TY - JOUR A1 - Doroshtnasir, Manoucher A1 - Worzewski, Tamara A1 - Krankenhagen, Rainer A1 - Röllig, Mathias T1 - On-site inspection of potential defects in wind turbine rotor blades with thermography N2 - Recurrent non-destructive testing inspections are necessary to prevent damages in wind turbine rotor blades, but so far, there is no established method that detects defects in blades from greater distances – although this becomes increasingly important in the context of hardly accessible offshore wind parks. Thermography is a promising method for detecting subsurface defects, but various challenges arise when this method is applied on-site to turbine blades in operation. Disturbing influences from the environment easily lead to a misinterpretation of thermograms (i.e. thermographic images), such as thermal signatures caused by reflections, dirt and other superficial inhomogeneities. This study explores several problems and effects that arise, when (rotating) blades are monitored with thermography. It will then be demonstrated that a meaningful defect inspection in this scenario is essentially restricted to a procedure following three steps: Firstly, calculating the so-called difference thermograms of all blade pairs for eliminating disturbing reflections. Secondly, identifying potentially relevant signals, which are associated neither with structural features nor with dynamical effects, and the identification of these signals’ allocations (through comparison of all difference thermograms with each other). And thirdly, comparing these signals with (processed) photos for excluding incorrect indications by surface effects. Unlike common thermographic analysis methods, which typically only include an aspect of this procedure, the composition presented in this contribution constitutes an advanced technique for minimizing disturbing influences in thermograms. The proposed thermographic technique enables the detection of potential subsurface defects within rotating rotor blades from greater distances – such as from the ground, air crafts or vessels. KW - NDT KW - Thermographic inspection KW - Wind turbine rotor blade KW - GFRP PY - 2016 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/we.1927 SN - 1095-4244 VL - 19 IS - 8 SP - 1407 EP - 1422 PB - John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. CY - Hoboken, New Jersey, USA AN - OPUS4-37291 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Krankenhagen, Rainer A1 - Röllig, Mathias A1 - Worzewski, Tamara A1 - Doroshtnasir, Manoucher T1 - Thermographic rotor blade inspection from larger distances – a promising tool for the maintenance of wind turbines N2 - The permanently increasing number of wind turbines requires suited inspection and monitoring methods to ensure liability and security. Concerning the inspection of ro-tor blades, only manual inspections are state of the art. Thermographic Testing (TT) has the potential to detect typical failures and damages on rotor blades. The paper presents some results of onsite measurements carried out as “passive thermogra-phy”, i.e. without a defined heating procedure. Due the totally contactless meas-urement principle, TT can be applied to rotating blades as well as to resting blades. Both methods will be compared with respect to their possible realization. T2 - WCNDT 2016 CY - Munich, Germany DA - 13.06.2016 KW - Wind turbine rotor blade KW - Thermographic inspection KW - Passive thermography KW - Nondestructive testing PY - 2016 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-366331 SN - 978-3-940283-78-8 SP - We.4.D.4., 1 EP - 8 AN - OPUS4-36633 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -