Renewable Energy 215 (2023) 118966

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Renewable Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

Recent developments in the protection of wind turbine blades against

leading edge erosion: Materials solutions and predictive modelling
Leon Mishnaevsky Jr. a, *, Antonios Tempelis a, Nikesh Kuthe b, Puneet Mahajan b
a
Department of Wind Energy, Technical University of Denmark, Roskilde, Denmark
b
Department of Applied Mechanics, Indian Institute of Technology, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, 110016, India

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Leading edge erosion of wind turbine blades is the most often observed damage mechanism of wind turbine
Wind turbine blade blades, which causes also additional costs for the maintenance of wind turbines. In this review, recent in­
Coating vestigations in the areas of leading edge erosion of blades, anti-erosion coatings, new materials and computa­
Voids
tional modelling of erosion are discussed. The ideas and results, presented at the annual symposia on erosion of
Finite element technique
wind turbine blades, organized at DTU Wind since 2020, are reviewed. Recent studies of leading edge erosion,
devoted to the computational analysis and materials science aspects of the erosion, are summarized. The
application of advanced computational modelling techniques to the analysis of the damage mechanisms in
leading edge coatings is demonstrated, including the effect of coating materials properties and structure on the
erosion, debonding, humidity and weathering effects, and the analysis of the potential of structured and rein­
forced coatings.

1. Introduction degradation mechanism, simply due to the frequency of required repairs

In order to realize the energy transition to renewables, large
expansion of wind energy, in particular, offshore wind energy, is fore­
seen in next years [1]. The tendencies in the wind energy development
include the development of large and extra large wind turbines, located
far from coast (e.g., floating wind turbines) and also expansion into new
regions (Northern Regions, Northern Sea, but also monsoon regions and
other regions with severe weather conditions). The common feature of
these tendencies is that it makes the wind turbine maintenance more
difficult and expensive, on the one side, and more often required, due to
high mechanical and environmental loads (stronger wind on sea, icing,
monsoon rains, higher rotation speed).
Leading edge erosion of wind turbine blades is the most often
observed damage mechanisms of wind turbine blades [2]. According to
the evaluations of frequency of different damage mechanisms, carried
out by DTU and Indian National Institute of Wind Energy (on the basis of
the analysis of surveys of service teams and wind owners), the surface
erosion is the only damage mechanism observed during the first year
after the installation, and most critical damage mechanism in the first 5
years of service time of wind turbines in Europe (along with lightning
strikes and manufacturing defects). It is also the most expensive
[3]. According to the estimations from Ref. [3], minor surface damage
costs up to 12 times as much as major structural damage. Fig. 1 shows
the schema how the erosion of wind turbine blades occurs due to rain
droplet impacts. To overcome the erosion problem, a number of research
projects and industrial initiatives were started over last years. Many
coatings, leading edge protection systems and shells are available on the
market now, including ProBlade Collision Barrier by LM Wind Power,
PowerEdge® Care Leading edge protection of Siemens, coatings and
tapes by 3M, Bergolin, Duromar, Enercon, Belzona, ELLE (Ever Lasting
Leading Edge) soft shell by Poly Tech, Hempablade Edge 171 by Hempel
and others. Still, the problem remains actual, especially with view on
larger blades, with higher tip speeds and located in the regions of
intensive rain and hail loading.
In this paper, recent investigations in the area of wind turbine blade
protection against leading edge erosion are reviewed, in particular,
developments of new materials and predictive modelling of erosion. The
results presented at recent conferences, in particular, the symposia on
leading edge erosion of wind turbine blades, organized at the Depart­
ment of Wind Energy, Technical University of Denmark, in 2020–2022,
are analysed [4]. Further, recent investigations at the DTU Wind and IIT
Delhi in the area of new coating development, computational design of

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: lemi@dtu.dk (L. Mishnaevsky).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2023.118966
Received 24 February 2023; Received in revised form 23 June 2023; Accepted 27 June 2023
Available online 28 June 2023
0960-1481/© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
L. Mishnaevsky Jr. et al.
coatings, and prediction of the erosion and surface degradation are
summarized. The promising directions and recommendations to the
development of anti-erosion coatings and predictive modelling of the
blade erosion are formulated.
2. Recent investigations in the area of materials for erosion
protection: overview
Leading edge erosion of wind turbine blades has been a subject of
investigations over several decades. The detailed reviews of in­
vestigations of blade erosion and solutions is given elsewhere (see for
instance Refs. [5–7]). In order to get better overview of lately developed
solutions, DTU Wind organized a series of international symposia on
leading edge erosion of wind turbine blades in 2020–2023, inviting
specialists from research teams and projects active in this area. This
section reviews the results, presented at these symposia, as well as some
other articles published over last years.
2.1. Thermoplastic and hybrid solutions
Several new materials solutions for anti-erosion coatings were under
investigated over last years. A promising direction of the development of
new highly resistant coatings is based on using thermoplastic and hybrid
thermoplastic based materials [8,9]. British company Armour Edge
developed semi-flexible erosion shields, from ultra-tough thermoplastics
and with optimal aerodynamic profile. German company SaertexGmbH,
in the framework of a collaborative project HyRoS, together with the
company Kraiburg and other partners, developed a new
thermoplastic-based hybrid material for leading edge protection (LEP)
[10]. Further, they developed a coating with embedded heating layer for
blade deicing. Zanjani and colleagues [11,12] developed integrated
thermoplastic-thermoset hybrid leading edge protection system, based
on the co-bonding process (joining of prefabricated parts during the
curing process). Thermoplastics show more creep and stress relaxation,
as compared to thermosets (due to the restriction of chain motions by
cross-linking), and that might be one of reasons for the high potential of
thermoplastics for LEP.
2.2. Viscoelastic polyurethane coatings
The common assumption is that the viscoelastic properties and
damping of coating materials correlate with their erosion protection
performance [13–15]. While this has not been confirmed in general case,
this assumption is widely investigated. Katsivalis and colleagues [16]
studied the relationship between exposure time before failure and the
storage modulus (characterizing stiffness) and tanδ (ratio of loss
modulus to storage modulus of the material, characterizing the energy
dissipation potential) for the LEP materials considered. They observed
that the correlation between storage modulus and time to failure
Fig. 1. Schema: Erosion of wind turbine blades due to rain droplet impact.
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Renewable Energy 215 (2023) 118966
becomes more significant at higher frequencies. Lower values of storage
modulus lead to higher durability. For lower frequencies (100 Hz), time
to failure decreases with increasing tanδ, while for higher frequencies
(106 … 109 Hz)time to failure increases with increasing tanδ. Ouachan
and colleagues [17] characterised samples of LEP material using the
Dynamic Mechanical Thermal Analysis (DMTA) and Time Temperature
Superposition methods, and observed that Young modulus of the coating
increases with increasing the strain rate.
2.3. Structured, reinforced coatings
The particles and other reinforcements in the coatings can cause the
dissipation of stress waves from liquid impact, thus, reducing local
stresses [13]. It can also increase the strength of the coatings [13].
Ouachan and colleagues [18] added POSS (glycidyl polyhedral oligo­
meric silsesquioxane) nanoparticles to the polyurethane coatings, and
demonstrated that the modification improves damping (at lower tem­
perature). They observed that the particle modified LEP displayed lower
tanδ values at all frequencies, as compared to unmodified. The elasticity
of the coating increases with frequency of deformation. Pathak and
colleagues [19] tested anti-erosion polyurethane coatings with ceramic
oxide nanoparticle reinforcements, and observed that nanoparticles
reinforced PU coatings show much higher solid particle erosion resis­
tance as compared with pure polyurethane coating.
2.4. Structured thick interfaces between LEP and composites
The detachment of coatings is one of the main mechanisms of the
blade erosion. In several works, the problem of interface adhesion is
tackled by developing gradient, structured interfaces. Cortés and col­
leagues [20] studied in-mould coatings, and observed that coatings with
stiffer and thicker coating–laminate interphase (in coatings with lower
degree of curing) lead to better erosion protection performance, than
coatings with higher degree of curing and thinner interphases. Erartsin,
Salomão and colleagues [21,22] studied the correlation between the
cure temperature and interphase thickness and morphology in thermo­
plastic elastomers, co-bonded to glass fiber reinforced epoxy and poly­
ester composites (integrated leading edge protection, InLEP). They
observed that increased cure temperature led to a decrease in the
interphase thickness, decrease in the bond strength and more intensive
interfacial failure. In the co-bonding process, proposed by Zanjani and
colleagues [11,12] for the attachment of pre-fabricated thermoplastic
(acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, ABS) coatings to thermoset (polyester)
blades, interphase layer is formed, with lower microhardness. The
properties of these interphases determine the quality of the LEP
attachment. GalvanoPro developed hybrid metallic-polymer LEP with
metalized fibrous hybrid metalized carbon layer as a coupling layer
which reduces the interfacial stresses and prevents detachment. Pahle­
van, from Danish SME Leptek [23], reported the novel adhesion system
L. Mishnaevsky Jr. et al.
for leading-edge erosion shields, using a nanoscale adhesion mecha­
nism, based on polymer brushes technology. He reported 3 times higher
adhesion strength as compared to commercially available systems. The
conclusion can be drawn that the creation of thick, structured coat­
ing/composite interfaces/interphase has the potential to prevent the
coating detachment.
2.5. Metallic and metal-polymer coatings
One of the direction which seems quite promising is the development
of erosion shields from metallic materials, nickel or titanium shells [24,
25]. The German company Muehlhan has got a patent on metallic
coatings [26]. The British company Doncasters proposed to use elec­
troforming nickel cobalt leading edge erosion shields, tested for aero­
space applications, helicopters and propeller blades, for wind turbine
blade protection. German company GalvanoPro also developed
nickel-cobalt leading edge protection with hybrid material as coupling
and transition layer. The challenges of this direction include the reliable
attachment of metallic coating, fatigue resistance of the coatings,
lightning protection, and also the (currently) relatively high price.
2.6. Roughness and its effect on the energy production
The critical question asked by many wind park owners and service
companies – at which erosion level the energy production is so reduced,
that an expensive repair operation is economically justified? There are
various estimations on how the erosion reduces the annual energy
production, ranging from 1.5% to 7% and more [27]. In a number of
studies, the effect of leading edge roughness on the blade aerodynamics
was studied [27–29], using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and
experimental methods. It can be seen that while many studies are
devoted either to the evaluation of the effect of surface roughness on the
energy generation in blades, or analysis of blade surface degradation,
with prediction of lifetime, there are practically no predictive models of
roughness evolution of the blade surface. Kaore and colleagues [30]
studied the effect of the tip velocity, surface roughness and the rain
intensities on the erosion. They observed that the surface roughness of
the coating is the most critical parameter in the rain erosion of coatings.
2.7. Moisture, weathering, ultraviolet
The wind turbine blade materials are subject to environmental
loading including ultraviolet radiation and high humidity, which can
lead to moisture ingress and absorption, swelling, changing properties,
In combination with mechanical loading (by rain droplet, wind, etc), the
environmental loading speeds up the leading edge degradation. It is of
interest that there were almost no presentations on the effect of hu­
midity on the blade erosion at the 1st – 3rd symposia on leading edge
erosion in 2020–2022 (and practically no publications). However, at the
4th symposium (February 7–9, 2023), several leading groups in this area
(including University of Strathclyde/UK and Universidad CEU/SP),
report their studies on combined erosion and weathering studies.
In other studies, Gao and colleagues [31] observed that UV-radiation
causes photo-oxidation of coatings, free radical excitation, coupling
reaction, and can lead to complicated degradation products. Yang et al.
[] showed that polyurethane coatings under combined UV, water and
oxygen loading, tend to form blisters on the surface, then their chemical
composition of the coatings changes (increase of urea and urethane
group concentrations; build-up of hydrophilic groups), promoting the
water absorption [32]. Godfrey and colleagues [33] studied the effect of
cold temperature on solid erosion of polyurethane coatings. They
observed that cold temperatures increase significantly the erosion rate
leading to plastic erosion behaviour at cold temperatures (and not
elastic behavior at ambient temperatures).
This overview of the main activities in the area of new materials for
leading edge protection shows the most some interesting and important
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Renewable Energy 215 (2023) 118966
directions in this area. In the following sections, the application of
computational modelling to solving and better understanding of these
and other problems of blade erosion is demonstrated. Leading edge
erosion mechanisms, materials properties effect and the potential of
various materials for erosion coatings are investigated using advanced
computational modelling.
3. Leading edge erosion mechanisms: Computational analysis
In this and next sections, the activity of DTU Wind in the area of
predictive modelling of erosion, and the analysis of interrelationships
between service conditions, materials structure and anti-erosion per­
formance are presented. The investigations concentrate on several topics
shortly discussed above:
o Effect of coating materials properties and structure on the erosion,
including viscoelastic properties,
oDamage mechanisms in leading edge coatings, including debond­
ing, humidity and weathering effects,
oЕxploring the potential of structured and reinforced coatings,
oMethods of computational analysis and digitization of wind turbine
blade degradation.
Using advanced computational modelling methods of the erosion
simulation (multiscale and micromechanical modelling, application of
machine learning, exploring the potential of digital twins), we seek to
analyze he influence of various factors and material parameters on the
anti-erosion performance of coatings.
3.1. Erosion damage modelling for viscoelastic coatings
The general strategy of computational modelling of leading edge
erosion includes several steps: development of random rain scenario,
droplet impact modelling, fatigue damage modelling [5]. The main steps
of all the computational models of erosion are shown in Fig. 2. The
approach is described in several reviews [5,34,35], and implemented in
several models [36–38].
In order to analyze the potential of the anti-erosion protection
improvement by modifying structure and properties of the coating ma­
terial, computational models of the erosion should include also the
complex polymer material behaviour, micro- and nanoscale structures of
the coating materials.
In several works, complex viscoelastic laws were implemented in the
erosion/liquid impact models, to analyze the effect of material
properties
In [39], a micromechanical model of viscoelastic polyurethane as a
two phase (soft/hard) material is presented. It was demonstrated that
the larger mechanical loss coefficient of the material, the less is the
stored elastic energy in the material after the impact, and the lower is
the likelihood of the damage initiation.
In [36,38], the effect of viscoelasticity of the coating material on the
stress field in the coating under liquid impact was studied in numerical
experiments. A computational finite element model of liquid drop
impact was implemented using the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics
(SPH) method. Fig. 3 shows a comparison of stress fields in
hyper-viscoelastic and elastic coatings: maximum Mises stress plotted
versus time (a) and Mises stress distributions (b). In the case of purely
elastic coatings, deformation and strain levels are lower and the high
stress area is localized near the impact contact area. In the case of
viscoelastic coatings, the high stress region is beneath the surface. Thus,
the viscoelastic behavior of coatings changes the stress distribution, and
the damage mechanisms of coatings.
Comparing these studies, one can observe that viscoelastic coatings
have several mechanisms on influencing the erosion damage, including
the impact energy dissipation due to internal deformation and changing
damage mechanism (highest stress area not on the contact surface but in
L. Mishnaevsky Jr. et al.
Fig. 2. Main steps of computational modelling of lading edge erosion: liquid impact modelling - > rain scenario and multiple impacts, - > fatigue modelling using
Rainflow counting, - > fatigue damage criterion (critical plane analysis), - > damage prediction.
Fig. 3. Comparison of hyper-viscoelastic and elastic coatings: Maximum Mises versus time (a) and stress fields for viscoelastic (b) and elastic coatings (c) under
liquid impact.
depth below the droplet impact).
3.2. Surface damage and roughness evolution
The damage formation at the blade surface determines the rough­
ening of the blade during the service time.
In order to predict the roughness evolution of wind turbine blade
surface during the erosion, a damage evolution model for the leading
edge surface was developed [40]. Damage in each given point is
calculated, using S–N curve data for the coating material. The damage
caused by multiple droplet impacts is calculated at discretization points
based on a linear damage accumulation method, and increased after
every impact incident.
In the areas where the damage exceeded some given value (e.g., 1)
the material was removed, thus, creating roughness on the surface due
to the initial damage heterogeneity. In order to simulate the effect of
roughness on the further material degradation, the parameter of stress
concentration on formed dimples is determined, which depends on the
depth of the dimple, and increases the likelihood of the damage for­
mation near the dimple.
Further, simulations of roughness evolution for hyperelastic and
viscoelastic coatings was carried out. Fig. 5 shows comparison of
roughening of blades with hyperelastic and viscoelastic coatings. It can
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Renewable Energy 215 (2023) 118966
be seen that he roughnening begins much earlier in elastic coatings, and
also the roughness is much larger.
For the validation of this model, roughness measurements of the
blade samples eroded in RET (rain erosion tester) were carried out. The
comparison of simulated and experimental results showed reasonable
agreement.
In the computational studies, the effect of impact velocity on the
roughness evolution was investigated. It was observed that increasing
the impact velocity leads to the increased roughness of eroded blade, as
expected. Fig. 4 shows the calculated roughness as a function of the
velocity. This dependence is in fact exponential: with increasing the
velocity from 120 m/s to 160 m/s, the roughness height can be increased
by 3 or more times. This is an important conclusion: it means that with
increasing the wind turbine size, the roughening of blade surface be­
comes drastically worse.
3.3. Fatigue debonding of multilayered coating
Another damage mechanism of leading edge coatings is the
debonding from the substrate composites. Stress waves due to repeated
liquid impacts, reflected from interfaces, can lead to fatigue damage of
interfaces, leading to the debonding. In order to simulate the fatigue
caused debonding of coatings, a complex of programs for finite element
L. Mishnaevsky Jr. et al. Renewable Energy 215 (2023) 118966

code Abaqus was developed [41]. The program complex included a

Fig. 4. Calculated roughness of blade surface as a function of the tip velocity.
Reprinted from [40].
cohesive zone model for fatigue delamination rate simulation, a pro­
gram for multiple impact loading modelling (Abaqus VLOAD subrou­
tine), and FE model of multilayered coating with cohesive contact
between layers. Fig. 6 shows stress field along the cross section of the
multilayered coating. Fig. 7 shows the surface stress distribution due to
multiple liquid impacts, obtained using the developed Abaqus subrou­
tine VDLOAD.
This approach is based on the interface degradation model, in which
fatigue damage in the cohesive law envelope is accumulated according
to a simple two-parameter law [42]. The constitutive fatigue damage
model was implemented as a user-written subroutine UMAT for ABA­
QUS using Turon’s mixed-mode cohesive law formulation [43]. The
proposed cohesive fatigue model can predict interfacial failure in
multilayered coatings attached to blade composites.
Fig. 8 shows examples of the results, obtained with the model,
damage initiation on interfaces between coating and putty, and putty
and composite. The coating layer of thickness 100μ was modelled on the
top of the putty layer of thickness 200μ, and an adhesive layer of
thickness 10μ is placed between the coating and putty with tie con­
straints to both layers. Further, both layers are modelled on the 2 mm
composite substrate, with an adhesive layer placed between the putty
and composite with tie constraints. Penetration among the layers is
prevented by defining the contact between the interfaces of the layers.

Fig. 5. Comparison of roughening of blades with hyperelastic and viscoelastic coatings.

Fig. 6. Stress field (Von Mises: Left and Shear Component S13: Right) along the cross-section of multilayer coating.

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L. Mishnaevsky Jr. et al. Renewable Energy 215 (2023) 118966

Fig. 7. Repetitive impact loading caused by liquid (raindrops) on the coating sample.

Fig. 8. Damaged adhesive layers between coating, putty and composite interfaces, shown simultaneously during the elastic, viscoelastic and hyper viscoelastic
coating analysis.

Three cases are analysed: elastic, viscoelastic, and hyperelastic com­
bined with viscoelastic coating properties. The multilayer coating model
is analysed for cohesive fatigue delamination rate subjected to repetitive
droplet impact loading at arbitrary locations. An accelerated analysis is
performed by providing the smaller damage threshold value to predict
the results in less time. The delamination rate results are compared for
both the cases mentioned above. It is observed that the delamination
rate for the coating with elastic and viscoelastic properties is faster than
that with hyperelastic combined with viscoelastic properties. It is of
interest that the likelihood of debonding between the putty and

6
L. Mishnaevsky Jr. et al.
composite seem to be higher than between putty and coatings.
The hyper-viscoelastic coating has been observed to provide excel­
lent damping performance by reducing the shockwave behaviour during
raindrop impact events. Therefore, impact stresses are lower, which
causes less damage in the adhesive layer (interface region) between
coating and putty. Whereas in the case of elastic coatings, poor damping
causes higher stresses in the coating, leading to more damage in the
adhesive layer. Furthermore, the adhesive layer between the putty and
coating was damaged more than the adhesive layer between the coating
and putty. It is learnt that the stiff composite substrate reflects the stress
waves produced due to the generation of shockwave behaviour during
impact. The reflected stress waves were approximate twice the initial
magnitude, causing more deformation and damage to the adhesive layer
between putty and composite, as shown in Fig. 8(b). Additionally, the
moisture ingress in the coating system causes hygroscopic swelling, and
residual stresses cause faster degradation of the adhesive layer.
3.4. Weathering and stresses due to ingress of moisture
Wind turbine staying offshore are subject to high environmental
loading, e.g. high humidity, additionally to all other loads. The combi­
nation of mechanical loads, high humidity and temperature variations
can lead to residual strain in coatings, hygroscopic swelling in polymers,
and ultimately to higher local strain concentration, and debonding/
delamination of the coating. The moisture ingress in polymers promotes
the relaxation of the polymeric chain, consequently degrading the
mesoscale modulus of the material [44,45].
In order to investigate the moisture diffusion in the multilayered
coating system and stress evolution, a computational finite element
model was developed (see Fig. 9). A coupled moisture-displacement
problem was solved by adopting a thermal-moisture direct analogy in
ABAQUS/Standard [46,47]. As shown in Fig. 9, saturation weight gain
by the coating system at 90% relative humidity and 60 ◦ C is approxi­
mately 2.5% of the initial weight. Fig. 10(a) shows moisture diffusion in
the coating layers at 600 h.
The hygroscopic stress field developed due to moisture diffusion in
the coating sample is shown in
Fig. 10(a). It can be seen that stress variation is high between the
layers’ interfaces. The stress changes between the polyurethane and
putty layers cause additional shear stresses along interfaces caused by
Fig. 9. Model: a sample with a moisture concentration of 2.5% is applied on the top surface (a) and moisture diffusion (%) vs Time (hr) and thickness (b, c).
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Renewable Energy 215 (2023) 118966
the moisture ingress. This create additional mechanism, leading to
coating debonding.
It can be seen that the humidity has potentially a strong effect on the
stress distribution in the coating, causing earlier degradation, especially
in multilayered coatings.
In this section, computational models of various mechanisms of
leading edge erosion of wind tyrbine blades are presented. Some of the
models are still in development, or validated, but they allow reproduc­
ing all the acting degradation mechanisms, and allow the prediction or
erosion, and analysis of the factors influencing the erosion process.
Among others, some interesting observations were made:
• Surface roughening of blade surface due to erosion (the main cause
of energy generation reduction) increases drastically with increasing
the rotation speed (example:it can increase by 3 times when the
speed increases by 30%). It means that the erosion problem can
become even more critical for extra-large wind turbines.
• The roughness is however sufficiently lower for viscoelastic, coatings
than for elastic. Viscoelastic coatings have also different damage
mechanism, from elastic coatings, with highest stress area not on the
contact surface but in depth below the droplet impact. These con­
clusions echo the observations about high potential of highly
damping, thermoplastic or soft polyurethane phase containing
coatings, discussed in section 2.
• High humidity and moisture ingress can lead to additional stresses in
the coatings, thus, reducing the coating lifetime.
4. Engineered reinforced coatings and their potential
4.1. Structure of coatings and its effect on the erosion
Apart from viscoelastic and highly damping coatings, structured,
engineered, reinforced coatings represent a promising direction for new
generation of blade protections.
In this section, some previous studies on the influence of structures
and properties of coatings are summarized.
In the computational studies in Ref. [48], the effect of multilayer
coatings on the stress distribution in the coatings was studied. Various
bilayer coating structures were tested in computational simulations,
among them: stiff upper coating/soft lower coating (“up-stiff”), soft
L. Mishnaevsky Jr. et al. Renewable Energy 215 (2023) 118966

Fig. 10. Von Mises stresses field (a) and stress variation along the coating thickness (b).

upper coating/stiff lower coating (“up-soft”) and homogeneous coat­
ings. Fig. 11 shows the schema of the model and maximum von Mises
stress plotted versus the time for each of three models. It was shown that
the highest stresses are observed for the stiff upper coating case and
inversely, lowest stresses are observed for soft upper coatings.
In [36], it was also demonstrated that we surface can drastically
improve the erosion resistance. Even thinnest liquid film on the blade
surface can reduce the maximum local stress by about 30%, thus,
extending the coating lifetime. Fig. 12 shows droplet splash after impact
on a dry surface, and on a wet surface and maximum Mises stress
depending on the time, for dry and wet surface.
While reinforcing particles in coatings tend to strengthen coatings,

Fig. 11. Schema of the model (upper stiff layer, lower soft layer) and maximum von Mises stress plotted versus the time.

8
L. Mishnaevsky Jr. et al.
Fig. 12. Droplet splash after impact on a dry surface, (a) and on a wet surface
(b), and maximum Mises stress depending on the time, for dry surface and wet
film. Reprinted from Ref. [36].
and potentially dissipate and scatter the impact energy [13], it was
observed both in computational and experimental studies in Ref. [22],
that the weakly bonded, weakly adhered particles can trigger the
erosion and damage in coatings. Thus, good attachment of reinforcing
particles in the anti-erosion coatings is extremely important for the
coating quality.
The very important factor influencing the performance of anti-
erosion coatings is the availability of defects, voids, microcracks. Ac­
cording to Refs. [36,48], the erosion degradation of coatings starts from
voids/defects. The availability of voids reduces the coating lifetime
drastically.
4.2. Multiscale modelling of structured nanoreinforced anti-erosion
coatings
In [13], it was demonstrated that stress wave scattering on re­
inforcements, inclusions embedded in the coatings causes energy dissi­
pation after droplet impact, thus, diverting the energy from the material
damage and new surface formation. In this section, the recent
Fig. 13. Scheme of submodelling (a) and unit cell model of material with zigzagged fibers and nano-voids (b). Stress field in fibers in the submodel.
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Renewable Energy 215 (2023) 118966
investigations in the area of reinforced (fiber or particle) coatings are
reviewed.
In order to analyze the effect of nanoscale coating material structure
on the coating damage resistance, a multiscale micromechanical model
of structured coating degradation was developed [49]. The model is
based on the submodelling techniques and unit cell approach (i.e., a
representative volume with inclusions, which reflects the material
behavior at nanoscale).
Unit cells with disc shaped randomly oriented nanoparticles, long
“snake shaped” or zigzagged fibers and/or round particle or voids were
generated, and tested in the multiscale model subject to multiple liquid
impact. Figs. 13 and 14 show schemes of the multiscale models, with the
upper (macro)scale model of liquid droplet impact, and submodel (unit
cell model of material) with internal structure. Several specific cases
were studied: polyurethane reinforced by Kevlar fibers pulp; poly­
urethane reinforced by graphene nanoparticles; bio-based polymer
reinforced by nanocellulose. Also, the porosity of the material was taken
into account.
The main observation was that fiber pulp reinforcement leads to
lower stress concentration in the vicinity of voids. The local stress was
reduced by 10% … 15%, with 4% content of Kevlar fibers, for instance.
Given that the erosion damage is initiated near the voids in the coatings,
the reduced stresses near the voids lead to the better anti-erosion per­
formance of the coatings. Therefore, the availability of fibers in the
coatings allows shielding the voids. It was estimated that the reduction
of stress on voids by 10% can lead to 80% increase in lifetime, while a
reduction of stress by 15%, leads even more than 350 times higher
lifetime. Thus, the fiber pulp reinforced coatings have a great potential
for the anti-erosion protection.
Further studies were directed to the potential of particle reinforce­
ment, in particular, graphene nanosheets. Unit cell computational
models of polymer reinforced with graphene sheets were developed for
various orientations, density and sizes of graphene nanosheets (Fig. 14).
Computational simulations of stress wave propagation and damage
evolution in graphene reinforced polymers were carried out. Fig. 14
shows the schema of multiscale model of droplet impact on structured
graphene reinforced and porous coating, and finite element model of the
submodel unit cell. Several cases were investigated, among them, the
cases of dilute and concentrated distributions of randomly arranged and
oriented graphene nanosheets in polymers. In dilute case, the average
L. Mishnaevsky Jr. et al. Renewable Energy 215 (2023) 118966

Fig. 14. Scheme of submodelling with unit cell model of material (submodel) with graphene nanosheets reinforcement (a), finite element model with many
nanosheets (b) and the examples of stress concentration on voids ((c) diluted graphene reinforcement; (d): concentrated reinforcements).

distance between nanoplatelets (5 μm diameter) was 16 μm, while in
concentrated case, the distance was 6 μm. It was observed that the dilute
graphene reinforcements cause a negligible shielding of stresses on
voids, while high density nanoparticle reinforcement leads to the strong
reduction of stresses on voids, 40–50% reduction in the stress than the
value without graphene reinforcement.
4.3. Bio-based sustainable coatings
The potential of fiber and particle reinforcements in coatings to
improve the erosion protection performance opens also a path to the
development of sustainable, bio-based anti-erosion coatings. Usually,
bio-based polymers show strength and stiffness much lower than those
of polymers used anti-erosion coatings. In Ref. [49], it was suggested to
develop new coatings using cellulose fiber pulp reinforcerment in the
bio-based polymers, which increases the damage resistance and strength
of coatings. Nanocellulose fibers show chemical inertness, high strength,
and outstanding stiffness, low density, low coefficient of thermal
expansion, dimensional stability. Considering the above properties,
these can be used as a reinforcing material in the anti-erosion coatings of
wind turbine blades.
In order to explore the potential of using nanocellulose reinforce­
ment for shielding stresses on voids (as observed above), computational
studies of polymer with nanocellulose reinforcement under rain droplet
impact were carried out, using the approach similar to that described in
section 4.2. A unit cell model of nanocellulose fiber-reinforced coating
with a single void is developed, and used as a submodel in the rain drop
impact simulations. Since nanocellulose fibrils are much thinner than

Fig. 15. Unit cell model of nano cellulose fibril reinforced coating material (left) and SEM micrograph of nanocellulose fibrils (Reprinted from Ref. [28], with kind
permission from Elsevier).

10
L. Mishnaevsky Jr. et al. Renewable Energy 215 (2023) 118966

Kevlar fibers considered above, the fibrils of radius 6 nm and length of
1800 nm were modelled here as 3D beam elements. Fig. 15 shows a
finite element model of unit cell with a number of nanocellulose fibrils,
and a micrograph of real nanocelluose fibrils. It was, again, observed
that in the case of dilute reinforcement, no stress reduction near voids
due to the reinforcement is observe, while at high content of nano­
cellulose reinforcement, reduction of local stress by 10% was observed.
The effect is similar to that observed in section 4.2, namely, nano re­
inforcements do reduce the stresses on voids, but only if their content is
relatively high, and not in dilute distribution. The observation of the
potential of nanocellulose to delay the degradation of coatings opens the
way to creating protective, bio-based and sustainable anti-erosion
coatings for wind turbine blades. In [50], the experimental validation
for the development of nanocellulose reinforced coatings for wind tur­
bine blade anti-erosion protection is presented. It is demonstrated that
the cellulose reinforcements allow the improvement of the coating
performance up to 70%.
4.4. New graphene and hybrid nanoparticle reinforced coatings
In order to explore the high potential of nanoengineered, particle
reinforced coatings, samples of new coatings were manufactured, with
polyurethane (PU) matrix, incorporating functionalised graphene
nanoplatelets (f-GNP) and silica-based sol–gel [51,52]. Mechanical tests
of various compositions of the coatings (Young’s modulus, elongation at
break, tensile strength and modulus of toughness) were carried out. The
novel nanoreinforced polyurethane coatings with graphene and hybrid
(graphene/silica) reinforcement have been further tested using a Single
Point Impact Fatigue Tester (SPIFT) to evaluate their potential erosion
resistance. Scanning electron microscopy has been used for analysis of
damage after SPIFT testing. It has been demonstrated that the nano­
reinforced coatings have significantly greater resistance to erosion [52].
Polyurethane with hybrid GNP + SG nanoparticle reinforced coatings
exhibited lifetimes up to 13 time greater than pure polyurethane coat­
ings. Fig. 16 shows the SPIFT tests results, amount of impact hits up to
first failure, for different coatings. This study proved the high potential
of nanoengineered coatings. The further upscaling and utilization of the
nanoparticle engineered coatings for the practical exploitation depends
on the practical feasibility of technologies of the coatings attachment
and manufacturing.
In this section, the potential of structured, nanoreinforced coatings
was investigated, using advanced computational models. Some inter­
esting conclusions can be drawn. Coatings with fiber pulp reinforcement
(for instance, Kevlar fiber pulp or nanocellulose fibrils), or high density
nanoparticlereinforcement allow reducing the stresses on eventual de­
fects in the coatings, thus, extending the coating life. This opens the path
to the development of new, also bio-based, coatings.
5. Application of machine learning to the analysis of the blade
erosion
Blade surface erosion is a complex process, controlled by multiple
physical effects and interactions, and influenced by a number of sto­
chastic processes (rain distribution, material defects, properties varia­
tions). Deterministic mechanical models, like presented in sections 3 and
4, have therefore some constraints when applied to rain erosion of real
materials. Therefore, the artificial intelligence methods represent an
attractive option for the modelling of erosion, overcoming the limita­
tions of continuum models. Machine learning techniques can be used to
complement the finite element models, and to provide predictive esti­
mation of different parameters. This can be realized by using surrogate
models with machine learning algorithms which are trained with data
from finite element analyses [53].
In the following analysis, the application of machine learning
methods to the analysis of erosion is demonstrated for the analysis of the
effect of droplet size on the erosion process. After a range of expected
droplet diameters is defined and finite element impact simulations are
performed for the selected diameter values within that range, the ma­
chine learning algorithm is trained to fit the output of interest of these
simulations, (here, stress values). To demonstrate this method, a two-
layer neural network (NN) was used to fit the stress output of finite
element models for impacts of droplets with diameters between 1 mm
and 4 mm. The inputs of the NN were the droplet diameter and the
position relative to the point of impact while the output was a maximum
principal stress amplitude (Sa) value. The training and validation data
were used to find the optimal number of units of each of the two layers
by considering the mean square (mse) and average (mae) errors. The NN
parameters obtained from the training dataset are used for predictions
for the validation set. The predicted and simulated Sa fields are illus­
trated in Fig. 17. Graphs of Sa values versus the distance from the point
of impact are shown in Fig. 18, at different depths below the impact
surface. While there were some differences for the maximum stress
values between the predictions and the simulation, the surrogate model
was able to produce accurate results, even with a simple neural network
model of 2 layers.
The purpose of this technique is to make fast predictions for stress
values that will occur during the droplet impact of any diameter within
the expected range of values. The predictions can then be used in coating

Fig. 16. SPIFT tests of nanoengineered coatings: (a) Schema and (b) Results on impacts to failure for PU, PU + GNP, and PU + GNP + SG at impact rate 173 m/s
[51,52].

11
L. Mishnaevsky Jr. et al.
Fig. 17. Simulated stress amplitude field (left) and predictions of the surrogate model (right) for the impact of a droplet with a diameter of 1.7 mm.
Fig. 18. Comparison of stress amplitude values versus distance from point of
impact between simulation and predictions of the surrogate model, 0.15 mm
depth. The droplet diameter was 1.7 mm.
lifetime estimation models and allow them to take into account the
stochastic nature of droplet sizes. The benefit is that the surrogate model
can provide similar results to the finite element simulations but in a
much shorter time. Surrogate modelling techniques could also be used to
fit the output of other numerical tools such as the coating lifetime pre­
diction tool or the roughness prediction tool.
Another application of AI on the field of leading edge erosion is the
damage detection via image processing. Images are frequently collected
from blades of operating turbines by drones or humans and are pro­
cessed by applying AI algorithms.
6. Digital twin of the eroding wind turbine blade
The erosion is microscale process, which can make it more difficult to
link direct experimental observation of the process with the computa­
tional models [54]. In this section, the suggested approach to the
development of digital twin of eroding blade is formulated. The idea is
that the surface roughness can be automatically photographed, and the
digitized micrographs are introduced in the computational model of the
blade surface degradation as input roughness. Using the computational
model of surface damage and roughness evolution (e.g, described in
section 3) or machine learning approach (as demonstrated in section 5),
one can estimate and predict the roughness evolution (for given coating
properties and rain conditions). The roughness determined in the sim­
ulations is validated and corrected by comparison with new micro­
graphs. The surrogate models, as described in section 5, allows
12
Renewable Energy 215 (2023) 118966
predicting the output of the physics-based model within seconds. Fast
computations enable us to quickly test different parameters and envi­
ronmental conditions for their effect on blade erosion. It will allow to
make fast decisions for the operation of turbines and schedule optimal
repair intervals. Fig. 19 shows the schema of such design of the digital
twin of eroding wind turbine blade. The model development is under­
way now.
For reproducing the real 3D microgeometry of the blade surface,
photogrammetry approach is used [55]. This involves taking multiple
images of an object which overlap each other and then an image
stitching software is used to create a 3D reconstruction. During recon­
struction, the software extracts common points between images and
calculates the distance between points belonging to the object and the
camera positions. A camera can be mounted on an inspection drone
which will take images of the leading edge on a stationary blade. Fig. 20
shows the leading edge and the reconstructed 3D model. This 3D
reconstruction was obtained, using a handheld smartphoneto capture 24
images of an eroded leading edge on a decommissioned blade, and
commercial software 3DF Zephyr.
7. Conclusions
Recent developments in the wind turbine blade protection against
leading edge erosion, are reviewed, on the basis of last year publications,
works presented on the annual DTU symposia on leading edge erosion
over last four years, as well as studies carried out at DTU Wind.
The most common directions of development of new blade coating
materials were grouped into thermoplastic and hybrid thermoplastic
coatings, highly viscoelasic coatings, structured interfaces to enhance
the coating attachments (using hybrid fibrous layers, polymer brushes,
or interphase layers), electroforming metallic leading edge erosion
shields and structured nanoreinforced coatings. Other important topics
are the roughness evolution on the blade surface, and effect of humidity
and other environmental factors.
Further, the application of advanced computational modelling
techniques to the analysis of the damage mechanisms in leading edge
coatings, effect of coating materials properties and structure on the
erosion, debonding, humidity and weathering effects, potential of
structured and reinforced coatings.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Leon Mishnaevsky: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing –
original draft, Writing – review & editing, Funding acquisition, Project
administration, Supervision. Antonios Tempelis: Software, Visualiza­
tion, Investigation, Visualization, Investigation, Validation. Nikesh
Kuthe: Software, Visualization, Investigation, Visualization, Investiga­
tion, Validation. Puneet Mahajan: Project administration, Supervision.
L. Mishnaevsky Jr. et al. Renewable Energy 215 (2023) 118966

Fig. 19. Schema: Digital Twin of eroding wind turbine blade.

Acknowledgement

The authors acknowledge the financial support of the Ministry of

Foreign Affairs of Denmark, for its support in the framework of Danida
grant 19-M02-DTU “Maintenance and Repair Strategy for Wind Energy
Development”. LM gratefully acknowledges the financial support of
European Commission in framework of the HORIZON IA project Bla­
des2Build: Recycle, repurpose and reuse end-of-life wind blade com­
posites – a coupled pre- and co-processing demonstration plant, Grant
Agreement Project 101096437. AT is grateful to the Department of Wind
Energy and Energy Systems of Technical University of Denmark for the
support.

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