Rain erosion of wind turbine blade coatings using discrete water jets: Effects of water cushioning, substrate geometry, impact distance, and coating properties

摘要

Rapid and reliable rain erosion screening of blade coatings for wind turbines is a strong need in the coatings industry. One possibility in this direction is the use of discrete water jets, where so-called jet slugs are impacted on a coating surface. Previous investigations have mapped the influence of water jet slug velocity and impact frequency. In the present work, the effects on coating erosion of water cushioning, substrate curvature, and water nozzle-coating distance were explored. The investigations showed that in some cases water cushioning (the presence of a liquid film on the coating surface prior to impact) influences the erosion. Contrary to this, substrate curvature and the water nozzle-coating distance (< 100 mm) did not influence the results to any significant degree.