Technologies of Wind Turbine Blade Repair: Practical Comparison

Leon Mishnaevsky Jr.*, Nicolai Frost-Jensen Johansen, Anthony Fraisse, Søren Fæster, Thomas Jensen, Brian Bendixen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

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Abstract

Maintenance and repair of wind turbines contribute to the higher costs of wind energy. In this paper, various technologies of structural repair of damaged and broken wind turbine blades are compared. The composite plates, mimicking damaged blade parts, were damaged and repaired, using various available curing and bonding technologies. Technologies of repair with hand layup lamination, vacuum repair with hand layup and infusion, ultraviolet repair and high temperature thermal curing were compared. The repaired samples were tested under tensile static and fatigue tests, and subject to microscopic X-ray investigations. It was observed that both the strength of the repaired structures and the porosity depend on the repair technology used. Vacuum-based technologies lead to relatively stiff and lower-strength repaired plates, while ultraviolet-curing technologies lead to average stiffness and high strength. High-temperature vacuum curing leads to the highest maximum stress. Hand layup (both vacuum and without vacuum) leads to high post-repair porosity in the adhesive and scarf, while vacuum infusion leads to low porosity. Fatigue lifetime generally follows the trend of porosity. There exist risks of micro-damaging the parent laminate and the formation of residual stresses in the repaired structure.
Original languageEnglish
Article number1767
JournalEnergies
Volume15
Issue number5
Number of pages17
ISSN1996-1073
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

Keywords

  • Wind energy
  • Wind turbine blades
  • Maintenance
  • Repair

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