Moving Accelerometers to the Tip: Monitoring of Wind Turbine Blade Bending Using 3D Accelerometers and Model-Based...

Area of Science:

• Mechanical Engineering
• Renewable Energy Systems
• Structural Health Monitoring

Background:

• Longer wind turbine blades increase energy capture but also experience higher loads and fatigue.
• Alternate bending, caused by gravity or uneven winds, exacerbates blade stress and potential failure.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a method for monitoring wind turbine blade bending during operation.
• To identify and analyze patterns of alternate bending to optimize turbine performance and reduce fatigue.

Main Methods:

• Utilized an acceleration model to analyze deviations from uniform blade bending.
• Employed hierarchical clustering to extract and categorize significant bending patterns.
• Validated the approach through simulations and a real-world experiment using accelerometers on turbine blades.

Main Results:

• Successfully represented various alternate bending effects with distinct bending patterns in simulations.
• Demonstrated a clear correlation between turbine rotation frequency and observed bending patterns in experimental data.
• Showed that the markedness of bending shapes can quantify the extent of alternate bending.

Conclusions:

• Model-based bending shapes are strong indicators of alternate bending in wind turbine blades.
• The developed monitoring technique can be used to optimize turbine settings, thereby reducing fatigue and improving operational efficiency.