Aeroelastic investigation of a composite wind turbine blade

Static aeroelastic is investigated in a wind turbine blade. Imposed to different loadings, the very long and flexible structures of blades experience some changes in its preliminary geometry. This results in variations of aerodynamic loadings. An iterative approach is developed to study the interactions between structure and aerodynamics evaluating variations in induced stresses in presence of aeroelasticity phenomenon for a specific wind turbine blade. A 3D finite element model of the blade is constructed. Aerodynamic loading is applied to the model and deflected shape is extracted. Then, aerodynamic loadings are updated in accordance with the new geometry of the deflected blade. This process is repeated till the convergence is met. Different operational conditions consisting of stand-by, start-up, power production and normal shut-down events are investigated. It is revealed that stress components vary significantly in the event of power production at the rated wind speed; while it is less pronounced for the events of normal shut-down and stand-by.

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