Structural Re-Use of De-Commissioned Wind Turbine Blades in Civil Engineering Applications

Alshannaq, Ammar A.; Scott, David W.; Bank, Lawrence C.; Bermek, Mehmet; Gentry, Russell

doi:10.12783/asc34/31317

Cited by 16 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…The stresses in Figure 3 show that the spar cap is the main contributor in blade stiffness 13 . Large blades without a spar cap may not be suitable for some load‐bearing types of whole blade reuse due to reduced stiffness.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Repurposing and recycling wind turbine blades in the United States

Martini

Xydis

2022

Env Prog and Sustain Energy

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Wind energy is increasing in popularity worldwide as a low‐cost, carbon‐free energy technology. As deployment continues to grow, owners will need to conduct planning for end‐of‐life strategies for the components that are large in volume, number, and not readily recyclable in the operational form. Since the first modern, utility‐scale wind turbines were installed in the 1990s, a large number of wind turbines are reaching their end‐of‐life (typically 20–25 years) and each year an increasing number of blades are decommissioned. To stimulate efficient turbine reuse and recycling industry, industry and public funding should be allocated to support: research and testing processing methods, implementing potential applications of the material, and incentivizing successful applications for reuse of the material. Since the blades are the component most exposed to the elements and least easily recycled, this work will focus on their post‐operation applications. This work discusses the current literature on wind turbine blade reuse and recycling, proposing suggestions for applications of the materials and policy support. The work also estimates that by the years 2043–2050, only based on the development zones announced on the East Coast, a cumulative of 2.4 million metric tons (t) of wind blades would be needed to be repurposed and recycled.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Blade stresses under loads on different axes (a) Bending stresses due to flapwise bending (b) Bending stresses due to edgewise bending, and (c) Axial compressive stresses 13 …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Repurposing and recycling wind turbine blades in the United States

Martini

Xydis

2022

Env Prog and Sustain Energy

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“…Figure 2 shows a typical cross-section of the wind blade. The stations shown in the figure with their corresponding cross-sections, dimensions, and structural properties and analysis are presented elsewhere [15,16]. Steel davits are connected to the body of the BladePole with steel connector plates conforming to the blade's surface.…”

Section: Bladepole Configuration Modelling and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These poles have exceptional durability [13,14] and are expected to last longer than conventional steel, concrete, or timber poles. Based on the proven track record of existing FRP poles with wind turbine blades that are made using the same glass fiber reinforced composite materials, a new pole configuration has been proposed [15,16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Decommissioned Wind Blade as a Second-Life Construction Material for a Transmission Pole

Alshannaq

Bank

Scott

et al. 2021

Construction Materials

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This paper demonstrates the concept of adaptive repurposing of a portion of a decommissioned Clipper C96 wind turbine blade as a pole in a power transmission line application. The current research program is aimed at creating a path towards sustainable repurposing of wind turbine blades after they are removed from service. The present work includes modelling and analysis of expected load cases as prescribed in ASCE 74 and NESC using simplified boundary conditions for tangent pole applications. Load cases involving extreme wind, concurrent ice and wind, extreme ice, differential ice, broken conductor, and broken shield have been analyzed and governing load cases for bending, shear, and torsion have been examined. Relative stiffnesses of different parts forming the wind blade’s cross section (i.e., shell, web, and spar cap) are determined. The corresponding stresses associated with each part under the governing loads are compared to allowable strength values which are determined from composite laminate theory and modelling of the known laminate structure of the E-Glass FRP material. Stresses and deflections obtained are compared with governing reliability-based design criteria and code requirements. The results of the structural analysis indicate that the wind blade can resist the expected loads with reasonable safety factors and that the expected deflections are within permissible limits. Recommendations are provided for detailing and modification of the wind blade for a power pole application in which crossarm and davit connections are highlighted, and foundation details are emphasized.

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“…(Nagle et al, 2022) The Re-Wind project focuses on developing adaptive re-use ideas for the de-commissioned wind blades. Adaptive re-use ideas such as high voltage electrical power structures (Alshannaq et al, 2019) pedestrian bridges (Leahy et al, 2021) and housing (Bank et al, 2018) (Gentry et al, 2020) have been proposed by the Re-Wind team. Unlike incineration and disposal, re-use applications require accurate and intricate CAD, structural engineering, and CAM models to facilitate the re-design and re-engineering processes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconstruction of Wind Turbine Blade Geometry and Shape Matching of Airfoil Profiles to Point Clouds

Bermek¹,

Gentry²

2022

Proceedings of the 29th EG-ICE International Workshop on Intelligent Computing in Engineering

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Wind Turbine Blades have a limited operation life due to safety and performance concerns. At the end of this cycle, these massive composite structures still retain more than sufficient structural capacity for architectural and infrastructure re-use applications. Re-Wind research group develops ideas and technologies for at scale solutions of accumulating blade waste problem. Blade Machine (BM) is the software workflow used in construction of reliable digital twins for these objects. We share the results of turbine blade geometry reconstructions from 3D point clouds using a knowledge-based approach. With necessary adjustments the described method can be generalized for application in a vast array of objects in the built environment for surveying or re-use.

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Structural Re-Use of De-Commissioned Wind Turbine Blades in Civil Engineering Applications

Cited by 16 publications

References 6 publications

Repurposing and recycling wind turbine blades in the United States

Repurposing and recycling wind turbine blades in the United States

A Decommissioned Wind Blade as a Second-Life Construction Material for a Transmission Pole

Reconstruction of Wind Turbine Blade Geometry and Shape Matching of Airfoil Profiles to Point Clouds

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