Passive load alleviation bi-stable morphing concept

In wind turbines, large loads caused by fluid structure interaction leading to fatigue failure and added robustness to withstand high bending stresses on the root of blades constitute important design bottlenecks. Implementation of morphing offers a potential solution for such challenges in wind turbine blades. In this letter, a passive load alleviating bi-stable morphing concept is proposed. A bi-stable specimen designed to have different stiffness and dynamic response characteristics on each stable state is devised as a compliant structure. Passive alleviation mechanisms require no active components to achieve the load alleviation objective, resulting in lighter and simpler designs in comparison to actively morphed solutions.