Static structural analysis of cross flow vertical axis wind turbine

Abstract

The focus of this study is to perform structural analysis on the cross flow vertical axis wind turbine using finite element code ANSYS. Two different materials, namely aluminium alloy 2024 and magnesium is chosen. The wind turbine is tested for two different applied force namely 26.16 N and 13.08 N obtained based on the wind velocity (4 m/s to 10 m/s). These materials are chosen as it is lighter in weight and possess higher strength. The static mechanical properties of these materials used for making cross flow wind turbine are investigated and the properties namely, maximum principal stress, equivalent stress, total deformation, equivalent elastic strain and maximum principal elastic strain are plotted. The maximum principal elastic strain and total deformation of magnesium material based cross flow turbine is almost negligible compared to aluminium alloy based wind turbine. The maximum principal stress as well as equivalent stress induced in magnesium material based cross flow wind turbine is lesser by nearly 175% and 100% respectively. Therefore, magnesium material is found to be the suitable material that can be used for fabricating cross flow wind turbine.