Open Access

ARTICLE

Experimental Study on Modal and Harmonic Analysis of Small Wind Turbine Blades Using NACA 63-415 Aerofoil Cross-Section

Ajay Veludurthi¹, Venkateshwarlu Bolleddu^2,*
1 Research Scholar, School of Mechanical Engineering, Vellore Institute Technology, Vellore, 632014, India
2 Associate Professor Senior, School of Mechanical Engineering, Vellore Institute Technology, Vellore, 632014, India
* Corresponding Author: Bolleddu Venkateshwarlu. Email: ;

Energy Engineering 2020, 117(2), 49-61. https://doi.org/10.32604/EE.2020.010666

Received 17 March 2020; Accepted 14 April 2020; Issue published 23 April 2020

Abstract

This work focused on modal and harmonic analysis of small wind turbine blades taken from the NACA 63415 series. The sandwich structure type composite blade is fabricated from GFRP and epoxy with Uni-vinyl hard foams of different alignments as stiffeners. In this work, the modal and harmonic analysis of different varieties of blades like solid, hallow and rectangular alignment blades is carried out by the finite element method using ANSYS 18.1 software. From Finite Element Analysis, the natural frequencies, amplitudes and mode shapes are obtained. Based on the working principle of wind turbine blades, the boundary conditions are applied. The experimental investigation is also done using a vibration test rig with specially designed fixtures. The forced vibration approach is used to analyze the responses of the blade with different forces and frequencies which gives the feasible study to define the effective blade structure. In addition to modal analysis, the harmonic analysis is also carried out for different materials to find the amplitude at different frequencies. The outcome of this analysis can be used as a reference for improving the structure and material properties of the blade.

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Keywords

Wind turbine blade; NACA 63-415; Uni-vinyl foam; natural frequencies; amplitudes; mode shapes

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