CASE STUDY
Offshore Blade Repair
A crack damage on the Leading Edge (LE) of an offshore blade lead to ingress of weather to the core material. The core was tested, and defective areas were identified on both Pressure Side (PS) and Suction Side (SS) of the blade.
The areas were incorporated into a single repair with final dimensions: 1200mm x 2000mm, centred on the LE.
Preparatory work – removing damaged materials
With the balsa areas first identified, the defective core was removed. The replacement core was planned to cover a large area so the application was broken into stages
Repair steps – remedial work on the core and the blade structure
The balsa was fitted and profiled. Appropriate chamfers were cut into the blade surface to accept further repair laminations.
With the laminations complete, the work was tempered with a post-cure procedure using heat blankets. This is essential to improve the mechanical properties of the repair laminate.
In order to finally restore the blade surface to an acceptable geometry the finished laminate work was prepared for filler. These filler layers were profiled and finished with the application of a durable (erosion resistant) surface coating, which was roller applied.
