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Resource Documents: Safety (50 items)
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Ice throw from wind turbines: Assessment and risk management
Author: Bredesen, Rolv
[excerpts] What is in-cloud icing? If temperatures are below 0°C and the structure is located inside a cloud (above cloud base height) we get in-cloud icing. The ice accretion rates increases with the relative windspeed and the moisture content of the cloud. Because the blade of a wind turbine moves fast there is an elevated hazard associated with ice throw and fall from turbines located in icing conditions. How far can the ice be thrown? Maximum throw distance (screening) : 1.5 . . .
More »Wind Farms and Public Use Airports – Why the FAA Fails to Ensure Air Safety
Author: Armstrong, Alan
The explosion of wind turbine developments across the United States does not bode well for the continued viability of many public use airports. OVERVIEW OF THE PROBLEM Increasingly, wind farms with wind turbine generators (WTGs) nearly 500 feet above ground level litter the landscape. However, the disturbing reality is that these wind farms are being built in close physical proximity to public use airports. Because of their height and their interference with radar sites used by air traffic control and . . .
More »Wind Turbine Public Safety Risk, Direct and Indirect Health Impacts
Author: Palmer, William
Abstract – Wind turbines are often perceived as benign. This can be attributed to the population majority dwelling in urban locations distant from most wind turbines. Society may understate the risk to individuals living near turbines due to an overstatement of the perceived benefits of turbines, and an understatement of the risk of injury from falling turbine parts, or shed ice. Flaws in risk calculation may be attributed to a less than fully developed safety culture. Indications of this are . . .
More »Analysis of throw distances of detached objects from horizontal-axis wind turbines
Author: Sarlak, Hamid; and Sørensen, Jens
Figures 4 to 6 show the results for different-size blade pieces from different-size turbines at different wind speeds and blade tip speeds. For normal tip speeds (figs 4 and 5), the potential blade throw distance for a 2.3-MW turbine was calculated to be ~500 m (1,640 ft) and for a 5-MW turbine ~900 m (2,953 ft). At “extreme” tip speeds (fig 6) the corresponding distances were 800 m (2,625 ft) and 1500 m (4,921 ft). [ABSTRACT] This paper aims at . . .
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