Search results for "Leading edge erosion"
showing 3 items of 3 documents
Minimum Leading Edge Protection Application Length to Combat Rain-Induced Erosion of Wind Turbine Blades
2021
Leading edge erosion (LEE) repairs of wind turbine blades (WTBs) involve infield application of leading edge protection (LEP) solutions. The industry is currently aiming to use factory based LEP coatings that can applied to the WTBs before they are shipped out for installation. However, one of the main challenges related to these solutions is the choice of a minimum LEP application length to be applied in the spanwise direction of the WTBs. Generally, coating suppliers apply 10–20 m of LEP onto the blades starting from the tip of the blade using the “rule of thumb”, and no studies in the literature exist that stipulate how these LEP lengths can be calculated. In this study, we extend the sc…
Effects of Onshore and Offshore Environmental Parameters on the Leading Edge Erosion of Wind Turbine Blades: A Comparative Study
2021
Abstract The presence of rain-induced leading edge erosion of wind turbine blades (WTBs) necessitates the development of erosion models. One of the essential parameters for erosion modeling is the relative impact velocity between rain droplets and the rotating blade. Based on this parameter, the erosion damage rate of a WTB is calculated to estimate the expected leading edge lifetime. The environmental conditions that govern this parameter have site-specific variations, and thus, rain and wind loading on a turbine differ for onshore and offshore locations. In addition, there are wave loads present in the offshore environment. The present paper tries to provide guidelines for erosion modelin…
Numerical investigation of rain droplet impact on offshore wind turbine blades under different rainfall conditions: A parametric study
2020
The leading edge of a fiber composite wind turbine blade (WTB) is prone to erosion damages due to repeated rain droplet impact during its service life. Such damages are critical to the blade's aerodynamic as well as structural performance, ultimately resulting in substantial repair costs. An effective design of a coating material for WTB is necessary and its analysis must include variables associated with erosive rain droplets such as (1) droplet diameter, (2) impact velocity, and (3) droplet impact angle. The present paper develops and validates a coupled fluid structure interaction (FSI) computational model for simulating rain droplet impact on WTBs, where the structure domain is modelled…