Wind Turbine Blades Using Recycled Carbon Fibers: An Environmental Assessment

The blades of wind turbines placed in cold climate regions are exposed to the risk of icing phenomena which impact their lifetimes. This paper proposes a numerical model to simulate 50 mm ice thickness localized on the tip side of a horizontal wind turbine blade, and to study its mechanical behavior. The wind turbine blade wasmodeled with the finite element method (FEM)in ABAQUS software taking into account aerodynamic, centrifugal and inertial loads under the conditions of service of the blade.Numerical tests haveevaluated the behavior of different composite materials and compared with each other. Damage mode based on the Hashin criteria was defined. Carbon fibers were considered to be the most rigid material which results in thinner, stiffer and lighter blades.

Download Full-text

Delamination at Thick Ply Drops in Carbon and Glass Fiber Laminates Under Fatigue Loading

Journal of Solar Energy Engineering ◽

10.1115/1.2931496 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 130 (3) ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Daniel D. Samborsky ◽

Timothy J. Wilson ◽

Pancasatya Agastra ◽

John F. Mandell

Keyword(s):

Wind Turbine ◽

Glass Fiber ◽

Carbon Fibers ◽

Glass Fibers ◽

Turbine Blades ◽

Fatigue Loading ◽

Analytical Models ◽

Stress And Strain ◽

Wind Turbine Blades ◽

Static Loads

Delamination at ply drops in composites with thickness tapering has been a concern in applications of carbon fibers. This study explored the resistance to delamination under fatigue loading of carbon and glass fiber prepreg laminates with the same resin system, containing various ply drop geometries, and using thicker plies typical of wind turbine blades. Applied stress and strain levels to produce significant delamination at ply drops have been determined, and the experimental results correlated through finite element and analytical models. Carbon fiber laminates with ply drops, while performing adequately under static loads, delaminated in fatigue at low maximum strain levels except for the thinnest ply drops. The lower elastic modulus of the glass fiber laminates resulted in much higher strains to produce delamination for equivalent ply drop geometries. The results indicate that ply drops for carbon fibers should be much thinner than those commonly used for glass fibers in wind turbine blades.

Download Full-text

Study of the Textile Composite Adaptive Blade of Small Wind Turbine

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.332-334.828 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 332-334 ◽

pp. 828-832

Author(s):

Xiao Dong Chen ◽

Mei Ling Kuang ◽

Ya Ming Jiang

Keyword(s):

Wind Speed ◽

Wind Turbine ◽

Carbon Fibers ◽

Wind Turbines ◽

Power Output ◽

Turbine Blades ◽

Main Body ◽

Wind Turbine Blades ◽

Textile Composite ◽

Small Wind Turbine

This paper is mainly to design the small wind turbine blades to make the wind turbines have automatic braking ability. This study has two main aspects, including choosing the reinforced materials and designing the structure of the blades. According to the fiber hybrid principle, carbon fibers are employed in the main stress area of the blades and other area using glass fiber. At the same time, Aramid fibers are mixed in every area of the blade in order to enhance the tenacity of the blade. The other work is designing the structure of the blade with big main body and small abdomen which twists easily. At the designed wind speed, the power output reaches its rated capacity. Above this wind speed, turbine blades twist to adapt to wind speed and make the rotor solidity of wind turbine declined. While the wind speed changes and becomes small, the torsion of wind turbines’ blades turns back. Thus the wind turbines’ rotor solidity becomes greater and power output increases. So at a certain speed ( 36m/s), the wind turbine can adjusts itself to control the power output keeps on a certain level. And then it brakes by itself.

Download Full-text