Offshore Foundations | Advances in Rotor Blades
Wind Turbine Towers | Wind Turbine Bearings
26 - 28 August, 2025
| Dorint City Hotel Bremen, Bremen, Germany
Advances in Rotor Blades: Day 1 - 27/08/2025
8:00 - 8:15
Registration and Welcome Coffee
8:15 - 9:20
Workshop: Mastering Aeroelasticity in 100m+ Rotor Blades: Challenges, Models & Mitigation
As rotor blades exceed 100 meters, aeroelastic phenomena become increasingly critical. This workshop explores the interaction between aerodynamic loads and structural dynamics — and how to model, predict, and mitigate aeroelastic instabilities in ultra-long blades. Through realworld examples and simulation cases, participants will dive into the design trade-offs, modeling approaches, and testing strategies that define the next generation of large rotor blades.
Understanding Aeroelastic Effects in Very Long Blades:
- Coupled aerodynamic and structural behaviour
- Key failure modes: flutter, divergence, dynamic instabilities
Modeling Approaches and Tools:
- Reduced-order vs. high-fidelity simulation
- Validation methods: wind tunnel, full-scale testing,
- operational data
Design Strategies to Address Aeroelastic Challenges:
- Stiffness tailoring and material selection
- Passive and active load control options
- Impact of sweep, prebend, and structural damping
9:20 - 9:30
Opening remarks by Chairperson
9:30 - 10:00
Scene Setting | What is a valuable rotor blade from an operator’s perspective?
- Turbine and blade selection for new wind farm projects
- Quality assurance and certification
- Inspections and maintenance, condition and loads monitoring
- Life time extension, dismantling and disposal
10:00 - 10:30
New Methods in Full Scale Rotor Blade Fatigue Testing
David Melcher -
Research Associate Department Rotor Blades,
Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES
- Precise evaluation of fatigue loads
- Better agreement of test and field loads
- Elliptical biaxial test excitation for better load coverage
David Melcher
Research Associate Department Rotor BladesFraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES
10:30 - 11:00
Advanced Aerodynamic Load Control for 100m+ Blades
Dr. Jingwei Zhou -
Project manager/ Senior researcher,
Zhejiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co., Ltd.
- Advanced Aerodynamic Load Control for 100m+ Blades
- Dynamic trailing edge flaps: Performance & control algorithms
- Aeroelastic tailoring for fatigue load reduction
- High-fidelity CFD vs. wind tunnel validation
Dr. Jingwei Zhou
Project manager/ Senior researcherZhejiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co., Ltd.
11:00 - 11:30
Coffee Break and Networking
11:30 - 12:00
Aeroelastic-Based Control for a Flexible Wind Turbine Blade and its Innovations
- The principle of nonlinear bend–twist deformation in flexible blades;
- Motivation for the development of an aeroelastic-based controller;
- On-site experimental studies and validation;
- Optimization with constraints and a holistic design approach.
12:00 - 12:30
Structural Optimization for Ultra-Lightweight Rotor Blades
- Multi-objective optimization for weight & stiffness
- Hybrid composite-lattice structures
- Influence of resin infusion techniques on microstructure
12:30 - 13:00
Hidden Loads in Transit: Transport-Induced Stresses on Rotor Blades transport aspects
- Dynamic loads during road transport: poor infrastructure and vibrations
- Ship transport and wave-induced blade oscillations
- Unexpected stress patterns not covered by standard load calculations
- Fatigue risk from repeated micro-impacts in transit
- Implications for design margins, monitoring, and certification
13:00 - 14:30
Networking Luncheon
14:30 - 15:00
Blade segmentation: a game changer reality
- Overcoming blades growth limitations
- Robust and reliable solutions: advanced validation strategy
- Representative case studies
15:00 - 15:45
Panel discussion: Beyond the Limits: Structural Uncertainty in Large Blade Design
As rotor blades continue to scale, current tools face limits. Experts discuss structural challenges, root design issues, and modeling gaps in ultra-large blades.
- Structural mechanics: What we still don’t fully understand and structural modelling limitations for >100m blades
- Growing blades, growing gaps: Scaling effects and hidden loads
- Load assumptions vs. real-world behaviour
- Blade root challenges: Complex stress states and material interfaces
- Scaling effects and unforeseen interaction effects
- Towards better prediction: Needs for validation, testing, and model improvement
15:45 - 16:15
Coffee Break and Networking
16:15 - 16:45
Design for Extreme Climates: Icing, Sand Erosion & Offshore Typhoons
- Superhydrophobic coatings vs. embedded heating for de-icing
- Erosion-resistant leading edges for desert & offshore applications
- Structural reinforcement for high-frequency typhoon loads
16:45 - 17:15
Leading Edge Erosion in Large Rotor Blades: Prediction & Mitigation
- Raindrop impact dynamics at 90+ m/s: Experimental vs. numerical modeling
- Fatigue-driven erosion mechanisms in composite leading edges
- Aerodynamic efficiency loss & power output degradation
17:15 - 17:30
Closing remarks
17:30 - 19:00
Workshop
19:00 - 19:00
Evening Get-Together:
Join us for an informal evening get together at Emma am See where some refreshing drinks and a nice barbecue buffet will be waiting for you! You are not only visiting an architecturally awardwinning monument, but meeting your peers in a relaxed atmosphere, exchanging business cards. and reviewing the first conference day.
