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Leading edge erosion (LEE) of wind turbine blades has been identified as a major factor in decreased wind turbine blade lifetimes and energy output over time. Accordingly, the International Energy Agency Wind Technology Collaboration Programme (IEA Wind TCP) has created the Task 46 to undertake cooperative research in the key topic of blade erosion. Participants in the task are given in Table 1.
Wind turbine blade leading edge erosion (LEE) reduces energy production and increases wind energy operation and maintenance costs. Degradation of the blade coating and ultimately damage to the underlying blade structure are caused by collisions of falling hydrometeors with rotating blades. The selection of optimal methods to mitigate/reduce LEE are critically dependent on the rates of coating fatigue accumulation at a given location and the time variance in the accumulation of material stresses. However, no such assessment currently exists for the United States of America (USA). To address this research gap, blade coating lifetimes at 883 sites across the USA are generated based on high-frequency (5-min) estimates of material fatigue derived using a mechanistic model and robust meteorological measurements. Results indicate blade coating failure at some sites in as few as 4 years, and that the frequency and intensity of material stresses are both highly episodic and spatially varying. Time series analyses indicate that up to one-third of blade coating lifetime is exhausted in just 360 5-min periods in the Southern Great Plains (SGP). Conversely, sites in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) exhibit the same level of coating lifetime depletion in over three times as many time periods. Thus, it may be more cost-effective to use wind turbine deregulation (erosion-safe mode) for damage reduction and blade lifetime extension in the SGP, while the application of blade leading edge protective measures may be more appropriate in the PNW. Annual total precipitation and mean wind speed are shown to be poor predictors of blade coating lifetime, re-emphasizing the need for detailed modeling studies such as that presented herein.
Investigation determines - relation between impact velocity and minimum number of impacts producing visible erosion, relation between high frequency fatigue stresses and number of cycles to failure, water-hammer stresses relation to high frequency endurance limit, erosion rate as exposure time function, and correlates experimental data with recent theory.
An analytical-empirical model is presented of turbine erosion that fits and explains experience in both steam and metal vapor turbines. Because of the complexities involved in analyzing turbine problems, in a pure scientific sense, it is obvious that this goal can be only partially realized. Therefore, emphasis is placed on providing a useful model for preliminary erosion estimates for given configurations, fluids, and flow conditions.
A 5 cm diameter mercury ion thruster similar to one tested for 9715 hours was operated approximately 400 hrs each at discharge voltages of 36.6, 39.6, and 42.6 V, with corresponding discharge propellant utilizations of 58, 68, and 70 percent. The observed sputter erosion rates of the internal thruster parts and the anode weight gain rate all rose rapidly with discharge voltage and were roughly in the ratio of 1:3:5 for the three voltages. The combined weight loss of the internal thruster parts nearly balanced the anode weight gain. Hg(+2) ion apparently caused most of the observed erosion.
Evidence for extensive wind erosion principally in the equatorial and mid-latitude regions of Mars is presented and compared with selected erosional landforms from the coastal desert of Peru known to be of eolian origin. The evidence for widespread erosion on Mars prompted an examination of certain aspects of its wind regime that are thought to be significant geologically.
The author has identified the following significant results. ERTS-1 multispectral images have been used, without additional data, to prepare three maps at 1:1 million scale of the 18,000 sq. mi. project area: (1) modern (post-1890 A. D.) arroyos and channels; (2) types of stream channels; and (3) potential erodibility of soils; surficial deposits, and bedrock. Also completed was the collection and compilation of ground truth geologic, soil, and hydrologic data. Field studies to obtain ground control for the photointerpretive mapping include: (1) measurements, at many sites, of the depth, width, and channel characteristics of arroyos and gullies, and cross profiles of stream channels, flood plains, and Holocene terraces; and (2) stratigraphic measurements of the Holocene alluvial deposits. Significant conclusions from these extensive stratigraphic studies are: Slow deposition of sediment was the dominant process on stream lowlands throughout the project area for at least 2000 years prior to 1890 A.D. The deposition was broken by only two relatively brief and minor erosional episodes of regional importance, when channels no more than a third of the depth of modern channels were cut. The modern erosion has produced within about 80 years substantially more and larger arroyos than any erosion episode during the last 2000 years, and the end is not in sight.
The various forms of corrosion are discussed and the role of localized electrochemical reactions in the wear of sliding surfaces are considered. It is stated that there is evidence that fretting corrosion, stress corrosion cracking, corrosion fatigue, and erosion corrosion have as a common basis the localized electrochemical reactions caused by a combination of the induced homogeneity of the surfaces and the corrosive environment. Several processes leading to erosive wear are discussed.
Methods for predicting erosion resulting from repeated localized impulsive loadings, such a impacts from droplets or in cavitation flow from microjets and bubbles, are examined. The parameters which determine the adequacy of a component to resist the loads put upon it are identified. The development of erosion rate models is discussed. The expected accuracy of the prediction and the sources of error are analyzed.
Tests were conducted to determine the damaging effects of rain erosion on optically transparent materials. The rotating arm test equipment used for the tests is described. Typical transparent materials such as those found in windshields, infrared windows, lasers, and television systems were tested. Nominal velocities of 400, 500, and 600 miles per hour and rainfall conditions of one inch per hour simulated rainfall were used in the tests. It was determined that an 80 percent reduction in laser transmittance can occur in plastics submitted to rain erosion. Significant results of the environmental tests are explained.
A 5-cm diameter mercury ion thruster similar to one tested for 9715 hours was operated approximately 400 hrs each at discharge voltages of 36.6, 39.6, and 42.6 V, with corresponding discharge propellant utilizations of 58, 68, and 70 percent. The observed sputter erosion rates of the internal thruster parts and the anode weight gain rate all rose rapidly with discharge voltage and were roughly in the ratio of 1:3:5 for the three voltages. The combined weight loss of the internal thruster parts nearly balanced the anode weight gain. Hg+2 ions apparently caused most of the observed erosion.
The Mariner 9 photographs of the Martian surface include many which show crater-associated streaks caused by atmospheric winds. Due to the low density atmosphere of Mars, the wind speeds necessary to move surface particles and thus cause the streaks are apparently very high. The atmospheric-boundary-layer wind tunnel has been used to determine threshold speeds for particles of varying density and diameter and the results for small particles have been extrapolated to estimate somewhat lower threshold speeds on Mars than previous estimates. A series of streak modeling tests is used to derive an erosion-rate correlation function, which is in turn used to estimate erosion rates to the lee of some of the craters on Mars which exhibited time-dependent streak behavior during the mission.
Photographs of the surface of Venus returned by the Venera 9 and 10 spacecraft have revealed the presence of smooth and angular rockline forms. Two mechanisms previously suggested (Sagan, 1975) for erosion of crater ramparts on the surface of Venus might also explain the erosion of rocks. Chemical weathering by the hydrochloric, hydrofluoric, and sulfuric acids present in the atmosphere of Venus may have been sufficient to erode angular projections of silicous rocks. Alternatively, the contours of rocks containing such low-melting materials as NaOH, KOH, HgS and KNO2 may have softened as the result of exposure to the high surface temperatures of the planet.
New theoretical method for prediction of erosive burning characteristics of solid propellant, using known ballistic and thermodynamic data only, is presented. Method is based on modified Lenoir-Robillard formula, and is applicable for composite and double base propellants, with or without negative erosion effect. Method is confirmed using experimental data of numerous authors.
Erosion and deposition over a barchan dune near the Salton Sea, California, are modeled by bookkeeping the quantity of sand in saltation following streamlines of transport. Field observations of near surface wind velocity and direction plus supplemental measurements of the velocity distribution over a scale model of the dune are combined as input to Bagnold type sand transport formulas corrected for slope effects. A unidirectional wind is assumed. The resulting patterns of erosion and deposition compare closely with those observed in the field and those predicted by the assumption of equilibrium (downwind translation of the dune without change in size or geometry). Discrepancies between the simulated results and the observed or predicted erosional patterns appear to be largely due to natural fluctuations in the wind direction. The shape of barchan dunes is a function of grain size, velocity, degree of saturation of the oncoming flow, and the variability in the direction of the oncoming wind. The size of the barchans may be controlled by natural atmospheric scales, by the age of the dunes, or by the upwind roughness. The upwind roughness can be controlled by fixed elements or by sand in the saltation. In the latter case, dune scale is determined by grain size and wind velocity.
Ceramic tantalum carbide artifacts with high thermal shock and mechanical erosion resistance are provided by incorporating tungsten-rhenium and carbon particles in a tantalum carbide matrix. The mix is sintered by hot pressing to form the ceramic article which has a high fracture strength relative to its elastic modulus and thus has an improved thermal shock and mechanical erosion resistance. The tantalum carbide is preferable less than minus 100 mesh, the carbon particles are preferable less than minus 100 mesh, and the tungsten-rhenium particles are preferable elongate, having a length to thickness ratio of at least 2/1. Tungsten-rhenium wire pieces are suitable as well as graphite particles.
The results of a series of laboratory experiments initiated to simulate Martian eolian erosion are presented. Experiments were conducted under Martian atmospheric pressure and compared to natural eolian sand produced on earth. It is reported that the less dense atmosphere on Mars resulted in more energetic eolian erosion manifested by an slightly higher rate of grain rounding and surface textures that included semicircular depressions termed 'popouts'. It is suggested that physical and chemical weathering may proceed more rapidly on Mars than on earth, given a sufficient supply of water vapor. In addition, clay mineral formations should be facilitated by the presence of large amounts of disrupted material. Finally, it is noted that the disrupted material could increase the ability of the soil to act as a reservoir for water thereby provisionally explaining the large amount of bound water on the surface soil material over much of Mars.
The Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) is a widely accepted tool for erosion prediction and conservation planning. In this study, airphoto analysis of color and color infrared 70 mm photography at a scale of 1:60,000 was used to determine the erosion control practice factor in the USLE. Information about contour tillage, contour strip cropping, and grass waterways was obtained from aerial photography for Pheasant Branch Creek watershed in Dane County, Wisconsin.