of advanced methods for detection of LEE [8; 9; 10; 11], and to replicate the process of LEE in the laboratory [12; 13] or using numerical modeling [14; 15; 16]. As an example of the latter, the Springer model has been applied for assessing the material properties and combined with [PERSON]'s rule to assess time to failure [17]. Preventative tools to reduce LEE via application of polymer tapes or coatings to the leading edge have also been developed [18; 19; 20; 21; 22; 10]. However, application of these tapes can reduce aerodynamic efficiency and thus power production [23]. Further, the tapes/coatings themselves can also be subject to erosion by shockwaves caused by impacts from hydrometeors [24]. Performance of leading edge protection (LEP) systems are typically evaluated using accelerated rain erosion tests (RET) [25]. Whirling-arm test-rigs are designed to determine the surface impact resistance of blade coatings to hydrometeor collisions. Many studies employ such systems, sometimes with a staged approach to examine the mechanisms by which coating systems evolve during the experiment [26]. They are used to perform experiments wherein a blade section is rotated at high-speed and exposed to droplet bombardment [13]. Although this experimental procedure has been widely used, it is subject to some limitations. For example, concerns have been raised that they do not sample realistic droplet size, morphology and velocity spectra [27]. They also do not fully include the presence of co-stressors such as degradation due to ultraviolet (UV) exposure or thermal cycling and associated materials expansion and contraction. Further, there is evidence that pre-stress of blade materials enhances hydrometeor erosion of the leading edge [28]. This effect is not fully reproduced in the whirling-arm test-rigs. Finally, current experimental configurations are limited to consideration of liquid hydrometeors. Proposals have also been advanced to reduce blade rotational speed during hydrom climatic events that are likely to cause high materials stresses [1; 29; 30]. Adoption of this 'erosion safe mode' operation naturally comes at a penalty of reduced power production but may extend blade lifetimes by reducing materials stress yielding net economic benefit to wind farm owner-operators [31]. Wind turbine blades are made of composites (e.g., epoxy or polyester, with reinforcing glass or carbon fibers) [32] coated to protect them by distributing and absorbing energy from hydrometeor and other impacts [33]. Wind turbine blade LEE is principally the result of material stresses causes by kinetic energy transfer from hydrometeors impacting on the rotating blade [27; 30; 34]. Each impact has the potential to generate surface Rayleigh waves, and both shear and compressional waves in the coating interior [35]. The interaction of these waves is complex and depends on the nature of the impact and material properties of the coating. Erosion mechanics can be simply envisaged as comprising an incubation period during which no damage is observed but microstructural material changes due to hydrometeor impacts generate nucleation sites for subsequent material removal. Material removal commences when a threshold level of accumulated impacts is reached [17]. This is followed by a period during which additional impacts lead to observable damage as stress waves propagate from impact locations causing growth of pits/cracks to grow and an increase in material loss [14; 36; 37]. The number of impacts required to reach the threshold at which material failure becomes evident is thus a non-linear function of the number, magnitude and phase of the hydrometeors and hydrometeor closing velocity plus the material strength [15]. The Waterhammer equation describes the pressure exerted on the coating by the impact as a linear function of the impact velocity [23; 35; 38]. The impact force and the kinetic energy transferred into the coating scales with the mass and closing velocity squared [35].