Effects of Erosion on Wind Turbine Leading Edge and Countermeasures
In recent years, operators of wind farms have become aware of an annoying effect reducing the performance of their turbines – the impact of weather-induced erosion at the rotor blade surface, mainly at the leading edge (Figure 1). Offshore wind parks in particular are impacted, driven by droplets of water hitting the blades with high velocity.
By Jan Liersch and Bastian Sundermann, Key Wind Energy, Germany