Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC

Walter Musial

Darris White

Scott Hughes

An apparatus () for fatigue testing test articles () including wind turbine blades. The apparatus () includes a test stand () that rigidly supports an end () of the test article (). An actuator assembly () is attached to the test article () and is adapted for substantially concurrently imparting first and second forcing functions in first and second directions on the test article (), with the first and second directions being perpendicular to a longitudinal axis. A controller () transmits first and second sets of displacement signals () to the actuator assembly () at two resonant frequencies of the test system (). The displacement signals () initiate the actuator assembly () to impart the forcing loads to concurrently oscillate the test article () in the first and second directions. With turbine blades, the blades () are resonant tested concurrently for fatigue in the flapwise and edgewise directions.

Dual-axis resonance testing of wind turbine blades

An apparatus () for applying at least one load to a specimen () according to one embodiment of the invention may comprise a mass (). An actuator () mounted to the specimen () and operatively associated with the mass () moves the mass () along a linear displacement path () that is perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the specimen (). A control system () operatively associated with the actuator () operates the actuator () to reciprocate the mass () along the linear displacement path () at a reciprocating frequency, the reciprocating frequency being about equal to a resonance frequency of the specimen () in a test configuration.

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Boulder, CO, United States of America

Walter Musial