PSI - Issue 68

ScienceDirect Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2025) 000–000 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2025) 000–000 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect

www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia

Procedia Structural Integrity 68 (2025) 795–801

European Conference on Fracture 2024 UAV-Based Thermographic Inspection of Wind Turbine Blades for Structural Integrity Assessment: Preliminary Findings Hugo Mesquita Vasconcelos a* , Pedro J. Sousa a,b , Susana Dias a , Nuno Viriato a , Tiago Domingues a , Paulo J. Tavares a , Pedro M. G. P. Moreira a , a INEGI, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias 400, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal b University of Porto, Faculty of Engineering, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal Abstract The maintenance of a wind turbine blade can be an expensive endeavour, not only because of the labour, time and danger involved but even more so since it requires production downtime to perform a visual assessment of the blades’ condition. This manuscript describes a non-intrusive inspection strategy for the evaluation of wind turbine blade structural integrity, employing thermographic analysis facilitated by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). This approach harnesses the capabilities of microbolometer-based thermography to discern variations in heat transfer that are representative of underlying structural defects. The core methodology involves capturing thermal imagery at a lower temperature, the warming of the blade’s surface and subsequently another thermal imagery capture. Field validation of the proposed inspection methodology was undertaken utilizing a DJI Matrice 300 RTK UAV equipped with a DJI H20T camera. This equipment setup was deployed at a wind turbine site in Northern Portugal, facilitating the acquisition of thermal and visible light imagery under varied thermal conditions. The empirical data gathered from these operations, particularly the comparison of thermal profiles captured at different times of the day, provided a dataset for analysis. This allowed for the detection of thermal anomalies consistent with possible structural defects. The adaptability of this method to the demands of offshore wind farm operations illuminates its potential to revolutionize the maintenance protocols for wind turbines situated in these particularly challenging environments. © 2025 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of ECF24 organizers European Conference on Fracture 2024 UAV-Based Thermographic Inspection of Wind Turbine Blades for Structural Integrity Assessment: Preliminary Findings Hugo Mesquita Vasconcelos a* , Pedro J. Sousa a,b , Susana Dias a , Nuno Viriato a , Tiago Domingues a , Paulo J. Tavares a , Pedro M. G. P. Moreira a , a INEGI, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias 400, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal b University of Porto, Faculty of Engineering, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal Abstract The maintenance of a wind turbine blade can be an expensive endeavour, not only because of the labour, time and danger involved but even more so since it requires production downtime to perform a visual assessment of the blades’ condition. This manuscript describes a non-intrusive inspection strategy for the evaluation of wind turbine blade structural integrity, employing thermographic analysis facilitated by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). This approach harnesses the capabilities of microbolometer-based thermography to discern variations in heat transfer that are representative of underlying structural defects. The core methodology involves capturing thermal imagery at a lower temperature, the warming of the blade’s surface and subsequently another thermal imagery capture. Field validation of the proposed inspection methodology was undertaken utilizing a DJI Matrice 300 RTK UAV equipped with a DJI H20T camera. This equipment setup was deployed at a wind turbine site in Northern Portugal, facilitating the acquisition of thermal and visible light imagery under varied thermal conditions. The empirical data gathered from these operations, particularly the comparison of thermal profiles captured at different times of the day, provided a dataset for analysis. This allowed for the detection of thermal anomalies consistent with possible structural defects. The adaptability of this method to the demands of offshore wind farm operations illuminates its potential to revolutionize the maintenance protocols for wind turbines situated in these particularly challenging environments. © 2025 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of ECF24 organizers © 2025 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of ECF24 organizers

* Corresponding author. Tel.: *+ 351 22 957 8710; fax: +0-000-000-0000 . E-mail address: hmesquita@inegi.up.pt * Corresponding author. Tel.: *+ 351 22 957 8710; fax: +0-000-000-0000 . E-mail address: hmesquita@inegi.up.pt

2452-3216 © 2025 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of ECF24 organizers 2452-3216 © 2025 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of ECF24 organizers

2452-3216 © 2025 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of ECF24 organizers 10.1016/j.prostr.2025.06.132