End-of-life wind turbine blades have historically been sent to landfill or incineration. As wind power production increases, the number of blades will also increase, making it relevant to investigate alternative solutions for used blades that rank higher in the waste hierarchy. In this bachelor thesis, the possibility of reusing a specific part of a wind turbine blade as an arch for a water passage under a road is being investigated. The results show that such an arch can be constructed at a location where an existing road culvert is situated on Skellefteå Kraft's land, in close proximity to Svarttjärnen south of Skellefteå. Building this arch would benefit the biodiversity of the water origin, as the current culvert acts as a migration barrier for fish, preventing both upstream and downstream migration.Literature studies indicate that the blade part can withstand the load typically experienced by an arch. However, there are uncertainties regarding the material composition of the blade part, necessitating practical testing of the construction under such loads before proceeding with building the arch.Furthermore, the results demonstrate that reusing the wind turbine blade for this purpose would result in a reduction of emissions by 1430 kg of carbon dioxide equivalents, as a new steel arch would not need to be produced. This positive impact on climate and biodiversity renders it a promising solution worthy of further investigation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:ltu-107581 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Alm, Cecilia |
| Publisher | Luleå tekniska universitet, Institutionen för teknikvetenskap och matematik |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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