Abstract—Wind turbine blades (WTB) are one of the most damageable components of a wind turbine system and due to their importance must be tested during the fabrication and before installing. WTB are produced from composite materials with polymeric matrices, most of the stages of producing are manufacturing and can result in different types of defects. Therefore, non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques that provide surface and internal information of the blade are required. In this paper, ultrasonic testing using noncontact transducers for the control of composites type Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastics (GFRP) with orthophthalic polyester resins matrix is presented in order to prove its capabilities for such applications. The mechanical properties determined by above mentioned method are confirmed by destructive tests using Dynamic Mechanical Analysis.
Index Terms—Wind turbine blade, GFRP, nondestructive testing, non-contact ultrasonic method.
R.Steigmann is with Nondestructive Testing Department, National Institute of Research and Development for Technical Physics, Iasi, Romania and Ph.D.Student at Faculty of Physics, University Al.I.Cuza, Iasi, Romania (e-mail: steigmann@phys-iasi.ro).
A.Savin and N.Iftimie are with Nondestructive Testing Department, National Institute of Research and Development for Technical Physics, Iasi, Romania.
R.Sturm is with Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
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Cite:Rozina Steigmann, Nicoleta Iftimie, Adriana Savin, Roman Sturm, "Wind Turbine Blade Composites Assessment Using Non-Contact Ultrasound Method," Journal of Clean Energy Technologies vol. 4, no. 6, pp. 440-443, 2016.
