Functional prototype testing of an 8 MW wind turbine

The product assurance of a new wind turbine design, especially for new multi-MW offshore turbines, leads to extensive validation needs. From the material to system level all fields of the development process need to be considered and corresponding validation tools have to be used. This paper describes the challenges for the execution of a prototype test on a full size nacelle test rig. The integration of the device under test in a test rig environment as well the specimen instrumentation are necessary preparation steps for a successful test campaign. The scope of the test campaign is driven by the OEM and the focus may be set differently. Various fields of testing, based on the Adwen AD-8 test campaign in the DyNaLab, are described in this paper. In the future Fraunhofer IWES and Adwen are planning to extend test rig tests by collaboration on the prototype field tests. This promises meaningful insights for full size nacelle test acceptance and test method improvement.