Contribution
Reuse of End-of-life Wind Turbine Blade Components as Sound-absorbing Acoustic Ceilings – Initial Concept
* Presenting author
Abstract:
The installation of wind turbines is steadily increasing in many parts of the world. The wind turbine blades (WTBs) of these systems consist mainly of glass fiber-reinforced thermosets. Currently, there are no economically and socially responsible recycling technologies for such large-scale multi-material composite structures available. Therefore, the use of decommissioned WTB components as sound-absorbing acoustic ceiling elements could make a valuable contribution here. For this purpose, different manufacturing approaches for reusing WTB sandwich panels are conceptionally investigated and compared to identify suitable design variants and their feasibility. For a variant of an acoustic ceiling element in the form of a plate-shaped Helmholtz resonator, the sound absorption characteristics were analytically predicted and evaluated, considering the given dimensions of an Enercon E40 WTB. As a result, the high potential of reusing WTB sandwich panels as sound-absorbing acoustic ceilings for the partial reduction of composite waste from WTBs was demonstrated. However, further acoustic configurations must be discussed. Nevertheless, the current study is intended to draw attention to the existence of valuable composite sub-structures and thus stimulate future research projects for repurposing WTBs in the field of room acoustics.