Estimation of Fatique Life of Wind Turbine Blade : In the Case of TAPPI Wind Park

Abstract

Wind turbine blade fatigue life was estimated with Goodman's Rule and Miner's Rule, using the Rain-Flow Procedure for stress values and numbers at TAPPI Wind Park where the terrain is mountainous and very rough. The fatigue life which calculated using faithfully measured data and following the distributions is evaluated to be about 12 years. Approximation using a well-known probability density function gives an estimate of about 23 years. This difference is very significant and it is thought that it is caused by conventional methods which exclude irregular and the large pulsating stresses on a blade imposed by wind turbulence.