Numerical simulation of lightning strike damage to wind turbine blades and validation against conducted current test data
Numerical simulation of lightning strike damage to wind turbine blades and validation against conducted current test data
This paper presents a novel numerical approach to simulate lightning strike damage to equipotential bonding interfaces of wind turbine blades, and model validation based on high-current testing. Modern rotor blades are equipped with metal receptors to intercept the lightning leader and metal down conductors to conduct the lightning current, preventing the direct attachment to the CFRP spars. In such conditions, damage in the form of resin thermal degradation and sparks develop inside the blade at the equipotential bonding interfaces. Excellent correlation was found between the numerical predictions and test results in terms of current and temperature distributions. High temperatures were predicted at the sparking areas observed in the tests, which suggested that the damage is thermally activated. Thermogravimetric analysis data indicated that the epoxy pyrolysis process evolves in stages, and that sparking events are often initiated by release of gases and formation of small voids at temperatures lower than expected.
B. Delamination, C. Finite element analysis (FEA), Lightning protection, Wind turbine blade equipotential bonding
Laudani, A.A.M.
c88d7c66-06cd-4c5f-a978-df1d9ac16403
Vryonis, O.
4affde05-88f2-436f-b036-dceedf31ea9c
Lewin, P.L.
78b4fc49-1cb3-4db9-ba90-3ae70c0f639e
Golosnoy, I.O.
40603f91-7488-49ea-830f-24dd930573d1
Kremer, J.
499c1537-c21a-497f-ac6c-f370483fb06a
Klein, H.
dee4712f-c758-45f2-95b0-1c347b101cca
Thomsen, O.T.
5b2db88c-626a-452d-b395-ab5e418d7765
January 2022
Laudani, A.A.M.
c88d7c66-06cd-4c5f-a978-df1d9ac16403
Vryonis, O.
4affde05-88f2-436f-b036-dceedf31ea9c
Lewin, P.L.
78b4fc49-1cb3-4db9-ba90-3ae70c0f639e
Golosnoy, I.O.
40603f91-7488-49ea-830f-24dd930573d1
Kremer, J.
499c1537-c21a-497f-ac6c-f370483fb06a
Klein, H.
dee4712f-c758-45f2-95b0-1c347b101cca
Thomsen, O.T.
5b2db88c-626a-452d-b395-ab5e418d7765
Laudani, A.A.M., Vryonis, O., Lewin, P.L., Golosnoy, I.O., Kremer, J., Klein, H. and Thomsen, O.T.
(2022)
Numerical simulation of lightning strike damage to wind turbine blades and validation against conducted current test data.
Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 152, [106708].
(doi:10.1016/j.compositesa.2021.106708).
Abstract
This paper presents a novel numerical approach to simulate lightning strike damage to equipotential bonding interfaces of wind turbine blades, and model validation based on high-current testing. Modern rotor blades are equipped with metal receptors to intercept the lightning leader and metal down conductors to conduct the lightning current, preventing the direct attachment to the CFRP spars. In such conditions, damage in the form of resin thermal degradation and sparks develop inside the blade at the equipotential bonding interfaces. Excellent correlation was found between the numerical predictions and test results in terms of current and temperature distributions. High temperatures were predicted at the sparking areas observed in the tests, which suggested that the damage is thermally activated. Thermogravimetric analysis data indicated that the epoxy pyrolysis process evolves in stages, and that sparking events are often initiated by release of gases and formation of small voids at temperatures lower than expected.
Text
AAML_paper_R2_CompA_accepted
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 28 October 2021
e-pub ahead of print date: 5 November 2021
Published date: January 2022
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
This study was funded by Nordex Energy GmbH and the University of Southampton, grant agreement 0179210, and by the EU Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions - Innovative Training Networks (ITN), grant agreements 642771 (SPARCARB project) and 734629 (PATH project).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd
Keywords:
B. Delamination, C. Finite element analysis (FEA), Lightning protection, Wind turbine blade equipotential bonding
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 452934
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/452934
ISSN: 1359-835X
PURE UUID: 73036115-ebdf-4879-9a73-5489caf41452
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Date deposited: 06 Jan 2022 17:53
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 07:01
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Contributors
Author:
A.A.M. Laudani
Author:
O. Vryonis
Author:
P.L. Lewin
Author:
I.O. Golosnoy
Author:
J. Kremer
Author:
H. Klein
Author:
O.T. Thomsen
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