Factors affecting stress distribution in wind turbine blade

Abstract

In this study three factors affecting stress distribution in horizontal axis wind turbine blade are studied using ANSYS Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) simulation. The first factor is the cross-section of the wind turbine blade which is selected to be an airfoil. The second factor is the twist angle of the blade while the third factor is the material. A study of two different airfoils is made for three different blades’ twist angles and two different materials to obtain the results of total deformation, stress distribution and maximum equivalent stress (von-Mises) along the blade length. This study emphasizes the importance of a multi-disciplinary research where computer, mechanics, and materials engineering are involved. The fields Computational Mechanics, Mechanical Design and Materials Engineering are used in the analysis of wind turbine blade in this study. Also understanding in depth the stress distribution in wind turbine blades could improve the design of wind turbines and lessen the cost of the clean wind energy.

Prediction of the Damage Effect on Fiberglass-Reinforced Polymer Matrix Composites for Wind Turbine Blades

“…The stresses extracted from the second studied area of the wind turbine blade (towards the top of the blade—area 2) showed a higher increase than those from area 1, by 35%. This proves that an increase in the degree of blade damage, even over a relatively small area (2000 mm 2 ), causes amplification of stresses in the delaminated area, generating the occurrence of stress concentrators and, according to different studies [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 40 , 41 , 42 ], the crack propagation occurs with an amplification factor that depends on the intensity of the time-varying loading, aggressive environmental conditions, vibrations, etc. Within this part of the paper, the results regarding the stresses of different WTB integrity states are presented.…”

“…According to other researchers [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ], the delamination mechanism consists of separation of plies from each other under loading. The risks of delamination occurrence consist of increasing the failure area due to interlaminar normal and shear stresses, leading to the sudden collapse of the entire structure [ 28 , 29 , 30 ]. Being subjected to dynamic loading due to the wind speed variation and the rotation mechanism of the wind turbine blades, the failure rate of the WTB increases with the extension of the debonding or delamination areas in the composite structure.…”

“…According to [ 31 ], the delamination or crack tends to increase in its own plane due to material constraints and weak interface between plies. Different theoretical and numerical approaches regarding the delamination criteria are indicated in [ 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ]. Some of them are based on the assumption that delamination occurs in pure interlaminar tension (mode I), pure interlaminar sliding shear (mode II), and pure interlaminar scissoring shear (mode III), if the corresponding interlaminar stress component exceeds the maximum interfacial strength [ 11 ].…”

A FEM Structural Analysis of a Francis Turbine Blade Parametrized Using Piecewise Bernstein Polynomials

“…For the test case, a Francis 99 turbine blade made of an aluminum alloy, whose technical designation is Aluminum 5456-H24, was considered. The material properties taken from Elsherif et al [50] are described in Table 1.…”

Stability Evaluation of a Simplified Reclaimer Using Fluid–Structure Interaction

“…Several works in the literature used FSI to evaluate the effect of the flow in structures. Ali and Kim [14], Elsherif et al [15], and [16] evaluated the structural resistance and energy produced by wind turbines using FSI techniques. The effect of the geometry and wind direction was assessed.…”