Offshore wind turbine blades measurement using Coherent Laser Radar

Talbot, J.; Wang, Q.; Brady, N.; Holden, R.

doi:10.1016/j.measurement.2015.10.030

Offshore wind turbine blades measurement using Coherent Laser Radar

Talbot, J.; Wang, Q.; Brady, N.; Holden, R.

Authors

J. Talbot

Dr Qing Wang qing.wang@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

N. Brady

R. Holden

Abstract

To maximize aerodynamic efficiency, large-scale offshore wind turbine blades require inspection during the production stage to ensure strict tolerance requirements are met. During production, the blade is fixed at the root, restricting movement in the Z direction. X, Y, Rx, Ry and Rz remain unconstrained causing blade flex due to gravity. This deforms the blade away from the theoretical CAD blade location, causing measurement results that do not accurately represent the blade profile. Measurement error can be minimized using rigorous B-spline data alignment. Such alignment compensates for blade flex by varying the constrained Degrees of Freedom (DoF), and provides manufacturers with confidence in the design process. This paper used Coherent Laser Radar and Spatial Analyzer to establish the optimal constrained DoF variation, giving the most accurate data alignment solution. Of the constraints investigated, the optimal data transformation solution was found with a double B-spline alignment method, whilst constraining movement in Y, Z and Ry.

Citation

Talbot, J., Wang, Q., Brady, N., & Holden, R. (2016). Offshore wind turbine blades measurement using Coherent Laser Radar. Measurement, 79, 53-65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.measurement.2015.10.030

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Oct 22, 2015
Online Publication Date	Oct 30, 2015
Publication Date	Feb 1, 2016
Deposit Date	Nov 12, 2015
Publicly Available Date	Feb 16, 2016
Journal	Measurement.
Print ISSN	0263-2241
Publisher	Elsevier
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	79
Pages	53-65
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.measurement.2015.10.030
Keywords	B-spline, Coherent Laser Radar (CLR), Data alignment, Degrees of Freedom (DoF), Transformation, Wind turbine blades.

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Copyright Statement
© 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).