Structural Design and Analysis of Wind Turbine Blade with Skin-Spar-Sandwich Composite Structure

Abstract

This work is to propose a structural design and analysis procedure for development of the low noise small wind turbine system which will be applicable to relatively low speed region like Korea and for the domestic use. The proposed structural feature has a skin-spar-foam sandwich composite structure with the Eglass/ Epoxy face sheets and the Urethane foam core for lightness, structural stability, low manufacturing cost and easy manufacturing process. Moreover this type of structure has good behaviours for reduction of vibration and noise. Structural analysis including load cases, stress, deformation, buckling, vibration and fatigue life was performed using the Finite Element Method, the load spectrum analysis and the Miner rule. In order to evaluate the designed structure, the structural test was carried out and its test results were compared with the estimated results.