Comparative analysis of wind turbine erosion using reanalysis, satellite and ground-measured rain data

Shende, Sanshodhan and Castorrini, Alessio and Hasager, Charlotte Bay and Vinod, Abhiram and Dimitriadou, Krystallia and Adirosi, Elisa and Pace, Giandomenico and Silvestri, Lorenzo De and Sánchez, Fernando and Rose, Matthew S. and Campobasso, M. Sergio (2026) Comparative analysis of wind turbine erosion using reanalysis, satellite and ground-measured rain data. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 3224 (6): 062034. ISSN 1742-6588

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Abstract

This work investigates leading edge erosion risk from the combined statistics of wind and rain at three sites (two offshore and one onshore). Coating lifetime for a reference 15 MW wind turbine is estimated using a rain erosion model driven by measured wind data and alternative rainfall inputs. Measurements include site-specific disdrometer and anemometer records, buoy-mounted offshore LiDAR, and satellite precipitation (IMERG-F). These datasets are systematically compared with ERA5 reanalysis to quantify meteorological discrepancies and their impact on erosion predictions. The overall objective is to evaluate the accuracy of largescale global rainfall datasets for leading edge erosion prediction, since reliable erosion forecasts are essential for effective predictive maintenance and precipitation-reactive control strategies [1], and disdrometric measurements are rarely available at wind farm sites.