Potential of Development of Anti-Erosion Graphene-Reinforced Coatings for Wind Turbine Blades

The wind turbine blade coating is a protective layer that experiences repetitive raindrop impact. The impact causes cyclic stresses, fatigue, and erosion of the coating. The presence of voids in the coating leads to stress concentration and enhances erosion. A finite element model (FE) of the matrix containing a void and a layer of Graphene nano-platelets (GNP) was developed in ABAQUS using Python scripting, Boolean operation, and embedded element technique. A pressure pulse is applied on the top surface of RVE to imitate raindrop impact on the wind turbine blade coating for investigating the local stress concentration around the voids in the coating. It is observed that stresses around voids are reduced as the GNP layer reflects and scatters the stress wave. This can lead to enhanced fatigue life of the coating.