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Strength Structure Research of Small Wind Turbine Blade

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 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL
SYMPOSIUM ON WIND AND TIDAL POWER

Holiday Inn Centreville Downtown Montreal

999 St-Urbain Street, Montreal (Qc), Canada, H2Z 0B4

May 28-30, 2017

General Charmain and Chairperson of the Organizing Committee:

Professor Ion Paraschivoiu, École Polytechnique Montréal (Canada)

Organized by: Amy Dou, Hong Lian Cui and Wei Liu

Edited by: Ion Paraschivoiu and Norbert V. Dy

BIJOUXCAN

ISBN: 978-2-553-01716-2
International Symposium on Wind and Tidal Power ISWTP2017 May 28-30 2017, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Strength Structure Research of Small Wind Turbine Blade

Bostan V., Bostan I., Dulgheru V., Andriuţă M., Guțu M.
Technical University of Moldova, Chișinău, Republic of Moldova

ABSTRACT  Correlation of test results with results of finite element analysis of

This paper presents argumentation of structural design for 10 composite test specimens;
kW wind turbine composite blade developed at Technical  Three-dimensional modeling of optimum aerodynamic blade
geometry using existing aerodynamic profile;
University of Moldova, in order to maximize aerodynamic
 Performing CFD simulations for different wind speeds, determining
efficiency and structural robustness while reducing blade mass. the performance factor of the rotor and the aerodynamic forces
For this purpose, optimized aerodynamic blade geometry was acting on the blade;
modeled and aerodynamic loads were determined for different  Elaboration of the structural model of the blade and its modeling of
wind speeds using 3D Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). It composite material;
was also elaborated structural design of the blade from  Modeling of fluid-structure interaction, verification of static blade
composite material using elastic mechanical properties resistance and optimization of composite material layering;
determined experimentally. In order to verify the blade strength  Simulation of dynamic behavior of the rotor and verifying
a fluid-structure interaction was simulated for critical wind occurrence of resonance phenomenon.
Finally, a new prototype of composite blades with aerodynamic and
speed. After conducting a series of simulations was determined
structural optimized design was proposed.
the thickness of composite material from the blade strength
structure for which the blade tip displacement and equivalent In figure 1 is presented one of
stresses are within acceptable limits, and the blade mass was the wind turbines developed at
reduced. Finally it was established relationship that reflects the the Technical University of
dependence between blade tip displacement and wind speed and Moldova, installed in the
the relationship that reflects the dependence of thickness of the museum park of the university
composite material and equivalent stresses. campus (Bostan I., Dulgheru
V., Sobor I., Bostan V., Gutu
Keywords: wind turbine blade; computational fluid dynamics; M., 2011, 2013). This wind
turbine is equipped with a wind
fluid-structure interaction; composite material; failure criteria; direction tracking system and
buckling analysis. removing the rotor from the
wind at speeds that exceed the
INTRODUCTION admissible operating range (≈15
m/s).
With the signing of the Association Agreement with the European Table 1 presents wind turbine
Union, the government of the Republic of Moldova is concerned about constructive and operating
the sustainable development of the society and the capitalization of parameters.
Renewable Energy Sources (RES). Among the commitments made by In this article are presented
the Government, there is also capitalizing of RES of at least 17% of the some stages of the algorithm
country's energy consumption by 2020. One of the renewable energy that have not been published in
sources that can be utilized is wind energy that has been estimated at other papers.
400-500 W/m2 at high 50 m.
The measures taken in this regard at the global level show very good Fig. 1. Wind turbine developed
results. According to Global Wind Energy Council reports, the world at the Technical University of
installed capacity in the wind energy sector in present exceeded 3% of Moldova.
the electricity demand. Table 1. Wind turbine constructive and operating parameters
In this context, at Technical University of Moldova was founded the
Center for the Development of Renewable Energy Conversion Systems Rotor diameter 8.6 m
(CESCER). One of the Center's core research areas are wind power Number of blades 3
conversion systems. NACA 4424
Blade airfoil
In this paper are presented some results regarding strength structure NACA 2618
research of aerodynamic composite blade for 10 kW wind turbine Rated power at wind speed
10 kW
developed at Technical University of Moldova. Wind turbine blade of 11 m/s
with a successful design must satisfy a wide range of conditions, some Orientation to wind servo
of which are in conflict (European Standard, 2006). These conditions Blades positioning fixed
can be summarized as follows: Starting wind speed 2 m/s
- maximizing annual energy output for the specified wind speed; Nominal wind speed 11 m/s
- resistance to fatigue and extreme loads; Direct drive three-phase with
Generator
- limiting the bending of the blade to avoid collision with the tower; permanent magnets
- avoiding buckling; Number of rotation 160 min-1
- minimizing mass and cost. Material of blades Glass reinforced polyester resin
To solve a part of these problems an algorithm has been created that Turbine mass 392 kg
consists of the following steps: Modular cylindrical tower 12, 16, 18 m
 Fabrication, testing and determination of mechanical properties of Battery 12 V, 200 Ah x 20
composite material for blade construction;

128 Copyright @ 2017 by IOPARA Inc.

International Symposium on Wind and Tidal Power ISWTP2017
WIND TURBINE ROTOR CFD ANALYSIS
Blade Geometry
The blade and was designed in SolidWorks, Figure 2, according
(Schubel & Crossley, 2012; Gasch & Twele, 2012; Jha A. R., 2011).
To determine the optimum geometric parameters of the blade the Blade
Element Momentum method was used, (Guţu M., 2010).
Fig. 2. Optimized aerodynamic blade geometry.
Fluid Domain Modeling and Meshing
Rotor geometry was designed in SolidWorks and then imported into the
ANSYS DesignModeler software.
To simplify CFD analysis and to save calculation time, a range of 120 ̊
of the single-bladed rotor was created assuming symmetry conditions.
The dimensions of the computational fluid domain were chosen taking
into account good practices and recommendations (Wang, Tsai, Chen,
2014; Bazilevs Y., 2010) so as to ensure free flow without influencing
the boundaries of the field. To simulate the rotation of the blade, the
fluid domain was divided into two subdomains: the Stator (static)
subdomain and the Rotor sub-domain (mobile). Figure 3 shows
considered fluid domain.
Fig. 3. Fluid domain.
Mesh was generated in the ANSYS Meshing Workbench integrated
program that offers various meshing strategies. After importing the
geometric model the following regions required for computing were
defined: (Inlet), (Outlet), (Walls), and the common regions between
Stator and Rotor (Fluid-Fluid). The surface of the blade was meshed
with regular rectangular elements using the Mapped Face Meshing
method. The fluid domain was meshed with Tetra Dominant Meshing
tetrahedrons. The basic dimensions of the mesh are specified by means
of the minimum dimension Minimal size = 4 mm and Maximum Max
Size = 500 mm of the faces of the elements and the adjacent volumes.
For advanced node distribution control is used the option Advanced
Size Function: On Curvature, the maximum angle of curvature - Curve
Normal Angle - is set at 10o. This option allows to vary the size of the
elements according to the angle of curvature, thus ensuring that areas
with a large curve have sufficient resolution.
129
May 28-30 2017, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
The transition from the fine-meshed areas to the gross meshed was
done by specifying the Growth Rate = 1.05 expansion factor and the
maximum variation in the characteristic dimensions of two adjacent
elements is at most 5%. The fluid range was meshed into 2505300
finite. Figure 4 shows a longitudinal section of the meshed fluid
domain and details of the transition area of the elements around the
blade.
a b
Fig. 4. Meshed fluid domain (a) and details of the transition area of the
elements around the blade (b).
In order to reproduce the phenomenon of the boundary layer on
the surface of the blade where strong fluctuations in fluid velocity
occur, prismatic finite elements have been generated by expanding
them from the surface of the blade outwards. This was done by the
Inflation Layer process that was imposed on the blade surface with the
Total Thickness option with Number of Layers = 14, the Growth Rate
= 1.16 (relative thickness of two adjacent layers), and Growth Rate
Type = Geometric (geometric or exponential expansion rate). Figure 4,
(b) shows the mesh details around the blade.
Setup
To verify conversion efficiency of the turbine rotor and blade loads,
several operating modes have been simulated. In Table 2 the
parameters and conditions of rotor loading are indicated.
Table 2. Rotor operating modes
Condition of the rotor stopped in rotation
wind speed v, m/s 8, 16 6 8 10 12 16
Number of rotation n,
- 92 122 153 183.3 244.5
min-1
Tip speed ratio λ - 6.4
For the accurate estimation of the moments developed at the rotor axis,
30 iterations for the stationary simulation were considered, and then the
results were transferred to initiate rotor simulations in rotation for 80
iterations. All these settings have been made at this stage where extra
attention is required to certain details such as the direction of rotation
of the rotor and wind direction, which can be changed with the (-) sign.
The boundary conditions imposed are the following: entry into the
computing field is made by the boundary determined by the circular
base of the Upstream Stator subdomain. At this border were imposed
Inlet boundary conditions with the specification of the uniform and
constant velocity distribution in the fixed reference system (V0, 0, 0),
where V0 is wind speed. Outlet from the computing domain is made by
the downstream circular base of the cylinder by specifying the Outlet
boundary conditions with the average static pressure = 0. The
cylindrical surface of the Stator domain was subjected to Walls
boundary conditions with the free-slip specification that simulates a
zero-adhesion virtual wall. The surface of the blade was subject to
Walls boundary conditions with "no slip" specification which does not
allow mass or energy transfer, and the speed on these surfaces is
considered equal to 0 in relation to the speed of the adjacent cells. The
surfaces at the intersection of the two Stator and Rotor subdomains are
interface surfaces that model the connection of the two subdomains
through the GGI method. Rotor rotation simulations specify Domain
motion - Rotating and indicate the angular velocity of relative rotation
ω. Figure 5 shows the 120o calculation domain with periodicity
conditions for symmetrical faces.
Copyright @ 2017 by IOPARA Inc.
International Symposium on Wind and Tidal Power
Using the syntax of the CEL language, the variables of interest were
defined: the torques developed at the rotor axis in the fixed coordinate
system and the axial force:
(Tx = torque_x () @ Pala, Ty = torque_y()@Pala and Tz = torque_z ()
@ Pala) and axial force (Fz = force_z ()@Pala).
Fig. 5. Domain of calculation with the boundary conditions
applied for the 120o section.
According to the conclusions of (Bostan V., 2014), to describe the
fields of speed and pressure in the computing domain, the k-ω SST
turbulence model, based on the linear approximation of Boussinesq,
was adopted and γ – θ transition for prediction of the boundary layer
detachment.
Solution and CFD Results
Solving discretized equations was performed in parallel using all 8
logical cores. The convergence of results has been attested by
monitoring the variables of interest. Figure 6 shows the torques and
axial force generated at the turbine shaft by a single blade for cases
when the rotor is stationary and rotating for wind speed of
8 m/s.
Fig. 6. Monitoring variables of interest.
a K. K. et al., 2006):
b • maximum axial displacement of the blade tip - 240 mm (480 mm
Fig. 7. Stream lines passing stopped rotor (a) and in rotation (b).
ISWTP2017 May 28-30 2017, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Figure 7 shows the air flow passing stopped rotor (a) and in rotation
122 min-1 (b). In order to make a comparative analysis of the optimized
turbine conversion capacity, the power curve (Figure 8) was calculated
without considering mechanical losses and compared to the results of
the research for this turbine in the paper (Bostan V., 2014). Due to the
correct blade geometry, an increase in delivered power by ≈ 10% was
achieved.
Fig.8. Wind turbine rotor power curve depending on the wind speed
without considering losses.
FLUID-STRUCTURE INTERACTION ANALISIS
Elaboration of the Structural Model of the Blade and
Meshing
To facilitate the elaboration of the composite blade strength structure
its geometry was generated from surfaces. In the SolidWorks modeling
program, the Surface Loft function was used. It was obtained a hollow
blade defined by the section of the aerodynamic profile, figure 9. In
terms of strength, the composite material blade, will not withstand
shear loads and will have large deformations. The stiffening of the
blade can be ensured by the inclusion of a shear web or by filling the
blade cavity with polymer foam. In the elaborated structural model the
first stiffening method was used due to its advantages. In order to
increase the mechanical strength of the blade, the construction of a
structural model with increased stiffness was developed (Bostan V.,
Bostan I., Dulgheru V., Guțu M., 2017).
Fig. 9. Structural model of the blade.
The necessary mechanical characteristics of the composite materials for
the blade analysis were determined experimentally. At the same time,
the test results were correlated with results of finite element analysis of
composite test specimens (Guțu, 2016).
During operation, the wind turbine rotor is loaded at variable wind
speeds that cause centrifugal forces and axial forces leading to blade
bending. Therefore, some constraints are required for the design and
optimization of the blade, (Schubel P. J.& Crossley R. J., 2012; Wetzel
distance betwen blade and tower);
• the total mass of the blade must not exceed 30 kg (the mass of the
existing blade);
130 Copyright @ 2017 by IOPARA Inc.
International Symposium on Wind and Tidal Power ISWTP2017 May 28-30 2017, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

• tensile and compressive admissible stresses [σ] = 150 MPa. The arrangement of the layers of fabric in the blade structure for
The ANSYS Workbench platform was used for numerical modeling. different sections is presented in Table 4 and figure 12. Details on the
The blade geometry modeled in SolidWorks and saved in the .iges thickness distribution of the composite material in different sections of
format was imported into the Workbench Design-Modeler program. the blade in the preliminary version are shown in Figure 13.
Blade mesh was done in the ANSYS Meshing module. Four-node
SHELL181 finite element was used, the same as for test specimens. In
order to verify the effect of the mesh grid on the results, four
preliminary simulations for different sizes of the finite elements were
performed. The simulation conditions are presented in the following
paragraph. The maximum equivalent stresses as the verification
parameter were considered. Figure 10 shows a meshed blade, and
Figure 11 shows the dependence of simulation results of mesh
refinement. So, the dimensions of the finite elements to which the
simulation results are not influenced have been established. The blade
was meshed into 21,500 elements with 6×6 mm maximum dimensions.

Fig. 12. Blade components.

Fig. 10. Blade mesh.
Table 4. Layer schedule for the blade
Thickness
Component Radius [mm] Layer schedule
[mm]
200 - 400 [±45/02/±457]s 4,5
Root
400 - 750 [±45/02/±456]s 4,25
750-2500 [±45/06/]s 3,76
Spar cap 2500 - 3500 [±45/05/]s 3,2
3500 - 4000 [±45/02/]s 2,2
Spar web 750 - 4000 [±45/02/±453]s 3,9
750-2500 [±4514] 3,5
Skin 2500 - 3500 [±4510] 2,5
Fig. 11. Dependence of simulation results of mesh refinement. 3500 - 4000 [±458] 2

The modeling of the composite material architecture of the blade was

made using ANSYS Composite PrepPost software. The software
includes two modules. The first is the Preprocessor, where the
composite material is modeled from the fabric ply level and fiber
directions are defined. The second is the Postprocessor, which checks
the stresses that occur in the material layers and the material failure
criteria.
The blade was molded entirely from the tested composite materials
presented in Table 3 (Guțu, 2016). The elastic constants of the
composite material that were not experimentally determined have been
replaced with the characteristics of similar materials that are included
in the Workbench platform library. Fig. 13. The composite layer thickness for different blade section.
Table 3. Composite material properties necessary as input data
Quasi-Static Blade Analysis
stress x y [MPa]

stress x [MPa]

According to the State Hydrometeorological Service in the Republic of

Compressive

Thickness

Moldova there are 5 to 50 days in a year with strong winds exceeding

Tensile
parameters

[GPa]

[GPa]

[GPa]

[GPa]

[GPa]

[GPa]

[mm]
Gxy

Gyz

Gxz
EX

EY

Ez

υxy
υyz
υxz
Material

15 m/s (Serviciul Hidrometeorologic de Stat, 2004). In order to

maintain the optimum operating mode of the turbine electric generator,
as a rule, at wind speeds greater than 15 m/s, the turbine rotor is
removed from wind by means of a special device. For wind turbines
with a rotor diameter less than 10 m gravitational and centrifugal forces
UD600[0]2

are negligible.
-520
0.09
0.26
0.09

650
9.2

9.2

4.3

4.3

4.3
37

During wind turbine operation the blades are loaded by wind gusts.
Lay-up Material

These loads induce excessive bending of the blades which may cause
the following damages:
- failure of the composite material due to excessive stresses and
WR300[±90]4

deformations;
- geometric instability, also known as buckling. Also, if the blade is not
-520
0.14
0.25
0.25

315
14

14

rigid enough it can be destroyed hitting the tower.

In order to check the blade strength, the maximum aerodynamic forces
for the wind speed of 16 m/s were determined with the CFX module.
Then these forces were transferred to the structural analysis module

131 Copyright @ 2017 by IOPARA Inc.

International Symposium on Wind and Tidal Power
with which the structural analysis of the blade was performed. The
blade was fixed as a cantilever beam and loaded with aerodynamic
forces distributed throughout its surface. The axial component of the
aerodynamic forces was obtained of approximately 2 kN.
Figure 14 (a) depicts the distributed pressure across the entire surface
of the blade. After running the first blade simulation, it was found that
the displacement of its tip is above acceptable limits. Because the blade
stiffness is provided by the shear web and spar caps, the optimal
thickness of the composite material was determined for it (Bottasso C.
L., et al., 2012; Buckney N., Pirreray A. and Weaverz P. M., 2014).
(a) (b) (c)
Fig. 14. Results of quasi-static blade analysis
a) - axial load; b) blade bending; c) - distribution of equivalent stresses.
Several simulations have been performed with Workbench
DesignXplorer module. The maximum equivalent stresses and
maximum blade tip displacement that were obtained after the
preliminary simulation were set as output parameters. The number of
layers of composite material in the blade spar cap was set as an input
parameter with five discrete values. After performing several
experimental simulations, for each of the five values of the number of
layers, the maximum equivalent stresses and the maximum
displacement of the blade peak were obtained, Figure 15.
The case when spar caps will have 12 layers of unidirectional
reinforced fabric (thickness ≈ 5.5 mm), shear web - 12 layers
bidirectional reinforced to ± 45° and total mass of the blade will be 23
kg was accepted.
For this case, in Figure 14 (b) and (c) maximum displacement of the
blade tip (195 mm) and the equivalent stress distribution (up to 29
MPa) in the blade is presented. As can be seen from Figure 14 (c),
stress concentrations appear in the blade root in areas where there are
sudden changes in the cross-section.
Fig. 15. Result of blade parametric analysis.
ISWTP2017 May 28-30 2017, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
As a result of the parametric analysis of the blade the layered
composite material has undergone some changes in the thickness and
fibers orientation in the various components of the blade. The
distribution of the thickness of layered composite material in different
sections of the blade is shown in Figure 16. The stiffness of the blade's
final model has been checked for the wind speed range up to 12 m/s.
After performing a series of simulations, the values of the blade tip
displacement were determined and are presented in Figure 16.
Fig. 16. Blade tip displacement depending on wind speed.
From the graphs shown in figure 15 and 16 the following empirical
relations were established which define the thickness of the material
layer and the displacement of the blade tip, respectively:
δ  e7,187  σ max
1,594
, mm (1)
z e v
0 ,576 2 ,098
, mm (2)
The error for relation (1) is ε = 0,0013, and for relation (2) ε = 0,022.
In order to minimize the risk of collision of the blade tip with the tower,
technical solution (Bostan V., Bostan I., Dulgheru V., Guțu M. et al.,
2016) was proposed, which consists in mounting the blade in the
turbine rotor at a certain angle to the axis of rotation. This allows for
compensation of its tip movement due to aerodynamic forces and the
reduction of power losses due to the change of the blade geometry.
Blade Failure Analysis
To have clearer information on the maximum stresses that occurs in the
blade material failure analysis was performed according to some failure
criteria. Using the post-processing module ACP (Post), the most widely
used composite material failure criteria were considered: the maximum
stress and strain criterion, the Tsai-Wu criterion, the Tsai-Hill criterion,
and the Puck criterion. In the ACP (Post) program settings displays the
following information on the blade surface: the failure layer, the failure
criterion, and the failure mode (stretching, compression, or shear).
Figure 17 illustrates blade with highlighted layers of composite
material in which stress concentrations occur and the value of the
inverse reserve factor of the most required lamina according to
different failure criteria. According to mentioned failure criteria, Table
5, the stresses in the most demanded layers have values of ≈ 0.5 of the
limit stresses, i.e. the safety factor is approx. 2. According to the Puck
failure criterion, Figure 17, the stresses in the most demanding layers
occurring between fibers (i.e., in the resin) are at the 0.87 of the value
of the stresses (safety factor is 1.149). These values can be considered
admissible considering that the polyester resin is used which, compared
to the epoxy resin, is more fragile.
Table 5. Inverse reserve factor according to different failure criteria
maximum maximum Tsai Tsai
Criterion Puck
stress strain Wu Hill
Reserve
0,45 0,53 0,49 0,47 0,87
factor
132 Copyright @ 2017 by IOPARA Inc.
International Symposium on Wind and Tidal Power ISWTP2017 May 28-30 2017, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

The constant rotation speed of the turbine rotor transforms any spatial
variations of the wind in the rotor area into periodic blade loads when
performing a complete rotation.
For a turbine with a tree-bladed rotor, the aerodynamic frequency of
excitation occurs at three times the rotational frequency of the rotor
(3 Ω), (Gasch & Twele, 2012; Jha A. R., 2011). To verify possible
interactions between these frequencies and the natural frequencies of
the different structural components a Campbell diagram was
Fig. 17. Inverse reserve factor according to Puck failure criteria. elaborated, Figure 20. The lines radiating from the origin represent
possible excitation frequencies as the rotor spins up to its operating
Buckling Analysis speed. Horizontal curves illustrate the fundamental natural frequencies
As mentioned above, another important cause of the damage is for the blades and tower. Resonance is likely to occur at points where
bucking. Strong wind gusts are considered the main cause of geometric excitation frequency curves and natural frequency curves cross one
instability of composite material. Delamination of layered composite another.
material are often caused by buckling. Table 5. Natural frequencies of the blade
To estimate the danger of blade buckling, a geometric stability analysis Frequency [Hz]
of the blade structure was performed using the Eigenvalue Buckling Mode shape Spinning Stopped
module from the ANSYS Workbench. This module uses iterative rotor rotor
technique to find a set of buckling eigenvalues and displacement
1st mode, flap-wise
eigenvectors to satisfy the following equation based on the previously
calculated maximum loads (Cai X., Pan P., Zhu J. and Gu R., 2013):
([K] + λi∙[S]) {Ψ}i = {0} (3) 8,6 8,2
Where [K] represents the structural stiffness matrix;
[S] - stress rigidity matrix;
λi - the ith own value (used as multiplication factor of maximum stress); 2nd mode, edge-wise
{Ψ}i - the ith own displacement vector.
The analysis of the elastic buckling resistance of the blade structure 16,2 16
was performed for the maximum stresses occurring at wind speeds of
16 m/s. In Figure 18, the first two out-of-plane displacement is
presented. The first displacement value is 1 mm, it appears in the blade
2nd mode, flap-wise
shell near the root (Figure 18, a) and corresponds to the peak load
factor of 1.7. The second value of the displacement is 1.1 mm and
appears in the shear web (Figure 18, b) and corresponds to the 22,8 22
maximum stress factor of 2.1.

For this purpose, a modal analysis of the tower was performed in

ANSYS Workbench and determined its first natural frequency. The
tower was modeled of steel with the dimensions shown in Table 6. At
the top of the tower was
placed the total mass of the
turbine as a steel cube. The
elastic system of the turbine
(a) was meshed into 14067 finite
elements with the size of
approx. 25×30 mm.
Figure 19 shows the first
tower's flap-wise mode of
vibration and its own
frequency. For the first shape,
its natural frequency of 1.096
Hz was obtained and 1.43
mm is the tower peak
(b) displacement.
Fig. 18. Eigenvalue buckling in the blade structure: (a) the first value of For the validation of the
the displacement, (b) the second value of the displacement. results, first natural frequency
of the tower was calculated
Modal Analysis analytically. For a tubular
To estimate the mode shapes and natural frequencies of the blade, a steel tower with a top mass
modal analysis was conducted in ANSYS Workbench. Analysis was the first natural frequency
performed for the case when the rotor is stationary and when is (Hz) can be estimated with
the following expression Fig. 19. First flap-wise mode of
rotating. Because rated speed of the rotor is 130 rpm at 8 m/s wind the towerer
speed the blade was subjected to these pre-stressed inertial load. (Tempel J. & Molenaar D.,
Obtained natural frequencies are presented in Table 5. 2002):
During the operation of the wind turbine, the blade is subject to D E (4)
f1  ,
periodic excitation that can be generated by several sources. The main L2 M
sources of periodic excitations are the following: 1) the constant 104(  0.227)  C
 C   D  t  L
rotational speed of the turbine rotor and 2) tower vibrations.

133 Copyright @ 2017 by IOPARA Inc.

International Symposium on Wind and Tidal Power ISWTP2017
where D is tower average diameter (m), L – tower height (m), t – tower
wall thickness (m), M – top mass (rotor and generator), ρc – density of
steel (kg/m3), E - elastic modulus of steel (Pa).
The first natural frequency of the tower was obtained 1.12 Hz.
Table 6. Tower parameters
Top mass (rotor and generator) M, kg 490
Average diameter D, m 0,32
Height L, m 12
Wall thickness δ, m 0,006
Fig. 20. Campbell diagram for 10 kW wind turbine
As can be seen from the Campbell diagram, the rotor can resonate with
the tower at 70 min-1 rotation. According to estimates, this operating
mode would correspond to wind speed of approx. 4.5 m / s where the
acting forces are insignificant.
Conclusions
Based on CFD simulations of the wind turbine blade with improved
geometry the power curve was calculated without considering
mechanical losses and compared with the results of the research on the
actual turbine rotor. Due to the optimization of the blade geometry an
increase of the power delivered by the rotor was achieved by ≈ 10%;
The structural model of composite material blade was elaborated and
after simulations of fluid-structure interaction the architecture of the
layered composite material has been optimized, reducing the total mass
of the blade by 20%. Also, the strength of the composite material was
verified according to the following failure criteria: maximum stresses,
maximum deformations, Tsai-Wu, Tsai-Hill and Puck. According to
these criteria the safety factor is ≈ 2 excepting Puck failure criterion
that in current case considers separately the strength of the resin.
In addition, the geometric stability of the blade was checked. After
analysis of eigenvalue buckling for extreme wind speed, the first out-
of-plane displacement is 1 mm and corresponds to the peak load factor
of 1.7.
Based on the modal analysis of the turbine components, a Campbell
diagram was constructed according to which the risk of resonance is
excluded for the operating mode at 80-160 rpm.
134
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