Wind turbine blade coating fatigue induced by raindrop impact

Weifei Hu, Weiyi Chen, Xiaobo Wang, Zhenyu Liu, Jianrong Tan, Yeqing Wang

Research output: Chapter in Book/Entry/PoemConference contribution

Abstract

With the increase of wind energy production demand, the need to manufacture larger wind turbine blades is on the rise. Because of the high tip speed of the large blade, the blade could be impacted by high-speed objects such as raindrops. This research focuses on developing a computational model for analyzing wind turbine blade coating fatigue induced by raindrop impact. A stochastic rain texture model is used to simulate a realistic rain event determined by a rain intensity and a rain duration. A smoothed particle hydrodynamic approach is implemented to calculate the impact stress considering a single raindrop. A stress interpolation method is proposed to accurately and efficiently estimate the impact of stress under a random rain event. Besides, a crack growth law is used to explain the process of coating shedding. Through a method for calculating crack growth length based on stress, this paper analyzes crack growth life as a function of the rain intensity and the rain duration. This function, together with the statistics of rainfall history, provides a new approach for estimating the expected fatigue life of the blade coating.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationASME 2020 Power Conference, POWER 2020, collocated with the 2020 International Conference on Nuclear Engineering
PublisherAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
ISBN (Electronic)9780791883747
DOIs
StatePublished - 2020
Externally publishedYes
Event2019 Canadian Society for Civil Engineering Annual Conference, CSCE 2019 - Laval, Canada
Duration: Jun 12 2019Jun 15 2019

Publication series

NameAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers, Power Division (Publication) POWER
Volume2020-August

Conference

Conference2019 Canadian Society for Civil Engineering Annual Conference, CSCE 2019
Country/TerritoryCanada
CityLaval
Period6/12/196/15/19

Keywords

  • Coating fatigue analysis
  • Crack growth length calculation
  • Stochastic rain texture model
  • Wind turbine blade

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Energy Engineering and Power Technology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Wind turbine blade coating fatigue induced by raindrop impact'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this