Rainbow - Optimized prediction and decision support for rain erosion and lightning-driven degradation of blades
The RAINBOW project aims to gain more insight into the erosion of rotor blades due to precipitation and lightning, because erosion entails significant production losses. This should provide new opportunities for preventive maintenance and improved strategies for inspection, maintenance and repair.
The project partners are committed to thorough monitoring of the turbines and energy yield on the one hand and automated inspection of rotor blades with drones on the other. Based on the results, coatings and other protective materials will be tested and validated under realistic North Sea conditions.
All this also makes it possible to better predict the life of wind turbines and better prepare and schedule inspection flights with drones. Eventually, this will result in a longer service life of the wind turbines and a drastic reduction in inspection, maintenance and repair costs. Better risk management of erosion and damage to turbine blades will also contribute to higher energy production and lower and more competitive energy prices.
Project Leader: von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (VKI)
Het project RAINBOW wil meer inzicht verwerven in de erosie van rotorbladen ten gevolge van neerslag en bliksem, want erosie brengt aanzienlijke productieverliezen met zich mee. Dit moet nieuwe mogelijkheden voor preventief onderhoud en verbeterde strategieën voor inspectie, onderhoud en herstelling opleveren.
De projectpartners zetten daarbij in op doorgedreven monitoring van de turbines en de energie-opbrengst enerzijds en geautomatiseerde inspectie van rotorbladen met drones anderzijds. Op basis van de resultaten zullen coatings en andere beschermingsmaterialen onder realistische Noordzee-omstandigheden getest en gevalideerd worden.
Dit alles maakt het ook mogelijk om de levensduur van windturbines beter te voorspellen en inspectievluchten met drones beter voor te bereiden en in te plannen. Uiteindelijk zal dit resulteren in een langere levensduur van de windturbines en een drastische afname van de inspectie-, onderhouds- en herstellingskosten.
Een betere risicobeheersing van erosie en schade aan de turbinebladen zal daarnaast bijdragen tot een hogere energieproductie en lagere en meer competitieve energieprijzen.
Projectleider: von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (VKI)
Partners: Otary, Norther, Engie Laborelec, VKI, VUB, Sirris en SABCA
SeaFD is a cluster cSBO project proposed by the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics, VUB and SIRRIS, and resides under the SIM program Material Durability for Off-Shore (MaDurOS) of VLAIO (Vlaamse Agentschap Innoveren & Ondernemen), created in 2012. The SeaFD project aims to provide realistic wind load predictions for offshore wind turbines at extreme weather conditions. The Doppler-LiDAR will help to reach this goal and extend the lifetime of wind turbine drivetrain and its bearings.
SeaFD aims to:
Investigate the impact of weather conditions on the lifetime of the wind turbine drivetrain and its bearings.
Create a high-resolution weather model tuned to Belgian North Sea wind farms. To improve the understanding of extreme weather events in wind farms, global historical weather datasets from ECMWF and NCAR will be coupled to mesoscale weather forecasting modelling (WRF), and to Large Eddy Simulation (LES), to compute wind fields approaching wind turbines and within wind farms, at turbine scales. Once the best model settings have been found, the high-resolution weather model is ready to predict weather at long term, and to predict weather conditions at short term, i.e. 1.5 days ahead, thus helping to improve the risk management of offshore wind farms.
Predict real-time wind turbine loading using a lower-order model for wind park operation. With the help of the weather prediction tool, CFD RANS simulations, SCADA 1 sec, LIDAR and wave buoy data, a reduced-order modelling will be set up using a machine-learning approach. The resulting tool is aimed to be used for wind park operation.
A first milestone has been reached! The Doppler-LiDAR purchased by VKI is working and ready to perform testing. It currently measures the wind velocity on a vertical profile up to 400meter over the VKI buildings.
The two LiDAR sensors of VKI and VUB will be installed at the Northwind offshore wind farm for long term measurements, spanning over a large portion of the project duration. The collected data will provide crucial information on the local weather conditions upstream and within the farm for model validation.
cSBO is short for strategic basic research for clusters. This type of project is for long term research, relatively far from market introduction, carried out by research institutes. A cSBO project concerns long term innovative research that offers a prospect for later economic and social applications in the event of scientific success. The research is relatively far from market and is carried out by research institutes. cSBO projects fit in a broader trajectory within the cluster and are not stand-alone projects.
