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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">WESD</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>Wind Energy Science Discussions</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">WESD</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">Wind Energ. Sci. Discuss.</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub">2366-7621</issn>
<publisher><publisher-name></publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/wes-2026-133</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Low-Frequency Fatigue monitoring using nacelle-mounted accelerometers</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Chaar</surname>
<given-names>Mustapha</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Weijtjens</surname>
<given-names>Wout</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4068-8818</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Devriendt</surname>
<given-names>Christof</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7041-9948</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Department of Applied Mechanics, OWI-LAB, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, 1050, Belgium</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>24SEA, Brussels, 1000, Belgium</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>30</day>
<month>07</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>17</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Mustapha Chaar et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://wes.copernicus.org/preprints/wes-2026-133/">This article is available from https://wes.copernicus.org/preprints/wes-2026-133/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://wes.copernicus.org/preprints/wes-2026-133/wes-2026-133.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://wes.copernicus.org/preprints/wes-2026-133/wes-2026-133.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>Thrust loading on wind turbines causes quasi-static loading that ultimately introduces fatigue loading on the turbine. Monitoring these quasi-static loads is relevant for assessing the residual lifetime of the asset. However, installing strain gauges on all assets is practically and economically infeasible; only a subset of turbines, referred to as fleet leaders, are instrumented to this level. Interestingly, these quasi-static loads also result in a temporary inclination or tilt of the tower, which can be picked up by accelerometers or inclinometers installed on the tower or nacelle. This paper proposes using gravity-sensitive tri-axial MEMS accelerometers placed in the nacelle to estimate the inclination and load characteristics of a fleet of turbines. To do this accurately, the MEMS sensor needs to be &lt;em&gt;calibrated&lt;/em&gt; to offset installation errors and compensate for the turbines&amp;rsquo; permanent inclination. For this purpose, long-term data from the MEMS accelerometer are processed, and the constituting offsets are estimated. After calibration, the quasi-static angles induced by loading can be estimated from the accelerometer. The derived load characteristics can then be used to extrapolate bending moments from fully instrumented fleet-leader turbines to the remainder of the wind farm. The bending moment is then used to assess damage-equivalent moments, and it was found that the accelerometer produces damage estimates similar to those obtained from strain gauges. Thus, the approach enables scalable and cost-effective farmwide load monitoring.</p>
</abstract>
<counts><page-count count="17"/></counts>
<funding-group>
<award-group id="gs1">
<funding-source>Agentschap Innoveren en Ondernemen</funding-source>
<award-id>VLAOO23</award-id>
</award-group>
</funding-group>
</article-meta>
</front>
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<back>
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