Non-Contact Wind Turbine Blade Crack Detection Using Laser Doppler Vibrometers

Ali Zabihi, Farhood Aghdasi, Chadi Ellouzi, Nand Kishore Singh, Ratneshwar Jha and Chen Shen ()
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Ali Zabihi: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ 08028, USA
Farhood Aghdasi: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ 08028, USA
Chadi Ellouzi: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ 08028, USA
Nand Kishore Singh: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ 08028, USA
Ratneshwar Jha: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ 08028, USA
Chen Shen: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ 08028, USA

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 9, 1-14

Abstract: In response to the growing global demand for both energy and a clean environment, there has been an unprecedented rise in the utilization of renewable energy. Wind energy plays a crucial role in striving for carbon neutrality due to its eco-friendly characteristics. Despite its significance, wind energy infrastructure is susceptible to damage from various factors including wind or sea waves, rapidly changing environmental conditions, delamination, crack formation, and structural deterioration over time. This research focuses on investigating non-destructive testing (NDT) of wind turbine blades (WTBs) using approaches based on the vibration of the structures. To this end, WTBs are first made from glass fiber-reinforcement polymer (GFRP) using composite molding techniques, and then a short pulse is generated in the structure by a piezoelectric actuator made from lead zirconate titanate (PZT-5H) to generate guided waves. A numerical approach is presented based on solving the elastic time-harmonic wave equations, and a laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV) is utilized to collect the vibrational data in a remote manner, thereby facilitating the crack detection of WTBs. Subsequently, the wave propagation characteristics of intact and damaged structures are analyzed using the Hilbert–Huang transformation (HHT) and fast Fourier transformation (FFT). The results reveal noteworthy distinctions in damaged structures, where the frequency domain exhibits additional components beyond those identified by FFT, and the time domain displays irregularities in proximity to the crack region, as detected by HHT. The results suggest a feasible approach to detecting potential cracks of WTBs in a non-contact and reliable way.

Keywords: non-destructive testing; glass fiber-reinforced polymer; elastic time-harmonic wave equations; laser Doppler vibrometers; Hilbert–Huang transformation; fast Fourier transformation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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