Acoustic-Signal-Based Damage Detection of Wind Turbine Blades—A Review

Monitoring and maintaining the health of wind turbine blades has long been one of the challenges facing the global wind energy industry. Detecting damage to a wind turbine blade is important for planning blade repair, avoiding aggravated blade damage, and extending the sustainability of blade operation. This paper firstly introduces the existing wind turbine blade detection methods and reviews the research progress and trends of monitoring of wind turbine composite blades based on acoustic signals. Compared with other blade damage detection technologies, acoustic emission (AE) signal detection technology has the advantage of time lead. It presents the potential to detect leaf damage by detecting the presence of cracks and growth failures and can also be used to determine the location of leaf damage sources. The detection technology based on the blade aerodynamic noise signal has the potential of blade damage detection, as well as the advantages of convenient sensor installation and real-time and remote signal acquisition. Therefore, this paper focuses on the review and analysis of wind power blade structural integrity detection and damage source location technology based on acoustic signals, as well as the automatic detection and classification method of wind power blade failure mechanisms combined with machine learning algorithm. In addition to providing a reference for understanding wind power health detection methods based on AE signals and aerodynamic noise signals, this paper also points out the development trend and prospects of blade damage detection technology. It has important reference value for the practical application of non-destructive, remote, and real-time monitoring of wind power blades.