Wind Energy Science
Wind Energy Science
WES
Articles | Volume 11, issue 4
Articles | Volume 11, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-11-1305-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-11-1305-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Articles | Volume 11, issue 4
Research article
 | 
21 Apr 2026
Research article |  | 21 Apr 2026

Enhanced approach to match damage-equivalent loads in rotor blade fatigue testing

David Melcher, Sergei Semenov, Peter Berring, Kim Branner, and Enno Petersen

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Short summary
This study shows that conventional methods in rotor blade fatigue testing can lead to substantial under-testing across major blade areas because material fatigue behavior is not well represented. An improved approach, based on strain-proportional loads with mean load correction, is proposed to define loads that produce sufficient fatigue damage across all blade areas. The results suggest that this can require up to 16 % higher uniaxial fatigue test loads than needed by conventional methods.
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