No abstract

Within renewable energy, challenging climates can impose great limitations on power generation. In wind energy, rain erosion on turbine blades can create major disruptions to air flow over the aerofoil, reducing the efficiency of the blade and immediately affecting the power output of the turbine. The defects in the materials that cause these inefficiencies are known and can be observed on turbines that have been in operation for extended periods. This work explores the transitions between different wear states for G10 Epoxy Glass under laboratory simulated wind turbine conditions in operation and measures the wear periodically to identify a progression of erosion. Mass loss data and micrographic analysis revealed samples at 45° and 60° displayed increasing erosion when examining erosion performance for angles between 15° and 90° over various exposure and velocities. Erosion maps were constructed, showing the variation of wastage and identifying the performance window of conditions where degradation is minimised.

Leading edge erosion is becoming increasingly important as wind turbine size and rainfall are predicted to increase. Understanding environmental conditions is key for laboratory testing, maintenance schedules and lifetime estimations to be improved, which in turn could reduce costs. This paper uses weather data in conjunction with a rain texture model and wind turbine RPM curve to predict and characterise rain erosion conditions across Ireland during rainfall events in terms of droplet size, temperature, humidity and chemical composition, as well as the relative erosivity, in terms of number of annual impacts and kinetic energy, as well as seasonal variations in these properties. Using a linear regression, the total annual kinetic energy, mean temperature and the mean humidity during impact are mapped geospatially. The results indicate that the west coast of Ireland and elevated regions are more erosive with higher kinetic energy. During rain events, northern regions tend to have lower temperatures and lower humidities and mountainous regions have lower temperatures and higher humidities. Irish rain has high levels of sea salt, and in recent years, only a slightly acidic pH. Most erosion likely occurs during winters with frequent rain infused with salt due to increased winds. After this analysis, it is concluded that Ireland’s largest wind park (Galway) is placed in a moderate-highly erosive environment and that RET protocols should be revisited.

Erosion of tidal turbine blades in the marine environment is a major material challenge due to the high thrust and torsional loading at the rotating surfaces, which limits the ability to harness energy from tidal sources. Polymer–matrix composites can exhibit leading-blade edge erosion due to marine flows containing salt and solid particles of sand. Anti-erosion coatings can be used for more ductility at the blade surface, but the discontinuity between the coating and the stiffer composite can be a site of failure. Therefore, it is desirable to have a polymer matrix with a gradient of toughness, with a tougher, more ductile polymer matrix at the blade surface, transitioning gradually to the high stiffness matrix needed to provide high composite mechanical properties. In this study, multiple powder epoxy systems were investigated, and two were selected to manufacture unidirectional glass-fiber-reinforced polymer (UD-GFRP) plates with different epoxy ratios at the surface and interior plies, leading to a toughening gradient within the plate. The gradient plates were then mechanically compared to their standard counterparts. Solid particle erosion testing was carried out at various test conditions and parameters on UD-GFRP specimens in a slurry environment. The experiments performed were based on a model of the UK marine environment for a typical tidal energy farm with respect to the concentration of saltwater and the size of solid particle erodent. The morphologies of the surfaces were examined by SEM. Erosion maps were generated based on the result showing significant differences for materials of different stiffness in such conditions.

Chromium (Cr) containing steels were tested to analyse corrosion behaviour in carbon dioxide saturated water of varying salinities with extended exposure time. Both potentiodynamic and mass loss data were collected to gain a better understanding of the corrosion mechanisms. It was found that both the high Cr steels displayed degradation in the form of pitting with increasing salinities. However, the low alloy steel reference material showed uniform iron carbonate (FeCO 3) precipitation. The use of high salinity precipitated layers to aid corrosion protection in lower salinity seawater environments was then established as an interesting area for greater examination. Subsequently, samples of the low alloy steel previously corroded in solutions of 7, 14 and 28% sodium chloride (NaCl) concentration were then tested in seawater salinities of 3.5% NaCl. It was found that both the 7 and 14% NaCl pre-corroded samples resulted in a significant reduction in the corrosion rate when compared with non-pre-corroded samples. The 7% NaCl pre-corroded sample showed the greatest reduction in corrosion rate, and through SEM analysis of the layer both on the surface and cross-section it was found to display an iron carbonate layer more densely packed and defect free. This indicated the potential benefits of high salinity pre-corrosion techniques to aid protection in seawater environments.