Task 46 - Erosion of wind turbine blades.

Content

  • Overview
  • Cornell University foci and contributions
  • Publications
  • Team
  • Professor Pryor's Homepage
  • Professor Barthelmie's Homepage

    • Overview

    The challenge: Enhancing wind turbine blade lifetimes and performance are central to continuing historical trends towards lowering of the levelized cost of energy for wind farm owners/operators and OEMs. Leading edge erosion (LEE) has been identified as the main factor substantially reducing both blade lifetimes and energy output over time. After a series of conferences arranged by DTU (see photo above of the conference participants from 2019) a new IEA Wind Technology Platform activity was proposed and accepted. Information about the Task is available here: IEA Wind Task46

    The challenge: Enhancing wind turbine blade lifetimes and performance are central to continuing historical trends towards lowering of the levelized cost of energy (LCoE) for wind farm owners/operators and OEMs. Leading edge erosion (LEE) has been identified as the main factor substantially reducing both blade lifetimes and energy output over time. The task : The task is arranged within 5 workpackages:

  • 1 Management and coordination
  • 2 Climatic conditions driving blade erosion: The goals are to provide tools for a priori assessments of wind sites regarding the potential for excess LEE, and inform wind farm operation to optimize blade lifetimes.
  • 3 Wind turbine operations with erosion: The goals are to characterize the effect of erosion in wind turbine performance, and study the feasibility of mitigating erosion with wind turbine control.
  • 4 Laboratory testing of erosion: The goals are to identify technologies available for erosion testing and describe failure modes observed in in the field and during erosion testing, and the translation of test results into field performance estimate.
  • 5 Erosion mechanics & material properties: The goals are to review existing erosion damage models and improve modelling of multilayers systems representative of some leading edges.

    Professor Sara C Pryor of Cornell University is leading WP2. Funding to support my participation is provided by the U.S. Department of Energy via a sub-contract to Sandia National Laboratory. An overview of activities within the WP is given below.

    Cornell University foci and contributions

    Professor Sara C Pryor of Cornell University and Mr Marijn Veraart of Orsted are leading WP2. Funding to support my participation is provided by the U.S. Department of Energy via a sub-contract to Sandia National Laboratory. An overview of activities within the WP is given below.

    Publications

    Scholarly publications

    In review
    In press
    Published
  • Letson F. and Pryor S.C. (2023): From Hydrometeor Size Distribution Measurements to Projections of Wind Turbine Blade Leading Edge Erosion. Energies 16 3906 doi: 10.3390/en16093906
  • Aird J.A., Barthelmie R.J. and Pryor S.C. (2023). Automated Quantification of Wind Turbine Blade Leading Edge Erosion from Field Images. Energies 16 2820 doi: 10.3390/en16062820
  • Pryor S.C., Barthelmie R.J., Candence J., Dellwik, E., Hasager C.B., Kral S.T., Reuder J., Rodgers M. and Veraat M. (2022): Atmospheric Drivers of Wind Turbine Blade Leading Edge Erosion: Review and Recommendations for Future Research. Energies 15 8553; doi: 10.3390/en15228553.

    Reports

    Pryor S.C., Barthelmie R.J., Delwick E., Hasager C., Kral S.T., Prieto R., Reuder J., Rodgers M., Veraart M. (2023):Atmospheric drivers of wind turbine blade leading edge erosion: Ancillary Variables. Technical report from IEA Wind Task 46 Erosion of wind turbine blades. 20 pp. doi of associated meta-data: 10.5281/zenodo.7734765.
    Pryor S.C., Barthelmie R.J., Cadence J. , Dyer K., Hasager C., Herring R., Kral S.T., Prieto R., Reuder J., Rodgers M., Veraat M. (2021): Atmospheric drivers of wind turbine blade leading edge erosion: Hydrometeors. Technical report from IEA Wind Task 46 Erosion of wind turbine blades. 46 pp. Available for download from: https://iea-wind.org/task46/t46-results/ Doi of associated meta-data: 10.5281/zenodo.5648211 .

    Publications in trade magazines

    Prieto R., Hasager C., Pryor S.C., Veraart M., Maniaci D.C., Bech J.I., Rahmi M., Lopez F.S., Holst B., di Noi S. (2021): Introducing IEA Wind Task 46: Erosion of Wind Turbine Blades. WindTech International, 17 #6 Read here .

    Presentations

  • Pryor S.C., Barthelmie R.J., Letson F., Dellwik E., Tanaka M. and Ushio T. (2024): Robust Hydrometeor Size Distribution Measurements – Are We Getting Closer? 24th Symposium on Meteorological Observation and Instrumentation, American Meteorological Society Conference, January-February 2024, Baltimore.
  • Pryor S.C., Barthelmie R.J., Letson F., Louie M. and Mishnaevsky Jr L. (2023): From disdrometer measurements to projections of wind turbine blade leading edge erosion. Wind Energy Science Conference, 23-26 May 2023, Glasgow, UK.
  • Barthelmie R.J., Pryor S.C., Cadence J., Dellwik E., Hasager C.B., Kral S.T., Reuder J., Rodgers M. and Veraart M. (2023): Characterizing hydrometeor and wind speed properties that determine blade leading edge erosion. Wind Energy Science Conference, 23-26 May 2023, Glasgow, UK.
  • Pryor S.C. Letson F., Louie M. and Barthelmie R.J. (2023): The impact of different measurement technologies on inferred blade lifetimes, 4th International Symposium on Leading Edge Erosion of Wind Turbine Blades, 7-10 February, Danish Technical University, Roskilde, DK (invited).
  • Hasager C., Prieto R., Pryor S.C., Veraart M., Maniaci D.C., Bech J.I., Rahmi M., Lopez F.S., di Noi S. (2021): IEA Wind Task 46: Erosion of Wind Turbine Blades. Wind Energy Science, Hannover Germany, 25-28 May 2021.

    Team

  • Professor Sara C. Pryor, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
  • Professor Rebecca J. Barthelmie, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
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