Numerical simulation of a 600 W wind turbine blade applying the IEC 61400-2 standard

Abstract

In the present work, the numerical simulaWon carried out by means of finite element so7ware (FEA), for a blade of a low power wind turbine in accordance with the IEC 61400-2 standard is shown. The blade was designed for a 600 W turbine and was made of a fiberglass composite material with epoxy resin. The applied design loads were calculated according to the simplified load methodology described in the standard. A methodology was developed for numerical simulaWon consisWng of the following stages: 3D blade modeling, definiWon of the composite material, definiWon of the sandwich structure, meshing, definiWon of boundary and load condiWons, analysis of mesh convergence and analysis of results.

The numerical simulaWon shows that the blade is capable of supporWng the structural loads under the operaWng condiWons, thus complying with the regulaWons. Displacements and deformaWons were minimal for most loading hypotheses; Von Mises efforts and the Tsai-Wu criterion indicated that the support region presented the greatest structural challenges. Numerical simulaWon is a very useful tool that provides a preliminary evaluaWon of the behavior of the blade, provides necessary parameters to make adjustments prior to manufacturing and to carry out structural tests. In addiWon, it saves resources in Wme and costs.