Abstract
The primary objective of the presented paper is the numerical and experimental investigation related to developing a useful diagnostic method, which can be used for determining the site and size of damage in laminated shells of wind turbine blades. The described detection technique is based on the analysis of low frequencies bending vibrations mode shapes of rotor blades. The authors used the commonly applied statistics methods that have been adapted to detect edges of damage, including the normalized determination coefficient fit, which is a measure of the absolute fit between two curves. The research was conducted for a scaled-down blade of a three-bladed horizontal-axis wind turbine with 36 m diameter rotor. The study was divided into two parts. The first stage included numerical calculations using the finite element method, which were supplemented in the second stage by measurements under laboratory conditions of the specially manufactured composite blade. The forms of natural vibrations for intact and damaged blade were determined using Laser Doppler Scanning Vibrometry. The results of the presented research confirm the effectiveness of the modal analysis combined with statistic calculation in damage detection. The method points out the location of relatively small damage.
Highlights
Nowadays, there is intense social pressure to decrease the negative influence of human civilization on the natural ecosystem, especially in terms of electricity production
The present paper introduces a delamination detection and localization technique, which was developed based on the numerical simulations results as well as an experimental test conducted in laboratory conditions
The research was carried out focusing on a specific object which is a composite wind turbine blade
Summary
There is intense social pressure to decrease the negative influence of human civilization on the natural ecosystem, especially in terms of electricity production. The use of renewable energy sources is deemed a necessity. With increasing environmental requirements and, at the same time, growing demand for electricity, there are increasing requirements on the security of energy supply and its quality. Despite some drawbacks, wind energy is still one of the essential elements of the electricity production system using clean power. Wind turbines (WTs) have significant weaknesses compared to non-renewable energy resources. The primary issue is the lower efficiency due to limited working time at variable and unpredictable weather conditions
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