Abstract
This study aims to evaluate the effect of functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) on the performance of glass fiber (GF)-reinforced polypropylene (PP) for wind turbine blades. Support for theoretical blade movement of horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs), simulation, and analysis were performed with the Ansys computer package to gain insight into the durability of polypropylene-chopped E-glass for application in turbine blades under aerodynamic, gravitational, and centrifugal loads. Typically, polymer nanocomposites are used for small-scale wind turbine systems, such as for residential applications. Mechanical and physical properties of material composites including tensile and melt flow indices were determined. Surface morphology of polypropylene-chopped E-glass fiber and functionalized MWCNTs nanocomposites showed good distribution of dispersed phase. The effect of fiber loading on the mechanical properties of the PP nanocomposites was investigated in order to obtain the optimum composite composition and processing conditions for manufacturing wind turbine blades. The results show that adding MWCNTs to glass fiber-reinforced PP composites has a substantial influence on deflection reduction and adding them to chopped-polypropylene E-glass has a significant effect on reducing the bias estimated by finite element analysis.
Highlights
The glass fiber-reinforced PP-multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) system showed superior strength compared to PP/GF composites
PP was obtained in the presence of MWCNTs (2% wt./wt.) compared to neat polypropylene
This can be attributed to the high affinity of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as they create tiny clusters/agglomerates and impact the composite structure
Summary
Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming are not released by renewable energy sources such as sun and wind [1]. Composites are of benefit in the wind sector, especially in manufacturing of turbine blades and the use of the finite element method. Finite element analysis is a feasible tool for simulating/predicting how wind, heat, and solar radiation, centrifugal force, and gravitational loading will affect the blades and the ideal geometry for turbine optimization [2,3,4,5]. A wind turbine blade with a class 1 kW horizontal axis was constructed and investigated by Park [6]. The wind turbine blade was fabricated using a natural flax fiber composite
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