Fatigue and fracture mechanical behaviour of a wind turbine rotor shaft made of cast iron and forged steel

AbstractTo reduce uncertainties associated with the fatigue behaviour of the highly safety relevant wind turbine rotor shaft and also to review today’s design practice the fatigue life time is tested on a full scale test rig. Further investigations of weight saving potentials contribute to suggestions for the usage of other materials. Therefore, a comprehensive comparison regarding the fatigue and the fracture mechanical behaviour of the rotor shaft made of different materials is done. For the loading situation it is distinguished between test conditions and a realistic cumulative frequency distribution of loads in a wind turbine