Virtual prototyping of an actuator-based structural health monitoring system of wind turbine blades

Testing and evaluating the performance of a Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system is a challenging and costly task. A proper experimental assessment of the system is not feasible in most cases. A possible solution is a virtual prototype of the monitored object together with the SHM system. This study presents the initial steps of creating a virtual prototype, namely simulation of the elastic wave propagation due to impact of the actuator. It is shown that even this very initial investigation helps to understand the complex vibration pattern of the blade and how the presence of the damage alters it. Similarly, for the same damage size and location, different actuations locations were studied. The location of the actuator affects the wave propagation, as the interaction with the structural parts of the blade significantly complicates the vibration pattern before it actually reaches the damage region. The results clearly indicate that the actuator-based SHM system has a good wave propagation and damage resolution ratio for damage diagnosis in large blades.