TY  - EJOU
AU  - Veludurthi, Ajay 
AU  - Bolleddu, Venkateshwarlu 

TI  - Evaluation of Small Wind Turbine Blades with Uni-Vinyl Foam Alignments Using Static Structural Analysis
T2  - Energy Engineering

PY  - 2020
VL  - 117
IS  - 4
SN  - 1546-0118

AB  - Mechanical characteristics of small wind turbine blades of National
Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) 63-415 series with different Univinyl (UV) foam alignments have been evaluated experimentally using Universal
Testing Machine and numerically using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software
ANSYS. The wind turbine blade models considered are selected from the NACA
63415 series to give a power output of 1 kW. The blades in this study are made
like a sandwich beam structure. The outermost portion of the blade is made of
glass fiber reinforced plastics with epoxy resin as composite and Uni-vinyl foam
alignments are placed in the inner portion, which acts as a stiffener. The alignments used in the blades are rectangular, taper, and teardrop. In FEA analysis,
the load is converted into equivalent wind force and applied to the blade structure.
Deformation and stress distributions are evaluated at different locations of the
blade under different loading conditions. It is observed that the blade with teardrop alignment is having more resistance towards bending compared to blades
with other alignments. It is also observed that the taper alignment blade is more
capable of sustaining higher stresses as compared to the solid and hollow blades.
KW  - NACA 63415; uni-vinyl foam alignments; small wind turbine blade; static structural analysis

DO  - 10.32604/EE.2020.011304