Spatiotemporal Variability in Wind Turbine Blade Leading Edge Erosion

Sara C. Pryor (), Jacob J. Coburn and Rebecca J. Barthelmie
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Sara C. Pryor: Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
Jacob J. Coburn: Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
Rebecca J. Barthelmie: Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 2, 1-22

Abstract: Wind turbine blade leading edge erosion (LEE) reduces energy production and increases wind energy operation and maintenance costs. Degradation of the blade coating and ultimately damage to the underlying blade structure are caused by collisions of falling hydrometeors with rotating blades. The selection of optimal methods to mitigate/reduce LEE are critically dependent on the rates of coating fatigue accumulation at a given location and the time variance in the accumulation of material stresses. However, no such assessment currently exists for the United States of America (USA). To address this research gap, blade coating lifetimes at 883 sites across the USA are generated based on high-frequency (5-min) estimates of material fatigue derived using a mechanistic model and robust meteorological measurements. Results indicate blade coating failure at some sites in as few as 4 years, and that the frequency and intensity of material stresses are both highly episodic and spatially varying. Time series analyses indicate that up to one-third of blade coating lifetime is exhausted in just 360 5-min periods in the Southern Great Plains (SGP). Conversely, sites in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) exhibit the same level of coating lifetime depletion in over three times as many time periods. Thus, it may be more cost-effective to use wind turbine deregulation (erosion-safe mode) for damage reduction and blade lifetime extension in the SGP, while the application of blade leading edge protective measures may be more appropriate in the PNW. Annual total precipitation and mean wind speed are shown to be poor predictors of blade coating lifetime, re-emphasizing the need for detailed modeling studies such as that presented herein.

Keywords: blades; CONUS; hydroclimate; LCoE; LEE; operations and maintenance; Springer model; USA; wind energy (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: 2025
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