Topology Optimization-Driven Design for Offshore Composite Wind Turbine Blades

Abstract

With the increase in wind turbine power, the size of the blades is significantly increasing to over 100 m. It is becoming more and more important to optimize the design for the internal layout of large-scale offshore composite wind turbine blades to meet the structural safety requirements while improving the blade power generation efficiency and achieving light weight. In this work, the full-scale internal layout of an NREL 5 MW offshore composite wind turbine blade is elaborately designed via the topology optimization method. The aerodynamic wind loads of the blades were first simulated based on the computational fluid dynamics. Afterwards, the variable density topology optimization method was adopted to perform the internal structure design of the blade. Then, the first and second generation multi-web internal layouts of the blade were reversely designed and evaluated in accordance with the stress level, maximum displacement of blade tip and fatigue life. In contrast with the reference blade, the overall weight of the optimized blade was reduced by 9.88% with the requirements of stress and fatigue life, indicating a better power efficiency. Finally, the vibration modal and full life cycle of the designed blade were analyzed. The design conception and new architecture could be useful for the improvement of advanced wind turbines.