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An interdisciplinary framework to predict premature roller element bearing failures in wind turbine gearboxes

Ein interdisziplinärer Rahmen zur Vorhersage vorzeitiger Lagerausfälle von Rollenelementen in Windkraftanlagen

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Abstract

Roller element bearings present in the intermediate and high-speed stages of wind turbine gearboxes operate in dynamic working conditions and in some cases may fail within 30% or less of their designed lifetime. Upon investigation, it has been identified that these premature failures happen due to a peculiar failure mode associated with formation of white etching cracks (WEC). This continues to be a great challenge for the wind energy operators as it leads to an increase of maintenance and operation costs in addition to long wind turbine downtime. Therefore, the industry is in dire need of a lifetime prediction methodology that could take in multi-scale inputs ranging from bearing loads at the system level down to the level of bearing material properties at the microscopic level. This work summarizes the overall approach of a project that aims towards an integrated framework which links load data from the bearings and microstructure related non-metallic inclusion statistics from bearing steels, to predict a material based probability of failure. The interlink between both aspects is a numerical rolling contact fatigue (RCF) framework based on finite element analysis, which includes multi-scale data as an input to calculate rolling contact fatigue damage. The outcome will help the wind industry to better predict bearing failures.

Zusammenfassung

Rollenelementlager, die in den Zwischen- und Hochgeschwindigkeitsstufen von Windturbinengetrieben vorhanden sind, arbeiten unter dynamischen Arbeitsbedingungen und können in einigen Fällen innerhalb von 30% oder weniger ihrer vorgesehenen Lebensdauer ausfallen. Bei der Untersuchung wurde festgestellt, dass diese vorzeitigen Fehler aufgrund eines besonderen Fehlermodus auftreten, der mit der Bildung von weißen Ätzrissen (WEC) verbunden ist. Dies ist weiterhin eine große Herausforderung für die Windenergiebetreiber, da es neben langen Ausfallzeiten von Windkraftanlagen zu einer Erhöhung der Wartungs- und Betriebskosten führt. Daher benötigt die Industrie dringend eine Methode zur Vorhersage der Lebensdauer, die mehrskalige Eingaben berücksichtigen kann, die von Lagerbelastungen auf Systemebene bis hin zu Lagermaterialeigenschaften auf mikroskopischer Ebene reichen. Diese Arbeit fasst den Gesamtansatz eines Projekts zusammen, das auf ein integriertes Framework abzielt, das Lastdaten aus den Lagern und mikrostrukturbezogene nichtmetallische Einschlussstatistiken von Lagerstählen verknüpft, um eine materialbasierte Ausfallwahrscheinlichkeit vorherzusagen. Die Verbindung zwischen beiden Aspekten ist ein numerisches RCF-Framework (Rolling Contact Fatigue), das auf einer Finite-Elemente-Analyse basiert und mehrskalige Daten als Eingabe zur Berechnung des Ermüdungsschadens durch Rollkontakt enthält. Das Ergebnis wird der Windindustrie helfen, Lagerausfälle besser vorherzusagen.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support via the MaDurOS program from VLAIO (Flemish Agency for Innovation and Entrepre-neurship) and SIM (Strategic Initiative Materials) through project SBO MaSiWEC (HBC.2017.0606).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. EMSME, Soete Laboratory, Ghent University, Gent, Belgium

    Gopalakrishnan Ravi, Wim De Waele & Stijn Hertelé

  2. SIM vzw, Technologiepark 48, 9052, Gent, Belgium

    Gopalakrishnan Ravi, Pieter-Jan Daems & Ksenija Nikolic

  3. OWI-Lab, Gent, Belgium

    Gopalakrishnan Ravi, Pieter-Jan Daems, Wim De Waele, Jan Helsen, Bart Teerlinck & Stijn Hertelé

  4. Dept. MECH, Acoustics and Vibration Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium

    Pieter-Jan Daems & Jan Helsen

  5. Dept. EMSME, Materials science and technology, Ghent University, Gent, Belgium

    Ksenija Nikolic & Roumen Petrov

  6. Dept. MSE, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands

    Roumen Petrov

  7. Dept. MaTCh, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Ghent University, Gent, Belgium

    Kim Verbeken

  8. SIRRIS Gent, Technologiepark 48, 9052, Gent, Belgium

    Bart Teerlinck

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  1. Gopalakrishnan Ravi
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Correspondence to Gopalakrishnan Ravi.

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Ravi, G., Daems, PJ., Nikolic, K. et al. An interdisciplinary framework to predict premature roller element bearing failures in wind turbine gearboxes. Forsch Ingenieurwes 85, 229–240 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10010-021-00463-0

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