Testing of Rotor Blades

Current approval of rotor blades comprises characterization of materials, full-blade tests with static up- and down-bending, and a modal analysis. In addition to these tests, cyclic testing of full-size rotor blades is increasingly discussed to become subject of official certification procedures. Open questions regarding their operational relevance, large investment costs and long duration of up to 4 months for forthcoming large blades now deepen the demand for a new testing methodology. Component testing and scaling methods, highly developed calculation methods, and the definition of blade families of closely related structures are proposed to increase the relevance as well as to decrease costs and duration of the approval procedure.