Extensive fatigue testing for the wind energy sector
Needs
Low carbon energy & Energy mix + Maximizing Profitability + Developing high efficiency & reliability machines
Solution
Develop reliable renewable energy
Cetim demonstrated an innovative approach. Its bid proposed subjecting the test samples to a more extensive analysis and characterisation programme than we had initially envisaged. It will enable us to gain a better understanding of the fatigue performance.
Customer needs
The OWA FaWS project seeks to improve understanding of the fatigue performance of offshore wind turbine foundations in real operating conditions. Achieving this goal involved carrying out fatigue tests on some 300 25mm-thick welded test pieces.
Customer benefits
The opportunity to take advantage of our laboratory’s expertise in welded assembly fatigue characterisation on test benches able to meet the requirements of specific applications, and of our ability to run very high numbers of tests in appropriate conditions and carry out detailed analyses of the results.
Cetim answer
By carrying out 3D digital scanning on the test pieces, we can simulate potential initiation sites and then correlate theorical results with those obtained during testing. We used a 550kN-capacity test bench capable of testing samples at a frequency of 100 Hz, thereby significantly reducing overall testing time.
Delivered results
Thanks to our robust technical know-how and ability to carry out a large number of different tests and process the data retrospectively, Cetim has been able to enrich the results of its fatigue characterisation tests with additional analyses, so adding value to the project (e.g. testing enhanced by digital image correlation).