Abstract
At present, some 600kW and 750kW wind turbines put into operation earlier in China have exceeded their 20-year design life. For these turbines, the safety, reliability and economy of these turbines are usually evaluated in a reasonable way, so as to formulate life extension or decommissioning strategies to maximize economic benefits. Referring to the current international standards and guidelines, this paper takes a wind farm in South China as an example to evaluate the remaining life and state of the turbines. The external environment data of the met mast is extrapolated to the turbine site, and the load simulation is carried out based on the wind turbine model. The fatigue load set of the turbines under the design load condition and the site-specific load condition is obtained. The possible fatigue damage in the historical operation period is calculated. Combined with the linear damage accumulation theory of Miner, the fatigue of each turbine in the site is obtained by load analogy. The final P90 life is obtained by analyzing the uncertainty factors introduced in the assessment of residual life and health status.
Highlights
The design life of wind turbines is usually 20 years
In consideration of the extreme events that the turbine may experienced during the historical operation period, the possibility of inherent fatigue damage of components, and the change of site environment, in order to ensure safe and reliable operation, it is necessary to carry out residual life and health assessment for the turbine and parts
The load in the operation of wind turbine mainly comes from the turbine itself and the external environment, in which the external environment is mainly the wind condition, which is transformed into the transmission of wind load in the turbine and the foundation
Summary
The design life of wind turbines is usually 20 years. According to statistics, there are more than 11000 wind turbines under MW level in operation in China, with a capacity of about 8700MW[1]. In consideration of the extreme events that the turbine may experienced during the historical operation period, the possibility of inherent fatigue damage of components, and the change of site environment, in order to ensure safe and reliable operation, it is necessary to carry out residual life and health assessment for the turbine and parts. Through the establishment of wind turbine and site environment model, the external environment of wind turbine and the static and dynamic load in operation, the load of the turbine and the fatigue life can be estimated. This method can be used to predict the fatigue damage and residual life of the turbine. At the same time, combined with condition monitoring, through reasonable model analysis, it can predict the possible failure of the turbine and reduce the risk of failure [4,5]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
