NDE Techniques of Fiber Characterization in Spar Caps of Wind Turbine Blades using Ultrasonic Waves
Abstract
Recently, ultrasonic waves (UT) have attracted attention as a tool for nondestructive evaluation (NDE) in various fields, including agriculture, medical engineering, and airport security. In this study, carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) materials are inspected during the fabrication process. Ultrasonic techniques are commonly used to evaluate composites in spar caps of wind turbine blades. Therefore, the fiber orientation and defects of composites are investigated using one-sided ultrasonic measurements to evaluate the soundness of CFRP composites in spar caps of wind turbine blades. Compared with the ultrasonic pulse-echo method, the ultrasonic pitch-catch method is effective in the receiving ultrasonic signals on the composites. Ultrasonic signals must be controlled at arbitrary depths of CFRP composite laminates; this is called a “sampling volume.” Therefore, ultrasonic signals can be obtained at arbitrary depths of composites in any sampling volume.
Keywords:
Composites, Pitch-catch mode, Ultrasonic waves, Wind blades, Time of flight (TOF)Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) (No.2021R1I1A3042195) and also experimentally helped by the CNDE at Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA.
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Ph. D. Candidate in the Department of Automotive Engineering, Graduate School of Woosuk University. His research interest is NDE on Composites.
E-mail: shixiaolongycit@163.com
Ph. D. Candidate in the Department of Automotive Engineering, Graduate School of Woosuk University. His research interest is NDE on Composites.
E-mail: rupipi@163.com
Ph. D. Candidate in the Department of Automotive Engineering, Graduate School of Woosuk University.
Master degree at University of Science and Technology Beijing. His research interest is Thermal Fluid.
E-mail: zhouziheng1290@163.com
Ph. D. Candidate in the Department of Automotive Engineering, Graduate School of Woosuk University. His research interest is NDE on Composites.
E-mail: 18632959996@163.com
Ph. D. Candidate in the Department of Automotive Engineering, Graduate School of Woosuk University. His research interest is NDE on Composites.
E-mail: zhengbao1203@naver.com
An associate professor at the Dept. of Basic Science, College of Engineering, Jeonju University. He is interested in Nondestructive Testing and Evaluation of Infrared Thermography and FEM Analysis.
E-mail: dgycho@hanmail.net
A Full Professor in Dept. of Automotive Engineering at Woosuk University. He is interested Nondestructive Testing and Analysis of Composite Materials and Semiconductors.
E-mail: wooyongd@woosuk.ac.kr
A Full Professor in Dept. of Automotive Engineering at Woosuk University. He is interested in T-ray/UT Nondestructive Testing and Analysis of Composite Materials.
E-mail: khim@woosuk.ac.kr