Full-scale fatigue tests of CX-100 wind turbine blades. Part II - analysis

This paper presents the initial analysis results of several structural health monitoring (SHM) methods applied to two 9-meter CX-100 wind turbine blades subjected to fatigue loading at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) National Wind Technology Center (NWTC). The first blade was a pristine blade, manufactured to standard CX-100 design specifications. The second blade was manufactured for the University of Massachusetts, Lowell (UMass), with intentional simulated defects within the fabric layup. Each blade was instrumented with a variety of sensors on its surface. The blades were subject to harmonic excitation at their first natural frequency with steadily increasing loading until ultimately reaching failure. Data from the sensors were collected between and during fatigue loading sessions. The data were measured at multi-scale frequency ranges using a variety of data acquisition equipment, including off-the-shelf systems and prototype data acquisition hardware. The data were analyzed to identify fatigue damage initiation and to assess damage progression. Modal response, diffuse wave-field transfer functions in time and frequency domains, and wave propagation methods were applied to assess the condition of the turbine blade. The analysis methods implemented were evaluated in conjunction with hardware-specific performance for their efficacy in enabling the assessment of damage progression in the blade. The results of this assessment will inform the selection of specific data to be collected and analysis methods to be implemented for a CX-100 flight test to be conducted in collaboration with Sandia National Laboratory at the U. S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Conservation and Production Research Laboratory (CPRL) in Bushland, Texas.