On the Value of Structural Health Monitoring Information for the Operation of Wind Parks

In the present paper, an approach for the quantification of the Value of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) Information building upon a framework for infrastructure system utility and decision analysis is developed and applied to the operation of wind parks. The quantification of the value of SHM facilitates a benefit and risk informed assessment and optimization of SHM strategies and encompasses models for the infrastructure functionality, the structural constituent and system risks and its management as well as the performance of SHM strategies. A wind park system model incorporating the structural wind turbine systems and its components is developed accounting for the wind park functionality, i.e. power production, its operation and its cascading damage and failure scenarios. This system model facilitates to quantify the expected benefits and risks throughout the service life accounting for the propagation of SHM information and uncertainties from components to the different system levels and vice versa. The decision to extend the service life and the operation of a wind park is investigated without SHM information and by quantifying the value of several SHM strategies.