Smart Loads Management for Damaged Offshore Wind Turbine Blades

Abstract

The diffculty of access for offshore wind turbines leads to expensive and rare opportunities for maintenance. Smart loads management (derating) is investigated for the potential to reduce offshore costs of energy. Derating refers to altering the rotor angular speed and blade pitch to limit loads on damaged rotor blades at the cost of reduced power production. The economic benefits of derating wind turbines with damaged blades are demonstrated in terms of the potential to avoid full shutdown or delay maintenance. High fidelity analysis techniques like 3D finite element modeling (FEM) are used alongside beam models of wind turbine blades to characterize these strategies in terms of their effect to mitigate damage growth. This study considers a common damage type for wind turbine blades, the bond line failure, and shows how 3D FEM can be used to quantify the effect of operations and control strategies designed to extend the fatigue life of damaged blades.