Impact Angle Effects on Erosion Maps of GFRP: Applications to Tidal Turbines

Abstract

Tribology in marine renewable technologies has become of increasing interest due to the implications for developing improved materials for tidal and wave energy conversion devices. This on-going research mainly focuses on tidal devices; the materials of interest are primarily polymer-based composite materials that are used to provide structural integrity while reducing weight. These are specifically applied to turbine blades to withstand the high impact loadings in seawater conditions. At present, current materials in test trials have demonstrated some limitations in service. In this paper, some advanced experimental research has been carried out to investigate the tribological mechanisms of potential candidate composite materials to be used in tidal turbines by firstly considering the effects of various erosion parameters on the degradation modes, with and without particles in still and seawater conditions. The erosion mechanisms of composite materials used in tidal turbine blades have been evaluated using Scanning Electron Microscopy techniques to analyse the surface morphologies following testing in water representative of the constituents of coastal seawater. Generic erosion maps and the mechanistic maps have been constructed as a key to identify regions of minimum erosion for the operating conditions and to identify the significant effect of the seawater environment on the degradation of the composite. This research outcome will further help us to deeply understand and identify the erosion rates at different impact velocities and angles.

Raindrop Erosion of Composite Materials: Some Views on the Effect of Bending Stress on Erosion Mechanisms

“…[16] As a result, the behaviour could be classed as quasi-ductile. These results agree well with the work of Rafee Abdulmajeed Rafee Ahamed et al [17] where tidal erosion was studied. It is interesting that although this work investigated erosion of G10 composite in slurries of sea water and sand (SiC), the impact angle exhibiting peak erosion is the same; thus, analogous behaviour was observed albeit in different conditions.…”

Parametric Study of Accidental Impacts on an Offshore Wind Turbine Composite Blade

“…Pugh et al had tested the effect of the bending stress and salinity on the erosion mechanisms of composite wind turbine blades [32,33]. Ahamed et al [34] tested the effect of impact angle on the erosion of composite materials for tidal applications.…”

Erosion Mapping of Through-Thickness Toughened Powder Epoxy Gradient Glass-Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) Plates for Tidal Turbine Blades

“…In the literature of the solid particle abrasion and erosion of composite materials and also observed in slurry conditions [21][22][23], there have been some well-characterized trends observed on the performance. These include peaks in erosion as the function of impact angle changing depending on the volume fraction of reinforcement material.…”