Damage tolerant design and condition monitoring of composite material and bondlines in wind turbine blades: Failure and crack propagation

摘要

This research presents a novel method to asses a crack growing/damage event in composite material, in polymer, or in structural adhesive using Fibre Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors embedded in the host material, and its application in to a composite material structure: Wind Turbine Trailing Edge. A Structure-Material-Sensor Finite Element Method (FEM) model was developed to simulate the Fibre Bragg Grating sensor output response, when embedded in a host material (Composite material, polymer or adhesive), during a crack growing/damage event. This Structure-Material-Sensor model provides a tool to analyse the application of this monitoring technique in other locations/structures, by predicting the sensor output and deciding, based on this, the optimal sensor distribution/configuration.