Non Destructive Testing

Methods in the Wind Power

Industry
Alison Glover, Tech Apps Specialist, OAZ
Nicholas Bublitz, Product Support Manager Americas, ONDT

Outline

NDT definition
Challenges in the Wind Industry
Issues requiring inspection

Ultrasound
Conventional
Phased Array

Eddy Current/ECA
Other techniques
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NDT acronyms

NDT - Non Destructive Testing

NDI - Non Destructive Inspection

NDE Non Destructive Examination

Non-Destructive Testing

What is NDT?
Group of analysis techniques used in science
and industry to evaluate the properties of a
material, component or system without causing
permanent damage or alterations

Cf: Destructive Testing used to evaluate a specimen until or

after its failure, eg
Crash testing of vehicles
Sectioning and micrography
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Why NDT?

Cost effective
parts/equipment without defects not needlessly
destroyed
repairs done only where needed (eg welds)

Can be done
In manufacturing
In service

Data for conditioning monitoring/service

planning
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NDT Challenges in Wind Power Industry 1

Highly visible

Mass production fairly

new lack of
standards and case
histories

Push for large, lighter,

more productive units
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Challenges - 2

Many materials
Metals, composites (eg
GRFP), wood

Access from one

side only; top of towers
Blade design is
confidential

Confidentiality

Manufacturing and In-Service Issues 1

Blades

Delaminations, porosity, resin poor areas

Thickness
Adhesive failure
Lightning Strikes
Composite Layers

Porosity
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Delaminations

Manufacturing and In-Service Issues 2

Towers
Welds

Lack of fusion
Porosity
Cracks
Inclusions

Raw materials
Laminations
inclusions

Manufacturing and In-Service Issues 3

Nacelles/Mechanics

Assembly error
Design Flaws
Cracks
Erosion/pitting

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Remote Visual Inspection

Gears, bearings,etc
High resolution
Still or video capture
Highly portable
Tool attachments eg
recovery

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Remote Visual Inspection

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What is Ultrasound?

Audible sound and UT are mechanical vibrations

UT is above frequency threshold of human

hearing, ~20KHz

Typical NDT frequency range 500 KHz 20 MHz

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Ultrasonics Thickness Testing

Many materials metals,

plastics, GFRP, fibreglass
Thickness, coating
thickness, corrosion,
erosion, delamination
One-side access only
Very accurate

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Ultrasonic Flaw Detection 1

Largest application
weld testing
Conventional or
Phased Array
Manual to fully
automated

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Phased Array Basics

For electronic scans, same angle beam scans along the

probe.
For sectorial scans, the Focal Laws are changed to give a
range of angles.
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Weldrover on Wind Tower Video

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Advantages of Advanced Techniques

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PA + TOFD
20 OD tower
welds inspected in
2-3 minutes
Full data recording

Phased Array on Blades

Increased detection
Faster scanning than
conventional UT
More intuitive displays
Data storage

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Phased Array on Blades 2

Manual or encoded

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HRL: tower anchor bolt inspection

Corrosion found in
submerged threaded
section
Bolt had been in service
>12 months
Validated PAUT
Can inspection without
removing tower or nuts
Uses Olympus Omniscan
& Eclipse Scientific bolt
scanner
With thanks to Nick Kriesl,
HRL Morwell

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Eddy Currents
Defects in the material disturb the circular path of the eddy
currents, changing the magnetic coupling with the probe
and causing a variation in the impedance of the coil.

AC Current
Magnetic Field
in the coil

Eddy Current
Magnetic Field
in the test piece
Flaw
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Eddy Current

Conventional or ECA
Cracks
Corrosion
Conductivity

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Other Olympus Techniques:

High Speed Video

Motion/impact/stress R&D

X-Ray Fluorescence
Positive materials Identification (PMI)
Materials sorting
Fluid analysis and monitoring

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Other NDT Techniques

Liquid Penetrant
Magnetic Particle (MP, FMP)
Radiography (RT)
Acoustic Emission
Thermography
And others.

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Some Considerations for NDT

In house or service provider

Training/certification
Standards/codes
Cost
Suitability of methods
access, portability, material, flaw type and size,
couplant, down time
No one perfect technique!

Safety
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Thank you