Abstract
Abstract. As the world shifts to using renewable sources of energy, wind energy has been established as one of the leading forms of renewable energy. However, as wind turbines get increasingly larger, new challenges within the design, manufacture and operation of the turbine are presented. One such challenge is leading edge erosion on wind turbine blades. With larger wind turbine blades, tip speeds begin to reach over 300 km h−1. As water droplets impact along the leading edge of the blade, rain erosion begins to occur, increasing maintenance costs and reducing the design life of the blade. In response to this, a new leading edge protection component (LEP) for offshore for wind turbine blades is being developed, which is manufactured from thermoplastic polyurethane. In this paper, an advanced finite element analysis (FEA) model of this new leading edge protection component has been developed. Within this study, the FEA model has been validated against experimental trials at demonstrator level, comparing the deflection and strains during testing, and was found to be in good agreement. The model is then applied to a full-scale wind turbine blade and is then modelled with the LEP bonded onto the blade's leading edge and compared to previously performed experimental trials, where the results were found to be well aligned when comparing the deflections of the blade. The methodology used to develop the FEA model can be applied to other wind blade designs in order to incorporate the new leading edge protection component to eliminate the risk of rain erosion and improve the sustainability of wind turbine blade manufacture while increasing the service life of the blade.
Highlights
In recent years, the global issue of climate change has come to the fore, along with the need to move towards a more sustainable way of living
The overall aim of this report is to develop a finite element model of a novel leading edge protection component (LEP) that is bonded to a wind turbine blade
The loading used in the experimental trials was defined from the maximum expected wind loading on the blade in operation, and this same loading is used within the analysis presented in this study
Summary
The global issue of climate change has come to the fore, along with the need to move towards a more sustainable way of living With this move to sustainable living, the use of renewable energy becomes more prominent, where wind energy has established itself as one of the leading sources of renewable energy. As the wind energy industry grows, increasingly more wind farms are being developed offshore due to favourable social and environmental factors compared to onshore. With this development in the sector, wind turbine blades are becoming much larger with the increased resource and the need for fewer turbines. Thereby, the average capacity of wind turbines installed in European waters has doubled, from 2 MW in 2000 to 4 MW in 2014, and Siemens Gamesa announced their 10 MW (193 diameter) wind turbine in 2019 (Siemens, 2019)
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