The wind industry recognizes the importance of proper bolt tension. The acknowledgement will challenge some of the industry’s torque-tightening practices as it matures and adopts more sophisticated technology to improve reliability and reduce maintenance costs. To start, let’s review current practices. For instance, bolts on turbines are often tightened in one of two ways: either…

Wind turbine operations and maintenance procedures call for a 100% inspection of fastener tension after 500 hours of operation. This work is costly and can easily take a number of days to complete because each fastener is typically checked with a torque wrench to verify its proper tension. Torque is an indirect indicator of fastener…