The present disclosure is directed to thermoplastic airflow modifying elements for a rotor blade for a wind turbine and methods of assembling same. The rotor blade may be constructed from at least one of a thermoset material or a thermoplastic material. Further, the rotor blade includes a blade shell defining an outer surface. Moreover, the rotor blade includes one or more layers of thermoplastic material infused to the outer surface of the blade shell so as to define one or more attachment locations. In addition, the rotor blade includes at least one airflow modifying element constructed, at least in part, from a thermoplastic material. Thus, the airflow modifying element(s) is welded to one of the attachment locations on the outer surface of the blade shell.

A method for assembling a rotor blade of a wind turbine: a) providing at least two different rotor blade modules that segment the rotor blade along a longitudinal direction thereof, wherein each rotor blade module has a sloped interface section that include a weldable thermoplastic resin and/or a weldable thermoset resin (M, b) providing a resistive element, c) arranging the rotor blade modules and the resistive element in such a way that sloped interface sections face each other and the resistive element is sandwiched between the sloped interface sections, d) energizing the resistive element to apply heat to a weldable thermoplastic resin and/or the weldable thermoset resin to melt or to soften it, and e) joining the sloped interface sections together at a joint by means of the molten or softened weldable thermoplastic resin and/or the weldable thermoset resin to form the rotor blade.

A wind turbine blade is provided including a first and a second blade component connected with each other in an overlap region by thermal welding, the first blade component including a blade shell, a resistive element arranged between the first and second blade components in the overlap region as a remnant of the thermal welding, and an electrically conductive element extending through the blade shell and being electrically connected to the resistive element for supplying power to the resistive element during the thermal welding. The first and second blade components can be joined by thermal welding. Further, the resistive element used as heating element for thermal welding can be heated by electrical current even when the resistive element is difficult to assess from the interior cavity of the blade.