Abstract
As the size and weight of blades increase with the recent trend toward larger wind turbines, it is important to ensure the structural integrity of the blades. For this reason, the blade consists of an upper and lower skin that receives the load directly, a shear web that supports the two skins, and a spar cap that connects the skin and the shear web. Loads generated during the operation of the wind turbine can cause debonding damage on the spar cap-shear web joints. This may change the structural stiffness of the blade and lead to a lack of integrity; therefore, it would be beneficial to be able to identify possible damage in advance. In this paper we present a model to identify debonding damage based on natural frequency. This was carried out by modeling 1105 different debonding damages, which were classified by configuration type, location, and length. After that, the natural frequencies, due to the debonding damage of the blades, were obtained through modal analysis using FE analysis. Finally, an artificial neural network was used to study the relationship between debonding damage and the natural frequencies.
Highlights
Wind turbine blades generate electrical energy by using the lift and drag of passing wind to rotate a structure connected to a generator shaft
The objective of this study is to develop the debonding damage identification model for the various types of debonding damage that could occur inside composite wind turbine blades using an artificial neural network (ANN), based on the natural frequency changes due to the debonding damage
The natural frequency change siderably affected by the input data, appropriate relevant key features of natural freq rate is affected by the damage configuration according to the structural characteristics of cies should be chosen to reflect debonding damage
Summary
Wind turbine blades generate electrical energy by using the lift and drag of passing wind to rotate a structure connected to a generator shaft. The blade is composed of upper and lower skins that receive the wind energy, and a spar cap-shear web that increase the load resistance of, and prevent damage to, the skin [1,2]. To address the resulting increase in the weight of the blade’s structure, wind turbine components are generally manufactured using glass- and/or carbon-fiber-reinforced composites with high specific strengths and stiffnesses [3,4]. When these composite structures are connected, mechanical bonding methods such as riveting or bolting may increase weight and the stress concentration and resulting premature failure. It is important to have a methodology to identify possible debonding damage in advance of premature failure at the joints between the blade spar cap-shear web
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