Wind turbine blade structural performance testing

Abstract: International safety and design standards for structural performance analysis require full-scale testing of each wind turbine blade prototype and of blades that have undergone major design changes. The purpose of blade testing is to demonstrate that the blade design and production are such that the blade possesses the intended strength and service life. Full-scale testing can be seen as final design verification that also checks the assumptions used in the design. In this chapter, aspects of full-scale blade testing are considered in the practical context of the blade test laboratory. An overview is given of the tests which make up the complete test program, the loads used for each and the equipment and instrumentation used.