Reliability model for wind turbine blade composites under alternate action of normal and extreme wind loads

Abstract

Wind turbine blade is the key component to capture wind power, and it is mainly composed of glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP). Due to the randomness and volatility of wind speed in nature, wind turbine blade is usually subjected to the alternate action of normal and extreme wind loads during its long-term service. In this study, a reliability model that considering the stochastic wind loads and strength degradation of GFRP is proposed. Firstly, a residual strength model is developed based on the Palmgren-Miner (P-M) damage theory and the same damage state (SDS) principle, which is capable of characterizing the strength degradation law of GFRP under the normal wind load. Then, the alternate actions of normal and extreme wind loads are considered, and a dynamic reliability model is presented based on Poisson process and mathematical derivation. Finally, the traditional discrete stress-strength interference (DSSI) model is extended to calculate the dynamic reliability when probability distributions of stochastic wind loads and residual strength of GFRP are unknown. The wind load data and GFRP test data are utilized to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model. The result shows that the reliability of GFRP keeps at a high level in the early stage, then it rapidly decreases due to the accumulation of fatigue damage.