Impact Response of a Wind Turbine Blade Measured by Distributed FBG Sensors

An impact monitoring system using an array of fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensors has been established on a wind turbine blade. The effect of sensor layout on detection capability has been investigated. The possibility to identify the location of an impact is also discussed. This preliminary work may shed some light on how to establish an optimal monitoring system with a minimum number of sensors while achieving an acceptable sensitivity and coverage. With such a system, the corresponding strain history and occurrence of local damage can be monitored, thus helping to narrow down the scope for detailed examination during an overhaul and enabling the integrity of a wind turbine blade to be more reliably assessed.