Recurrent non‐destructive testing inspections are necessary to prevent damages in wind turbine rotor blades, but so far, there is no established method that detects defects in blades from greater distances – although this becomes increasingly important in the context of hardly accessible offshore wind parks. Thermography is a promising method for detecting subsurface defects, but various challenges arise when this method is applied on‐site to turbine blades in operation. Disturbing influences from the environment easily lead to a misinterpretation of thermograms (i.e. thermographic images), such as thermal signatures caused by reflections, dirt and other superficial inhomogeneities. This study explores several problems and effects that arise, when (rotating) blades are monitored with thermography. It will then be demonstrated that a meaningful defect inspection in this scenario is essentially restricted to a procedure following three steps: Firstly, calculating the so‐called difference thermograms of all blade pairs for eliminating disturbing reflections. Secondly, identifying potentially relevant signals, which are associated neither with structural features nor with dynamical effects, and the identification of these signals' allocations (through comparison of all difference thermograms with each other). And thirdly, comparing these signals with (processed) photos for excluding incorrect indications by surface effects. Unlike common thermographic analysis methods, which typically only include an aspect of this procedure, the composition presented in this contribution constitutes an advanced technique for minimizing disturbing influences in thermograms. The proposed thermographic technique enables the detection of potential subsurface defects within rotating rotor blades from greater distances – such as from the ground, air crafts or vessels. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Using optical excitation sources for active thermography enables a contactless, remote, and non-destructive testing of materials and structures. Currently, two kinds of temporal excitation techniques have been established: pulse or flash excitation, using mostly flash lamps; and periodic or lock-in excitation, using halogen lamps, LED, or laser arrays. From the experimental point of view, both techniques have their advantages and disadvantages. Concerning the comparison of the testing results of both techniques, only very few studies have been performed in the past. In this contribution, the phase values obtained at flat bottom holes in steel and CFRP and the spatial resolution measured at crossed notches in steel using flash and lock-in excitation are compared quantitatively.

Lockin thermography is a well-suited method for the characterization of structures made of both metal and fiber reinforced plastic. In most cases, only phase images are analyzed, although the amplitude images might contain useful information as well. Thus, systematic studies of lockin thermography are presented, assessing amplitude and phase images for the detection and quantification of defects in isotropic (steel) and anisotropic (carbon fiber reinforced plastic) materials. Characterized defects are flat bottom holes with different diameters and various remaining wall thicknesses as well as crossed notches at different depths. The excitation frequency was varied while keeping the number of analyzed excitation periods nearly constant for each material. The data analysis was focused on the detectability of the defects both in the amplitude and phase images, including the determination of the signal-to-noise ratio and of the spatial resolution. As a result, the limits of defect detectability and spatial resolution are given for each material.

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