Performance Analysis of Reinforced Epoxy Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes Composites for Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Blade.

Yasser Elhenawy,Yasser Fouad,Mohamed Bassyouni,Haykel Marouani

doi:10.3390/polym13030422

Yasser Elhenawy, Yasser Fouad + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13030422

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Abstract

Synthetic materials using epoxy resin and woven Kevlar fiber nanocomposites were fabricated in the presence of functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (F-MWCNTs). Kevlar-reinforced epoxy nanocomposites were designed to manufacture a small blade of vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT). It is important to estimate the deflection of the versatile composite turbine blades to forestall the blades from breakage. This paper investigates the effect of F-MWCNTs on mechanics and deflection of reinforced epoxy composites. The outcomes show that the mixing of F-MWCNTs with epoxy resin using a sonication process has a significant influence on the mechanical properties. Substantial improvement on the deflections was determined based on finite element analysis (FEA). The vortices from the vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) blades have a negative impact on power efficiency, since small blades are shown to be effective in reducing tip vortexes within the aerospace field. To support the theoretical movement of the VAWT blade, modeling calculations and analyzes were performed with the ANSYS code package to achieve insight into the sustainability of epoxy nanocomposites for turbine blade applications below aerodynamic, gravitational, and centrifugal loads. The results showed that the addition of F-MWCNTs to epoxy and Kevlar has a significant effect on the bias estimated by finite element analysis. ANSYS analysis results showed lower deflection on the blade using epoxy with an additional of 0.50 wt.% of MWCNTs-COOH at tip speed ratios of 2.1, 2.6, and 3.1.

Highlights

Synthetic materials using epoxy resin and woven Kevlar fiber nanocomposites were fabricated in the presence of functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (F-MWCNTs)
The objectives of this study are to (i) prepare a well-dispersed F-MWCNTs-epoxy mixture using a sonication process to overcome the agglomeration of MWCNTs; (ii) identify, develop, and test nanocomposite materials that can withstand a combination of environmental conditions; (iii) verify the proper mechanical and physical testing for detecting flaws, cracks, and voids of wind turbine blades exposed to dynamic stresses; and (iv) carry out a simulation using Ansys to study the deflection of wind blades at different wind speeds
In this study, unmodified MWCNTs and functionalized MWCNTs-COOH were incorporated into epoxy in the presence of Kevlar fiber

Summary

Introduction

Synthetic materials using epoxy resin and woven Kevlar fiber nanocomposites were fabricated in the presence of functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (F-MWCNTs). Muhammed et al [12] investigated the feasibility of a nanocomposite for use in wind turbine blades It is produced by the manual laying method to add different percentages of montmorillonite nanoclay to the AW 106 Epoxy/E-Glass composite fiber. The interaction between the rotor blade and air current (consisting of air molecules and other small-sized airborne matter mixed in the flow) can be turbulent, and can generate a significant amount of frictional contact at the surfaces of the blades This process is akin to sand blasting the surface of a work piece that leads to material loss, exposing underlying layers with processing defects hidden within the volume of the work piece

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