Durable leading edges for high tip speed wind turbine blades

Key objective: Extending the current limits of wind energy development, up
- to higher tip speeds (to 90…100 m/s),
- extra-large wind blade sizes and
- challenging service conditions (dust/rain/snow, higher wind speeds), by preventing the surface degradation and erosion of the wind turbine blades WTB).

Specific goals: to provide the wind turbine industry with (1) understanding of leading edge erosion (LEE) mechanisms, (2) guidelines and predictive omputational models for the development of LE protection of WTB against rain rosion and impact fatigue, as well as (3) highly resistant gradient multilayered coating for full lifetime surface protection of blades. This will remove the erosion related tip speed constraint on rotor design, increase the efficiency and reliability of wind energy generation. The project will (a) develop new products (gradient protective coating, specific coatings for various wind blades), (b) combine knowledge (using computational micromechanics and advanced microscopy/testing to create models and new
coatings), and (c) create new knowledge (understanding of LEE mechanisms, computational tools for protection development). The key outputs will be:
•Gradient multilayered protective coating for WTB (prototype), ensuring the required LE protection. Advancement: from TRL 2…3 (partial solutions available; concept of multilayered coatings proven, s. State of Art/SoA) to TRL7 (optimized coating tested in operating blades). Time to market: 3 yrs after the project end.
•Computational model of LE erosion, for the prediction, numerical optimization and design of protective solutions. Advancement: from TRL 4 (working models available, see SoA) to TRL 7 (predictive models, used to predict coating efficiency of real blades). Time to market: 12/2021.
•Guidelines for the development of LE protection. Advancement: from TRL 4 (general recommendations) to TRL 8 (comprehensive guidelines validated on real blades). Time to market: 12/2