TY - CONF A1 - Ghafafian, Carineh A1 - Popiela, Bartosz A1 - Nielow, Dustin A1 - Trappe, Volker T1 - Restoration of structural integrity – Repairs for wind turbine blade shells N2 - Wind turbine rotor blade shells are manufactured as sandwich structures with fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) due to the material’s high specific stiffness and strength. With a growing renewable energy industry and thereby a spread of wind energy farms, especially in offshore applications, the need to fully utilize turbines through their designed lifespan is becoming increasingly essential. However, due to imperfections during manufacturing, which are then propagated by harsh environmental conditions and a variety of loads, blades often fail before their projected lifespan. Thus, the need for localized repair patch methods for the outer shell portions of the blades has become of greater interest in recent years, as it is crucial to the optimal compromise between continuation of wind energy production, cost efficiency, and restoration of structural performance. To increase the understanding of the effect on the fatigue life of the rotor blades, this study tests localized repair patch methods and compares them to each other as well as to reference, non-repaired specimens. Manufactured with the vacuum-assisted resin infusion process, the shell test specimens are produced as a curved structure with glass FRP sandwiching a polyvinyl chloride foam core to best represent a portion of a rotor blade shell. Patch repairs are then introduced with varying layup techniques, and material properties are examined with cyclic fatigue tests. The intermediate scale test specimens allow for the observation of material as well as structural variables, namely of interest being the stiffness and strength restoration due to the repair patches. Damage onset, crack development, and eventual failure are monitored with in-situ non-destructive testing methods to develop a robust understanding of the effects of repair concepts. T2 - 5th International Conference on Smart Monitoring, Assessment and Rehabilitation of Civil Structures CY - Potsdam, Germany DA - 27.08.2019 KW - Wind turbine blade shells KW - Fiber reinforced polymers KW - Sandwich structures KW - Fatigue PY - 2019 AN - OPUS4-48859 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -