Bending moment characteristic analysis of utility-scale onshore wind turbine blades based on monitoring data

•Blade root bending moments of an onshore wind turbine are monitored based on a load monitoring system and verified by simulation model.•Load characteristics and fatigue load of blade root bending moments with different operational conditions are analyzed.•A thrust estimation method of wind turbine based on measured blade loads is presented.•Equivalent fatigue load of blade root bending moment based on measured loads is obtained.