Blade Deflection and Tower Oscillation Sensing of Full-scale Wind Turbines with Automotive Lidars

Department of Wind and Energy Systems, Technical University of Denmark Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Published online: 9 April 2026

Abstract

Testing of full-scale wind turbine blades and tower by the traditional sensors, such as strain gages and accelerometers, is expensive, arduous, and time-consuming. In this study, we investigate a novel technique to accelerate prototype wind turbine testing under different atmospheric conditions by applying automotive lidars. A proof-of-concept field measurement was conducted, scanning the DTU V52 wind turbine with a frequency-modulated-continuous-wave (FMCW) automotive lidar at the Risø campus of the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). It was observed that the upper part of the tower was displaced by about 7 cm after the wind turbine had been stopped. The obtained power spectral density diagram shown that the dominant frequency related to the tower's oscillation is about 1.25 Hz. These results show that automotive lidars may have a great potential to be integrated into the wind energy industry to provide accurate measurements of blade deflection and tower oscillation, which will speed up the testing process and reduce the time-to-market of new turbine models.