Abstract
A commercial 43 m wind turbine blade was tested under static loads. During these tests, loads, displacements, and local strains were recorded. In this work, the blade was modeled using the finite element method. Both a segment of the spar structure and the full-scale blade were modeled. In both cases, conventional outer mold layer shell and layered solid models were created by means of an in-house developed software tool. First, the boundary conditions and settings for modeling the tests were explored. Next, the behavior of a spar segment under different modeling methods was investigated. Finally, the full-scale blade tests were conducted. The resulting displacements and longitudinal and transverse strains were investigated. It was found that for the considered load case, the differences between the shell and solid models are limited. Thus, it is concluded that the shell representation is sufficiently accurate.
Highlights
IntroductionBlade lengths of over 88 m and turbines of over 6 MW are currently available on the market [1]
Over the past decades, the size of wind turbines has rapidly increased
The upscaling is motivated by an expected reduction in cost of energy (COE) for larger turbines [2]
Summary
Blade lengths of over 88 m and turbines of over 6 MW are currently available on the market [1]. The upscaling is motivated by an expected reduction in cost of energy (COE) for larger turbines [2]. This leads to rapid increases in rotor mass and the resulting loads [3,4]. Blade damages are frequent [5,6]. While most of these damages result from manufacturing defects [7], there is a need to improve the understanding of the structural behavior of the blades
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