A Literature Survey on Remote Inspection of Offshore Wind Turbine Blades: Automated Inspection and Repair of Turbine Blades (AIRTuB) - WP1

Abstract

Automated Inspection and Repair of Turbine Blades (AIRTuB) project pursues to reduce the downtime on the maintenance of the offshore wind blades by developing an unmanned automated system capable of performing necessary inspections. Such system can perform inspection on the blades instead of human inspectors. One of objectives of AIRTuB project is to develop sensor systems able to inspect internal and external damages on the offshore wind turbine blades remotely and autonomously. From this objective, a literature study has been conducted focusing on the modern Non-Destructive Inspection (NDI) methods that have potential to be carried and operated by unmanned vehicles. This report looks separately to the inspection methods suitable for external and internal structural damages that can occur on the wind turbine blade during its life cycle.