Full-scale fatigue tests of CX-100 wind turbine blades. Part I: testing

摘要: This paper overviews the test setup and experimental methods for structural health monitoring (SHM) of two 9-meter CX-100 wind turbine blades that underwent fatigue loading at National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) National Wind Technology Center (NWTC). The first blade was a pristine blade, which manufactured to standard specifications CX-100 design. second University Massachusetts, Lowell with intentional simulated defects within fabric layup. Each instrumented with piezoelectric transducers, accelerometers, acoustic emission sensors, foil strain gauges. harmonic excitation their first natural frequency using Universal Resonant Excitation (UREX) system NREL. Blades were initially excited at 25% their design load, then steadily increasing loads until each reached failure. Data from the sensors collected between during sessions. data measured over multi-scale frequency ranges variety acquisition equipment, including off-the-shelf systems specially designed hardware developed Los Alamos Laboratory (LANL). hardware evaluated aptness in data collection effective application SHM blades. results this assessment will inform the selection sensor types be deployed on flight conducted in collaboration Sandia U.S. Department Agriculture's (USDA) Conservation and Production Research (CPRL) Bushland, Texas.