Aeroelastic stability analysis and failure damage evaluation of wind turbine blades under variable conditions

ABSTRACT

Failure during the start and brake processes of a 1.5 MW horizontal axis wind turbine blade was examined using a measured wind field with fluid-structure coupling. The maximum blade displacement and stress with angular acceleration during the start process were 7.14% and 16.27%, respectively, larger than those without acceleration, whereas during braking they were 37.71% and 26.96% larger, respectively, without acceleration. Further, angular acceleration had a greater impact on the second-order frequency of vibration than the first-order, significantly impacting the braking process. The maximum dynamic stress and amplitude of the blades during starting were 4.35 MPa and 0.56 m, and during braking were 35.86 MPa and 3.13 m, respectively. Based on drone images of the blades, several failure modes were identified. This research will provide key inspection area guidance for employing drones to inspect blades to improve inspection efficiency. A large amount of damage images are collected and classified into damage levels, and an image processing system are established, which can quickly identify damage characteristics of the blade and export the inspection report quickly and accurately. Through a large number of drone detection experiments, this technology has a wide range of application prospects and extremely high efficiency.

KEYWORDS:

• Wind turbine blade
• fluid–structure interaction
• aeroelastic stability
• vibration characteristics
• failure damage evaluation

Acknowledgments

This project is supported by the Inner Mongolia Science & Technology Project Plan “Research on Dynamic Response of Wind Turbine Blade Structure and Application Demonstration of Crack Detection” (2019).

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Inner Mongolia Science & Technology Project Plan “Research on Dynamic Response of Wind Turbine Blade Structure and Application Demonstartion of Crack Detection” (2019).

Notes on contributors

Kangqi Tian

Kangqi Tian born in 1995, is currently a master candidate at Inner Mongolia University of Technology, China. He received his bachelor's degree from ShanDong JiaoTong University, in 2018. His main research interests include aeroelastic performance and structural dynamic response of the fluid machinery.

Li Song

Li Song born in 1978, is currently a professor and PhD at Inner Mongolia University of Technology, China. He received her PhD degree from Inner Mongolia University of Technology, China, in 2013. His main research interests include wind energy utilization technology, power machinery design and optimization.

Xiaofeng Jiao

Xiaofeng Jiao born in 1978, is currently an senior engineer at Inner Mongolia Power Science Research Institute, China. He received her PhD degree from Inner Mongolia University of Technology, China, in 2013. Her main research interests include wind energy utilization technology.

Rui Feng

Rui Feng born in 1990, is currently an engineer at Guoshui Group Huade Wind Power Co. Ltd., China. He received her bachelor's degree from China University Of Geosciences, China, in 2015. His main research interests include wind turbine control, operation and maintenance technology.

Yongyan Chen

Yongyan Chen born in 1976, is currently a professor and PhD at Inner Mongolia University of Technology, China. He received her PhD degree from Inner Mongolia University of Technology, China, in 2013. His main research interests include wind energy utilization technology.

Rui Tian

Rui Tian born in 1956, is currently a professor and PhD supervision at Inner Mongolia University of Technology, China. He received her PhD degree from Inner Mongolia University of Technology, China, in 2008. His main research interests include development and utilization of wind energy and solar energy.