The objective of this recommended practice (RP) is to summarize current industry best practice for the analysis of erosion and delamination of leading edge protection (LEP) systems due to rain drop impact loads or deformations resulting from blade bending.
This RP is limited to the evaluation of delamination and erosion durability of LEPs that results from either:
- deformations of the blade structure
- impacting rain.
- establishing the LEP durability which can be used to plan expected maintenance within or after the lifetime of the wind turbine generator
- relative comparison of the durability of erosion protection systems.
For delamination caused by impacting rain, a general procedure for the evaluation is described in Sec.4. For delamination caused by blade bending, a test program and guidance for the test loads is provided.
In addition to the methodologies for the three different failure modes, the most important manufacturing influences for the performance of leading edge protections are listed and a method for cyclic aging of test specimens is recommended.
This RP does not include:
- failure of LEP systems due to other sources of damage for example ice, hail, dust, corrosives, etc.
- other failure modes for example cracking of underlying layers
- prediction of damage progression beyond the incubation period
- a methodology for the analysis of multi-layer LEP systems.