Approach to develop vulnerability curves for tidal turbine blades

Munaweera Thanthirige, Tenis Ranjan, Goggins, Jamie, Jiang, Yadong, Flanagan, Michael, Kennedy, Ciaran, & Finnegan, William. (2026). Approach to develop vulnerability curves for tidal turbine blades. Ocean Engineering, 343, 123238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2025.123238

Abstract

The lifespan of tidal turbine blades is influenced by design quality, loading conditions, fatigue, water absorption, and unforeseen operational events. While structural testing under idealised conditions helps validate new designs, it often overlooks marine-specific effects such as water diffusion, erosion, and corrosion. This study introduces two novel approaches for generating vulnerability curves to predict blade lifespan, integrating material testing, literature data, and finite element (FE) modelling through a three-phase methodology. One approach uses accelerated aged fatigue data at coupon scale, and the other uses water diffusivity parameters, with both relying on FE modelling. The aged fatigue data-based method, which showed fewer limitations, was selected for a case study involving a 4 m glass fibre powder epoxy composite horizontal axis tidal turbine blade. The resulting vulnerability curve demonstrates potential to improve durability predictions, reduce testing costs, and support sustainable development in tidal energy.

Funder

European Commission
University of Galway
Research Ireland
Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland
Marine Institute

Publisher

Elsevier

Rights

CC BY-NC-ND

cbn

Collections

Civil Engineering (Scholarly Articles)