KombiWind

In order to meet the growing demand for renewable energy from wind power, the rotor diameter and hub height of wind turbines have grown steadily in recent years, leading to increasing loads on the turbines. The resulting dynamic behavior affects the stability, service life, and efficiency of wind turbines. The rotor blades in particular are subject to complex loads and, due to their ever-increasing aspect ratios, are more susceptible to undesirable deformation and material fatigue. In order to assess the condition of a turbine, it is essential to monitor the structural health of a wind turbine. For the accelerated expansion of wind energy use, wind potential areas in close proximity to population centers are also being increasingly considered. The acceptance issues that need to be taken into account in this context directly require a further reduction in the noise emissions caused by wind turbines.

The project goal is therefore to develop a holistic, mobile measurement system that records both the causes (wind phenomena) and effects (changes in flow, acoustics, structural dynamics, and performance) of a rotor blade section during one revolution. To this end, the flow phenomena and geometric changes will be investigated from a co-rotating measurement platform. Synchronously, aeroacoustic measurements focused on the same rotor blade section will be recorded. At the same time, the incoming wind is characterized and the plant data is taken into account at high temporal resolution for a holistic evaluation. In contrast to previous structural health methods, this does not require any plant modification or direct access to the plant, as all measured variables are recorded contactlessly from large distances. The data collected will be stored in a database for evaluation beyond the scope of the project and made available to other scientists.