Cases And Applications
Gearbox failure RCA
SCOPE- Why is this damage occurring in these gearboxes?
- Is there a risk that the issue will progress and eventually affect additional components?
- What can be done to prevent this damage or keep it under control?
Gearboxes remain one of the wind turbine components with a significant failure rate. Despite advances in design and maintenance practices, their mechanical complexity and the highly dynamic loads they are subjected to make them a critical part of the system.
The occurrence of damage is not always directly associated with the primary component affected. In many cases, it can be linked to degradation or wear in secondary components that alter the mechanical behaviour of the drivetrain, accelerating the development of additional damage mechanisms.
In this case, during a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) carried out on damage identified in several gearboxes of a 3.0 MW wind turbine platform, a technical inspection campaign revealed significant wear in the torque arm supports of the gearbox first stage.
Based on this finding, an engineering study was conducted to evaluate the influence of this wear on the load distribution within the structure and its potential impact on gearbox service life.
To achieve this, a Finite Element Analysis (FEA) model of the gearbox first stage was developed, enabling the assessment of different degradation states and the evaluation of their influence on the identified critical areas under various operating and loading conditions.
Customer benefits
The analysis provided valuable insights into the behaviour of the gearbox under different degradation scenarios, enabling more informed operational and maintenance decisions.
The main outcomes included:
- Identification of the root causes driving premature degradation.
- Quantification of the impact of the observed degradation on gearbox lifetime and reliability.
- Reduction of risks associated with failures, unplanned outages, and operational costs through:
- Improved ability to predict the occurrence and progression of additional damage.
- Optimized maintenance and condition monitoring strategies.
- More effective planning of maintenance activities and spare parts management.
