There is a trend for more powerful wind turbines because as size increases, the cost of energy decreases. With this increase in size, there is motivation to improve rotor designs. The structural efficiency of a 100 m blade is evaluated using an analysis that accounts for the shape and material of the designs. Two baseline design concepts are compared: an all-glass design, and one with carbon spar caps. The results show that the carbon design is a more efficient structure, as expected. More importantly, the results give new insight as to why the design is superior. Next, the effect of altering the position of the spar caps is tested. This analysis shows that applying an offset to the spar cap position can have a beneficial effect on structural efficiency for the key load cases. Application of the methods presented in this study provides valuable insight into the structural choices available in the early design stages.
Structural Efficiency Analysis of the Sandia 100 m Wind Turbine Blade
2014
26 Seiten, Bilder, Tabellen, 27 Quellen
Conference paper
English
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