Protection of offshore wind turbine blades against extreme conditions

The fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite materials design technology has become a main factor in structural integrity to design of composite sub-structures in various engineering disciplines. In particular case offshore wind turbine blades are typically manufactured from FRP composites and delamination failure is an important issue in these structures. In extreme conditions, like ice impacting, multiple delaminations with a triangular shape is found in different parts of a composite wind turbine blade, introducing local damage, which can cause catastrophic failure under various loading conditions such as post-impact, fatigue and buckling.