Funding agency: National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICYT)

Grant: FONDEF IDeA ID17I10140 (2018-2020)

Project Director: Rodrigo Astroza

Project Co-Director: Marcos Orchard

Researchers: José A. Abell and Marcelo Guarini

The growing concern for the environment has motivated the increase of public and private investment in non-conventional renewable energy sources, among which wind energy is one of the main ones, both in Chile and in the world. Currently, the total worldwide installed electricity generation capacity is approximately 500 GW, equivalent to 5% of the global energy demand, while in Chile, wind generation reaches 1400 MW, with a sustained growth over the last years. Wind turbines are susceptible to structural damage during their useful life, due to their normal operational conditions as well as due to extreme loads (e.g., earthquakes). In the literature, many cases of failure in structural components of wind turbines have been reported, mainly in blades and supporting towers. These failures have high costs (both direct and indirect) associated, thus, it is imperative to develop technologies capable of detecting and forecasting potential structural damage. These technologies must provide the necessary information for decision-making related to corrective and preventive maintenance.

The objective of this project is to develop a technology for the diagnosis and prognosis of damage and failure in the structural components of horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWT) located in continental areas (onshore), and to plan and optimize the corrective and preventive maintenance of wind turbines. The study focuses on blades, connecting bolts between the hub and the blades, and the supporting tower, because they are structural components of high cost and with high failure rates, for which the monitoring of their condition is of the utmost importance.