Abstract
This paper presents a design of a test rig for structural static load testing of small horizontal wind turbine blades. It is a next step after the success of the DeVie project, a join-research project to boost the wind energy knowhow between Germany and Vietnam. According to the IEC-61400-23 standard for full scale structural testing of rotor blades, and based on existing facilities of HCMUT, especially the aerospace engineering lab. and the engineering mechanics lab., we propose a prototype of a test-rig for structural static load testing of rotor blades. A rotor blade of 4 meters in length, manufactured by China, is used in the case study of our structural static-load test-rig. This paper used the reverse engineering method to determine the blade geometry and performance, since the blade was provided and not designed from scratch. Detailed steps to determine the test load for the rig are the most important, based on the blade design and the wind condition of Vietnam, a study case was set to start the process. Since that required a lot of experience and know-how, beside the work and research from our university, other critically important information was kindly provided by the German's experts in the field. Result of the blade tip displacement are wildly used in this industry to validate the blade design. Our test rig result in 0.289 meters were compared to the reverse engineering and simulation result of 0.28 meter with QBlade/FAST in the same blade loading shown well similarity, this result validated our work process. Future revision of the test rig is promised to provide more function such as fatigue test mode, higher load capacity, faster testing time as well as more accurate result, aiding the domestic market of composite wind turbine blade manufacturing which is still in its infancy.
Highlights
Vietnam has always been in thirst of developing better renewable energy harvesting solutions
Have been widely known with its huge wind energy potential, but it come with challenging characteristics of low velocity, making it less attractive to big European wind turbine which has always been design for high wind speed
As the green energy trend keep growing, Vietnam need a strong base of knowledge in this field in order to develop domestic wind turbine product
Summary
Vietnam has always been in thirst of developing better renewable energy harvesting solutions. Have been widely known with its huge wind energy potential, but it come with challenging characteristics of low velocity, making it less attractive to big European wind turbine which has always been design for high wind speed. On the other hand, ignoring the huge market segment for low velocity wind turbine, which is the research and manufacturing potential for the developing and inexperienced wind energy industry in Vietnam. The DeVie wind turbine project is a German-Vietnam Research Cooperation on Wind Power Initiative 3.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
