental results of several structural health monitoring (SHM) methods applied to a 9-meter CX-100 wind turbine blade that underwent fatigue loading. The blade was instrumented with piezoelectric transducers, accelerometers, acoustic emission sensors, and foil strain gauges. It underwent harmonic excitation at its first natural frequency using a hydraulically actuated resonant excitation system. The blade was initially excited at 25% of its design load, and then with steadily increasing loads until it failed. Various data were collected between and during fatigue loading sessions. The data were measured over multiple frequency ranges using a variety of acquisition equipment, including off-the-shelf systems and specially designed hardware developed by the authors. Modal response, diffuse wave-field transfer functions, and ultrasonic guided wave methods were applied to assess the condition of the wind turbine blade. The piezoelectric sensors themselves were also monitored using a sensor diagnostics procedure. This paper summarizes experimental procedures and results, focusing particularly on fatigue crack detection, and concludes with considerations for implementing such damage identification systems, which will be used as a guideline for future SHM system development for operating wind turbine blades.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)
• Sponsoring Organization: LDRD
• DOE Contract Number: AC52-06NA25396
• OSTI ID: 1044876
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-12-22587
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

17 WIND ENERGY
42 ENGINEERING
47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION
ACCELEROMETERS
ACOUSTICS
DESIGN
DETECTION
EXCITATION
EXCITATION SYSTEMS
FOCUSING
FREQUENCY RANGE
HARMONICS
IDENTIFICATION SYSTEMS
MONITORING
RECOMMENDATIONS
SENSORS
STRAINS
TRANSDUCERS
TRANSFER FUNCTIONS
ULTRASONIC WAVES
WIND TURBINES