Effects of onshore and offshore environmental parameters on the leading edge erosion of wind turbine blades

A comparative study

Journal article (2021)

Authors

Amrit Shankar Verma Aerospace Manufacturing Technologies - Aerospace Engineering
Zhiyu Jiang University of Agder
Zhengru Ren Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
Weifei Hu State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power and Mechatronic System
Julie J.E. Teuwen Aerospace Manufacturing Technologies - Aerospace Engineering
Research Group
Aerospace Manufacturing Technologies (Aerospace Engineering) (TU Delft)
Copyright: © 2021 Amrit Shankar Verma, Zhiyu Jiang, Zhengru Ren, Weifei Hu, Julie J.E. Teuwen
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4049248
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Published Date

2021

Language

English

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Faculty

Aerospace Engineering

Department

Aerospace Structures & Materials

Research Group

Aerospace Manufacturing Technologies

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 modeling and investigates whether there are differences in erosion of blades due to (1) varying rainfall conditions modeled using different droplet size distributions for onshore and offshore locations in combination with (2) winds of varying turbulence intensities and (3) wave-induced loads. Aero-hydro-servo-elastic simulations are carried out for an onshore wind turbine (WT) and a monopile-supported offshore WT. Furthermore, erosion variables such as the relative impact velocities and the associated erosion damage rate of a blade are analyzed for various blade azimuth angles. The study shows that the rainfall intensity and turbulence intensity minorly influence the impact velocity and pressure but have a substantial effect on the overall erosion damage rate. Additionally, a significantly higher erosion damage rate is found for blades exposed to offshore rainfall conditions than for blades under onshore rainfall conditions. Furthermore, no substantial influence on erosion is found because of wave-induced loads.

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