The Springer Model for Lifetime Prediction of Wind Turbine Blade Leading Edge Protection Systems: A Review and Sensitivity Study

Nick Hoksbergen*, Remko Akkerman, Ismet Baran

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

29 Citations (Scopus)
282 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The wind energy sector is growing rapidly. Wind turbines are increasing in size, leading to higher tip velocities. The leading edges of the blades interact with rain droplets, causing erosion damage over time. In order to mitigate the erosion, coating materials are required to protect the blades. To predict the fatigue lifetime of coated substrates, the Springer model is often used. The current work summarizes the research performed using this model in the wind energy sector and studies the sensitivity of the model to its input parameters. It is shown that the Springer model highly depends on the Poisson ratio, the strength values of the coating and the empirically fitted a2 constant. The assumptions made in the Springer model are not physically representative, and we reasoned that more modern methods are required to accurately predict coating lifetimes. The proposed framework is split into three parts—(1) a contact pressure model, (2) a coating stress model and (3) a fatigue strength model—which overall is sufficient to capture the underlying physics during rain erosion of wind turbine blades. Possible improvements to each of the individual aspects of the framework are proposed.
Original languageEnglish
Article number1170
Number of pages18
JournalMaterials
Volume15
Issue number3
Early online date3 Feb 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2022

Keywords

  • UT-Gold-D

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