Draperstown Wind Turbine Blade Bridge withstands 33 tonnes in Load Test

The Queens University Belfast blade bridge design has been successfully structurally tested by Re-Wind’s structural team. The bridge was heavily instrumented and monitored by multiple strain gauges, drone videography and digital image correlation. The bridge withstood an incredible 33 tonnes loading with a mid-span deflection at full load of only 9 mm.

Re-Wind structural experts from Georgia Tech, QUB and Munster Technological University and collaborators from Brunel University and University College Dublin devised and completed the programme of dynamic and static load tests. The results demonstrated the enormous residual strength of end-of-life wind turbine blades and are expected to open up new structural repurposing applications for decommissioned composite material wind turbine blades.

The Draperstown blade bridge was designed by Dr An Huynh and Prof Marios Soutsos and constructed by Kenny McDonald and staff at QUB with aerial photography and videography by Conor Graham.