Abstract
This paper investigated whether wind turbines have a residual life to ensure their continued safe and reliable operation after 20 years of design life. A modeling method for the load simulation of the wind turbine with a lack of design documents was proposed. A method for calculating the residual life of wind turbines based on site-specific load comparison analysis and uncertainty analysis was established. This method was applied to evaluate the residual life of 66 600 kW wind turbines at an old wind farm in northwest China. The equivalent loads of the turbine components were calculated under design conditions and actual operating conditions, and the residual lives of the turbine components were further evaluated by uncertainty analysis. The results showed that all components of these wind turbines had a residual life after operating over their 20-year design lives, and the wind farm could continue operating for at least 4.6 years.
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