Add2Reliablade

Rotor blades are one of the key components of wind turbines. They convert wind energy into rotational movement, directly influencing the energy yield and thereby significantly impacting the turbine's economic efficiency. Moreover, every rotor blade is unique, as they are still predominantly manufactured manually, resulting in production-related imperfections. In addition, rotor blades are exposed to extreme environmental conditions and subjected to significant dynamic loads during operation. This combination of manufacturing imperfections, such as undulations in the layer structure, and the dynamic loads typically leads to local stress concentrations, which in turn contribute to increased fatigue damage.

This research project addresses these challenges. In conjunction with the ReliaBlade project, highly precise observations of fatigue damage development are conducted during load tests at both the coupon and structural levels. These tests aim to comprehensively validate new or extended models, with the long-term goal of predicting probable damage progression and estimating the remaining service life. Additionally, the load test setups are virtually modeled to simulate the load scenarios and stresses on the structure as realistically as possible.