Crack Monitoring of Operational Wind Turbine Foundations
The degradation of onshore, reinforced-concrete wind turbine foundations is usually assessed via above-ground inspections, or through lengthy excavation campaigns that suspend wind power generation. Foundation cracks can and do occur below ground level, and while sustained measurements of crack beha...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2017-08-01
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| Series: | Sensors |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/17/8/1925 |
| _version_ | 1798039077567594496 |
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| author | Marcus Perry Jack McAlorum Grzegorz Fusiek Pawel Niewczas Iain McKeeman Tim Rubert |
| author_facet | Marcus Perry Jack McAlorum Grzegorz Fusiek Pawel Niewczas Iain McKeeman Tim Rubert |
| author_sort | Marcus Perry |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The degradation of onshore, reinforced-concrete wind turbine foundations is usually assessed via above-ground inspections, or through lengthy excavation campaigns that suspend wind power generation. Foundation cracks can and do occur below ground level, and while sustained measurements of crack behaviour could be used to quantify the risk of water ingress and reinforcement corrosion, these cracks have not yet been monitored during turbine operation. Here, we outline the design, fabrication and field installation of subterranean fibre-optic sensors for monitoring the opening and lateral displacements of foundation cracks during wind turbine operation. We detail methods for in situ sensor characterisation, verify sensor responses against theoretical tower strains derived from wind speed data, and then show that measured crack displacements correlate with monitored tower strains. Our results show that foundation crack opening displacements respond linearly to tower strain and do not change by more than ±5 μ m. Lateral crack displacements were found to be negligible. We anticipate that the work outlined here will provide a starting point for real-time, long-term and dynamic analyses of crack displacements in future. Our findings could furthermore inform the development of cost-effective monitoring systems for ageing wind turbine foundations. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T21:48:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-cb19b9a75ebb44beb2cfa3800628d98e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1424-8220 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T21:48:56Z |
| publishDate | 2017-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sensors |
| spelling | doaj.art-cb19b9a75ebb44beb2cfa3800628d98e2022-12-22T04:01:19ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202017-08-01178192510.3390/s17081925s17081925Crack Monitoring of Operational Wind Turbine FoundationsMarcus Perry0Jack McAlorum1Grzegorz Fusiek2Pawel Niewczas3Iain McKeeman4Tim Rubert5Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1XJ, UKDepartment of Electronic & Electrical Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1XQ, UKDepartment of Electronic & Electrical Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1XQ, UKDepartment of Electronic & Electrical Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1XQ, UKDepartment of Electronic & Electrical Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1XQ, UKDepartment of Electronic & Electrical Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1XQ, UKThe degradation of onshore, reinforced-concrete wind turbine foundations is usually assessed via above-ground inspections, or through lengthy excavation campaigns that suspend wind power generation. Foundation cracks can and do occur below ground level, and while sustained measurements of crack behaviour could be used to quantify the risk of water ingress and reinforcement corrosion, these cracks have not yet been monitored during turbine operation. Here, we outline the design, fabrication and field installation of subterranean fibre-optic sensors for monitoring the opening and lateral displacements of foundation cracks during wind turbine operation. We detail methods for in situ sensor characterisation, verify sensor responses against theoretical tower strains derived from wind speed data, and then show that measured crack displacements correlate with monitored tower strains. Our results show that foundation crack opening displacements respond linearly to tower strain and do not change by more than ±5 μ m. Lateral crack displacements were found to be negligible. We anticipate that the work outlined here will provide a starting point for real-time, long-term and dynamic analyses of crack displacements in future. Our findings could furthermore inform the development of cost-effective monitoring systems for ageing wind turbine foundations.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/17/8/1925fiber optic sensingfiber Bragg gratingsconcrete cracksdisplacement sensorsstructural health monitoringlife extensionfield trial |
| spellingShingle | Marcus Perry Jack McAlorum Grzegorz Fusiek Pawel Niewczas Iain McKeeman Tim Rubert Crack Monitoring of Operational Wind Turbine Foundations Sensors fiber optic sensing fiber Bragg gratings concrete cracks displacement sensors structural health monitoring life extension field trial |
| title | Crack Monitoring of Operational Wind Turbine Foundations |
| title_full | Crack Monitoring of Operational Wind Turbine Foundations |
| title_fullStr | Crack Monitoring of Operational Wind Turbine Foundations |
| title_full_unstemmed | Crack Monitoring of Operational Wind Turbine Foundations |
| title_short | Crack Monitoring of Operational Wind Turbine Foundations |
| title_sort | crack monitoring of operational wind turbine foundations |
| topic | fiber optic sensing fiber Bragg gratings concrete cracks displacement sensors structural health monitoring life extension field trial |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/17/8/1925 |
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