Non-destructive testing of wind turbine blades using an infrared thermography: A review

Renewable energy plays a vital role in power industry to fulfil the growing demand of power in industrial sector and other utilities. Wind energy is an attractive power source because it is plentiful and renewable. Wind energy will play a major role in the power supply in the world. The wind turbine blades are key components in wind turbine. These blades suffer from complex loading, that can cause severe malfunctioning and even catastrophic collapse, and that initiates as small defects. The bulk of the defects in wind turbine blades occur during the manufacturing phase; the rest are due to stresses caused by the aerodynamic loads and aging. The digital infrared thermography as a nondestructive test (NDT) tool was used to detect defects and monitor the health of wind turbine blades. The main objectives in this paper are to review the current state of infrared thermography of wind turbines blades tests at manufacture and in-service.