Selection of Material for Wind Turbine Blade by Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) Method

Abstract

Wind energy and solar energy are prominent renewable energy options in the view of growing energy demand. Reliable small wind power produced at compatible price is the need of hour. Cost of the energy generation depends on the cost of the materials used, operating and maintenance cost, cost of the fuel. The material cost directly relates to the cost of the energy. Blade design plays significant role in any wind turbine design. In order to have long expected life of blade material selection is a crucial stage in blade design. Wood, Glass fiber, carbon fiber, natural fiber, sandwich composite materials are different material available for small wind turbine blades. Strength, durability, density, cost, and availability are the important properties to be considered during material selection of blade. The selection of material for wind turbine blade is an important stage in blade design. This paper presents a simple Analytic Hierarchy Process for material selection for the small wind turbine blade. AHP is one of the simplest and cost effective decision making method. In this work AHP is successfully applied for material selection for small wind turbine blade.