Experimental study on the effect of drop size in rain erosion test and on lifetime prediction of wind turbine blades

Jakob Ilsted Bech, Nicolai Frost-Jensen Johansen, Martin Bonde Madsen, Ásta Hannesdóttir and Charlotte Bay Hasager

Renewable Energy, 2022, vol. 197, issue C, 776-789

Abstract: Rain erosion of turbine blades causes loss of production and expensive repairs in the wind energy sector. There is a common consensus, that the size of impacting rain drops has a governing effect on the added damage. However, the literature lacks systematic experimental studies on the topic. In the present paper the effects of drop sizes in Rain Erosion Tests (RET) are studied for a commercial polyurethane based top coat applied to glass fiber-epoxy specimens. The tests are conducted applying a whirling arm RET at impact velocities ranging from 90 to 150 m/s and with four different rain field setups generating mean droplet diameters of 0.76 mm, 1.90 mm, 2.38 mm and 3.50 mm respectively. The time to damage at the end of incubation is determined by inspection of photographs captured inline at regular intervals through the test.

Keywords: Rain erosion test; Impingement to end of incubation; Drop-size dependency; Wind turbine blade coating; Site specific lifetime modelling; Phenomenological damage model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:197:y:2022:i:c:p:776-789

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2022.06.127

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