WorldWideScience

Sample records for blades turbines

  1. Gas turbine engine turbine blade damaging estimate in maintenance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ель-Хожайрі Хусейн

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available  The factors determining character and intensity of corrosive damages of gas turbine blades are analyzed in the article. The classification of detrimental impurities polluting gas turbine airflow duct and injuring blade erosion damages are given. Common features of the method of turbine blade corrosive damage estimation are shown in the article.

  2. Wind Turbine Blade

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    2010-01-01

    The invention relates to a blade for a wind turbine, particularly to a blade that may be produced by an advanced manufacturing process for producing a blade with high quality structural components. Particularly, the structural components, which are preferably manufactured from fibre reinforced...

  3. A Take Stock of Turbine Blades Failure Phenomenon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roy, Abhijit

    2018-02-01

    Turbine Blade design and engineering is one of the most complicated and important aspects of turbine technology. Experiments with blades can be simple or very complicated, depending upon parameters of analysis. Turbine blades are subjected to vigorous environments, such as high temperatures, high stresses, and a potentially high vibration environment. All these factors can lead to blade failures, which can destroy the turbine, and engine, so careful design is the prime consideration to resist those conditions. A high cycle of fatigue of compressor and turbine blades due to high dynamic stress caused by blade vibration and resonance within the operating range of machinery is common failure mode for turbine machine. Continuous study and investigation on failure of turbine blades are going on since last five decades. Some review papers published during these days aiming to present a review on recent studies and investigations done on failures of turbine blades. All the detailed literature related with the turbine blades has not been described but emphasized to provide all the methodologies of failures adopted by various researches to investigate turbine blade. This paper illustrate on various factors of failure.

  4. Advances in wind turbine blade design and materials

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wind energy is gaining critical ground in the area of renewable energy, with wind energy being predicted to provide up to 8% of the world’s consumption of electricity by 2021. Advances in wind turbine blade design and materials reviews the design and functionality of wind turbine rotor blades...... as well as the requirements and challenges for composite materials used in both current and future designs of wind turbine blades. Part one outlines the challenges and developments in wind turbine blade design, including aerodynamic and aeroelastic design features, fatigue loads on wind turbine blades......, and characteristics of wind turbine blade airfoils. Part two discusses the fatigue behavior of composite wind turbine blades, including the micromechanical modelling and fatigue life prediction of wind turbine blade composite materials, and the effects of resin and reinforcement variations on the fatigue resistance...

  5. Advanced LP turbine blade design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jansen, M.; Pfeiffer, R.; Termuehlen, H.

    1990-01-01

    In the 1960's and early 1970's, the development of steam turbines for the utility industry was mainly influenced by the demand for increasing unit sizes. Nuclear plants in particular, required the design of LP turbines with large annulus areas for substantial mass and volumetric steam flows. Since then the development of more efficient LP turbines became an ongoing challenge. Extensive R and D work was performed in order to build efficient and reliable LP turbines often exposed to severe corrosion, erosion and dynamic excitation conditions. This task led to the introduction of an advanced disk-type rotor design for 1800 rpm LP turbines and the application of a more efficient, reaction-type blading for all steam turbine sections including the first stages of LP turbines. The most recent developments have resulted in an advanced design of large LP turbine blading, typically used in the last three stages of each LP turbine flow section. Development of such blading required detailed knowledge of the three dimensional, largely transonic, flow conditions of saturated steam. Also the precise assessment of blade stressing from dynamic conditions, such as speed and torsional resonance, as well as stochastic and aerodynamic excitation is of extreme importance

  6. Adaptor assembly for coupling turbine blades to rotor disks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia-Crespo, Andres Jose; Delvaux, John McConnell

    2014-09-23

    An adaptor assembly for coupling a blade root of a turbine blade to a root slot of a rotor disk is described. The adaptor assembly includes a turbine blade having a blade root and an adaptor body having an adaptor root. The adaptor body defines a slot having an open end configured to receive the blade root of the turbine blade such that the adaptor root of the adaptor body and the blade root of the turbine blade are adjacent to one another when the blade root of the turbine blade is positioned within the slot. Both the adaptor root of the adaptor body and the blade root of the turbine blade are configured to be received within the root slot of the rotor disk.

  7. Graphene in turbine blades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Das, D. K.; Swain, P. K.; Sahoo, S.

    2016-07-01

    Graphene, the two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterial, draws interest of several researchers due to its many superior properties. It has extensive applications in numerous fields. A turbine is a hydraulic machine which extracts energy from a fluid and converts it into useful work. Recently, Gudukeya and Madanhire have tried to increase the efficiency of Pelton turbine. Beucher et al. have also tried the same by reducing friction between fluid and turbine blades. In this paper, we study the advantages of using graphene as a coating on Pelton turbine blades. It is found that the efficiency of turbines increases, running and maintenance cost is reduced with more power output. By the application of graphene in pipes, cavitation will be reduced, durability of pipes will increase, operation and maintenance cost of water power plants will be less.

  8. Structural Testing of the Blade Reliability Collaborative Effect of Defect Wind Turbine Blades

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Desmond, M. [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Hughes, S. [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Paquette, J. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

    2015-06-08

    Two 8.3-meter (m) wind turbine blades intentionally constructed with manufacturing flaws were tested to failure at the National Wind Technology Center (NWTC) at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) south of Boulder, Colorado. Two blades were tested; one blade was manufactured with a fiberglass spar cap and the second blade was manufactured with a carbon fiber spar cap. Test loading primarily consisted of flap fatigue loading of the blades, with one quasi-static ultimate load case applied to the carbon fiber spar cap blade. Results of the test program were intended to provide the full-scale test data needed for validation of model and coupon test results of the effect of defects in wind turbine blade composite materials. Testing was part of the Blade Reliability Collaborative (BRC) led by Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). The BRC seeks to develop a deeper understanding of the causes of unexpected blade failures (Paquette 2012), and to develop methods to enable blades to survive to their expected operational lifetime. Recent work in the BRC includes examining and characterizing flaws and defects known to exist in wind turbine blades from manufacturing processes (Riddle et al. 2011). Recent results from reliability databases show that wind turbine rotor blades continue to be a leading contributor to turbine downtime (Paquette 2012).

  9. Wind turbine blade waste in 2050.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Pu; Barlow, Claire Y

    2017-04-01

    Wind energy has developed rapidly over the last two decades to become one of the most promising and economically viable sources of renewable energy. Although wind energy is claimed to provide clean renewable energy without any emissions during operation, but it is only one side of the coin. The blades, one of the most important components in the wind turbines, made with composite, are currently regarded as unrecyclable. With the first wave of early commercial wind turbine installations now approaching their end of life, the problem of blade disposal is just beginning to emerge as a significant factor for the future. This paper is aimed at discovering the magnitude of the wind turbine blade waste problem, looking not only at disposal but at all stages of a blade's lifecycle. The first stage of the research, the subject of this paper, is to accurately estimate present and future wind turbine blade waste inventory using the most recent and most accurate data available. The result will provide a solid reference point to help the industry and policy makers to understand the size of potential environmental problem and to help to manage it better. This study starts by estimating the annual blade material usage with wind energy installed capacity and average blade weight. The effect of other waste contributing factors in the full lifecycle of wind turbine blades is then included, using industrial data from the manufacturing, testing and in-service stages. The research indicates that there will be 43 million tonnes of blade waste worldwide by 2050 with China possessing 40% of the waste, Europe 25%, the United States 16% and the rest of the world 19%. Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Applied modal analysis of wind turbine blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, H.B.; Kristensen, O.J.D.

    2003-01-01

    In this project modal analysis has been used to determine the natural frequencies, damping and the mode shapes for wind turbine blades. Different methods to measure the position and adjust the direction of the measuring points are discussed. Differentequipment for mounting the accelerometers...... is investigated by repeated measurement on the same wind turbine blade. Furthermore the flexibility of the test set-up is investigated, by use ofaccelerometers mounted on the flexible adapter plate during the measurement campaign. One experimental campaign investigated the results obtained from a loaded...... and unloaded wind turbine blade. During this campaign the modal analysis are performed on ablade mounted in a horizontal and a vertical position respectively. Finally the results obtained from modal analysis carried out on a wind turbine blade are compared with results obtained from the Stig Øyes blade_EV1...

  11. Methodology for wind turbine blade geometry optimization

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Perfiliev, D.

    2013-11-01

    Nowadays, the upwind three bladed horizontal axis wind turbine is the leading player on the market. It has been found to be the best industrial compromise in the range of different turbine constructions. The current wind industry innovation is conducted in the development of individual turbine components. The blade constitutes 20-25% of the overall turbine budget. Its optimal operation in particular local economic and wind conditions is worth investigating. The blade geometry, namely the chord, twist and airfoil type distributions along the span, responds to the output measures of the blade performance. Therefore, the optimal wind blade geometry can improve the overall turbine performance. The objectives of the dissertation are focused on the development of a methodology and specific tool for the investigation of possible existing wind blade geometry adjustments. The novelty of the methodology presented in the thesis is the multiobjective perspective on wind blade geometry optimization, particularly taking simultaneously into account the local wind conditions and the issue of aerodynamic noise emissions. The presented optimization objective approach has not been investigated previously for the implementation in wind blade design. The possibilities to use different theories for the analysis and search procedures are investigated and sufficient arguments derived for the usage of proposed theories. The tool is used for the test optimization of a particular wind turbine blade. The sensitivity analysis shows the dependence of the outputs on the provided inputs, as well as its relative and absolute divergences and instabilities. The pros and cons of the proposed technique are seen from the practical implementation, which is documented in the results, analysis and conclusion sections. (orig.)

  12. Flow characteristics in nuclear steam turbine blade passage

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ahn, H.J.; Yoon, W.H.; Kwon, S.B.

    1995-01-01

    The rapid expansion of condensable gas such as moist air or steam gives rise to nonequilibrium condensation. As a result of irreversibility of condensation process in the nuclear steam turbine blade passage, the entropy of the flow increases, and the efficiency of the turbine decreases. In the present study, in order to investigate the flow characteristics of moist air in two-dimensional turbine blade passage which is made from the configuration of the last stage tip section of the actual nuclear steam turbine moving blade, the static pressures along both pressure and suction sides of blade are measured by static pressure taps and the distribution of Mach number on both sides of the blade are obtained by using the measured static pressure. Also, the flow field is visualized by a Schlieren system. From the experimental results, the effects of the stagnation temperature and specific humidity on the flow properties in the two dimensional steam turbine blade passage are clearly identified

  13. Computational Fluid Dynamic Analysis of a Vibrating Turbine Blade

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Osama N. Alshroof

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available This study presents the numerical fluid-structure interaction (FSI modelling of a vibrating turbine blade using the commercial software ANSYS-12.1. The study has two major aims: (i discussion of the current state of the art of modelling FSI in gas turbine engines and (ii development of a “tuned” one-way FSI model of a vibrating turbine blade to investigate the correlation between the pressure at the turbine casing surface and the vibrating blade motion. Firstly, the feasibility of the complete FSI coupled two-way, three-dimensional modelling of a turbine blade undergoing vibration using current commercial software is discussed. Various modelling simplifications, which reduce the full coupling between the fluid and structural domains, are then presented. The one-way FSI model of the vibrating turbine blade is introduced, which has the computational efficiency of a moving boundary CFD model. This one-way FSI model includes the corrected motion of the vibrating turbine blade under given engine flow conditions. This one-way FSI model is used to interrogate the pressure around a vibrating gas turbine blade. The results obtained show that the pressure distribution at the casing surface does not differ significantly, in its general form, from the pressure at the vibrating rotor blade tip.

  14. Bimetallic Blisks with Shrouded Turbine Blades for Gas Turbine Engines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L. A. Magerramova

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper discusses prospects of using blisks with shrouded blades. Increasing an engine life and efficiency as well as mass reduction can also be achieved by increasing blade numbers and decreasing disk diameter. But design engineers are faced with the problem of blade placement because of the disk size and root dimensions.The problem of increasing life and cyclic durability, vibration strength, and lightweight design of the turbine gas turbine wheels, can be solved by an elimination of blade - disk locks.The technology of manufacturing one-piece blisks by connecting the blades with the disc part using hot isostatic pressing was developed. This technology allows us to use blades with shrouds. It is necessary to increase efficiency and to improve high cycle fatigue performance of rotor blades.One of the pressing problems is to ensure the necessary position of shrouds in relation to each other in the manufacturing process as well as in the service. Numerical studies of the influence of the shroud mounting position on blade strength during operation allowed us to develop a methodology of choosing a shroud mounting position.Based on the two turbine wheels (LPT and HPT calculations advantages of blisk design with respect to the lock-based design were shown. Application of bimetallic blisks with shrouded blades resulted in a lifespan increase and weight reduction.In addition, other advantages of blisk design are as follows: possible reduction in the number of parts, elimination of leaks and fretting that take place in the blade - disk locks, exception of expensive broaching operations and disk alloy saving. The shortcoming is elimination of damping in root connection. In addition, there are no widely used repair methods.Despite these disadvantages the usage of bimetallic turbine blisks with shrouded blades is very promising.

  15. Repairing methods of steam turbine blades using welding procedures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mazur, Z.; Cristalinas, V.; Kubiak, J.

    1995-01-01

    The steam turbine blades are subjected to the natural permanent wear or damage, which may be of mechanical or metallurgical origin. The typical damage occurring during the lifetime of turbine blading may be erosion, corrosion, foreign objects damage, rubbing and cracking caused by high cycle fatigue and creep crack growth. The nozzle and diaphragm vanes (stationary blades) of the steam turbine are elements whose damage is commonly occurring and they require special repair processes. The damage of the blade trailing edge of nozzle and diaphragm vanes, due to the former causes, may be refurbished by welding deposits or stainless steel inserts welded to the blades. Both repair methods of the stationary steam turbine blades are presented. The results of the blades refurbishment are an increase of the turbine availability, reliability and efficiency, and a decrease of the risk that failure will occur. Also, the repair cost versus the spare blades cost represent significant reduction of expenditure. 7 refs

  16. Structural Analysis of Basalt Fiber Reinforced Plastic Wind Turbine Blade

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mengal Ali Nawaz

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available In this study, Basalt fiber reinforced plastic (BFRP wind turbine blade was analyzed and compared with Glass fiber reinforced plastic blade (GFRP. Finite element analysis (FEA of blade was carried out using ANSYS. Data for FEA was obtained by using rule of mixture. The shell element in ANSYS was used to simulate the wind turbine blade and to conduct its strength analysis. The structural analysis and comparison of blade deformations proved that BFRP wind turbine blade has better strength compared to GFRP wind turbine blade.

  17. Metallurgy of gas turbine blades with integral shroud and its influence on blades performance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mazur, Z.; Marino, C.; Kubiak, J.

    1999-01-01

    The influence of the microstructure of the gas turbine blades with integral shroud on the blades performance is presented. The analysis of the solidification process of the gas turbine blades during conventionally casting process (equiaxed grains) with all elements which has influence on the mode of its solidification and variation of the microstructure is carried out. Also, the evaluation of the failure of the gas turbine blade is present. A detailed analysis of the blade tip shroud microstructure (presence of the equiaxed and columnar grains) and its influence on the failure initiation and propagation is carried out. Finally, conclusions and some necessary improvements of the blades casting process to prevent blades failures are presented. (Author) 2 refs

  18. Damage detection in wind turbine blades using acoustic techniques

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Juengert, A., E-mail: anne.juengert@mpa.uni-stuttgart.de [Univ. of Stuttgart, Materialpruefungsanstalt Stuttgart, Stuttgart (Germany)

    2013-05-15

    Facing climate change, the use of renewable energy gains importance. The wind energy sector grows very fast. Bigger and more powerful wind turbines will be built in the coming decades and the safety and reliability of the turbines will become more important. Wind turbine blades have to be inspected at regular intervals, because they are highly stressed during operation and a blade breakdown can cause big economic damages. The turbine blades consist of fiber reinforced plastics (GFRP/CFRP) and sandwich areas containing wood or plastic foam. The blades are manufactured as two halves and glued together afterwards. Typical damages are delaminations within the GFRP or the sandwich and missing adhesive or deficient bond at the bonding surfaces. The regular inspections of wind turbine blades are performed manually by experts and are limited to visual appraisals and simple tapping tests. To improve the inspections of wind turbine blades non-destructive testing techniques using acoustic waves are being developed. To detect delaminations within the laminates of the turbine blade, a local resonance spectroscopy was used. To detect missing bond areas from the outside of the blade the impulse-echo-technique was applied. This paper is an updated reprint of an article published on ndt.net in 2008. (author)

  19. Damage detection in wind turbine blades using acoustic techniques

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Juengert, A.

    2013-01-01

    Facing climate change, the use of renewable energy gains importance. The wind energy sector grows very fast. Bigger and more powerful wind turbines will be built in the coming decades and the safety and reliability of the turbines will become more important. Wind turbine blades have to be inspected at regular intervals, because they are highly stressed during operation and a blade breakdown can cause big economic damages. The turbine blades consist of fiber reinforced plastics (GFRP/CFRP) and sandwich areas containing wood or plastic foam. The blades are manufactured as two halves and glued together afterwards. Typical damages are delaminations within the GFRP or the sandwich and missing adhesive or deficient bond at the bonding surfaces. The regular inspections of wind turbine blades are performed manually by experts and are limited to visual appraisals and simple tapping tests. To improve the inspections of wind turbine blades non-destructive testing techniques using acoustic waves are being developed. To detect delaminations within the laminates of the turbine blade, a local resonance spectroscopy was used. To detect missing bond areas from the outside of the blade the impulse-echo-technique was applied. This paper is an updated reprint of an article published on ndt.net in 2008. (author)

  20. Remote inspection of steam turbine blades

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1987-01-01

    During the past five years Reinhart and Associates, Inc. has been involved in remote examination of L-0 and L-1 steam turbine blade rows of in-place LP turbines using visual and eddy current techniques. These tests have concentrated on the trailing edge and blade-to-rotor attachment (Christmas tree) areas. These remote nondestructive examinations were performed through hand access ports of the inner shell. Since the remote scanning system was in a prototype configuration, the inspection was highly operator-dependent. Refinement of the scanning equipment would considerably improve the efficiency of the test; however, the feasibility of remote in-place inspection of turbine blades was established. To further improve this technology, and to provide for remote inspection of other areas of the blade and additional turbine designs, EPRI is funding a one-year project with Reinhart and Associates, Inc. This project will develop a new system that employs state-of-the-art multifrequency eddy current techniques, a miniature charged coupled device (CCD) television camera, and remote positioning equipment. Project results from the first six months are presented

  1. Failure analysis of turbine blades

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Iorio, A.F.; Crespi, J.C.

    1989-01-01

    Two 20 MW gas turbines suffered damage in blades belonging to the 2nd. stage of the turbine after 24,000 hours of duty. From research it arises that the fuel used is not quite adequate to guarantee the blade's operating life due to the excess of SO 3 , C and Na existing in combustion gases which cause pitting to the former. Later, the corrosion phenomenon is presented under tension produced by working stress enhanced by pitting where Pb is its main agent. A change of fuel is recommended thus considering the blades will reach the operational life they were designed for. (Author) [es

  2. Applied modal analysis of wind turbine blades

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Broen Pedersen, H.; Dahl Kristensen, O.J.

    2003-02-01

    In this project modal analysis has been used to determine the natural frequencies, damping and the mode shapes for wind turbine blades. Different methods to measure the position and adjust the direction of the measuring points are discussed. Different equipment for mounting the accelerometers are investigated and the most suitable are chosen. Different excitation techniques are tried during experimental campaigns. After a discussion the pendulum hammer were chosen, and a new improved hammer was manufactured. Some measurement errors are investigated. The ability to repeat the measured results is investigated by repeated measurement on the same wind turbine blade. Furthermore the flexibility of the test set-up is investigated, by use of accelerometers mounted on the flexible adapter plate during the measurement campaign. One experimental campaign investigated the results obtained from a loaded and unloaded wind turbine blade. During this campaign the modal analysis are performed on a blade mounted in a horizontal and a vertical position respectively. Finally the results obtained from modal analysis carried out on a wind turbine blade are compared with results obtained from the Stig Oeyes blade{sub E}V1 program. (au)

  3. Fatigue strength ofcomposite wind turbine blade structures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ardila, Oscar Gerardo Castro

    Wind turbines are normally designed to withstand 20-30 years of life. During this period, the blades, which are the main rotating structures of a wind turbine, are subjected to high fluctuating load conditions as a result of a combination of gravity, inertia, and aeroelastic forces. For this reason......, fatigue is one of the foremost concerns during the design of these structures. However, current standard fatigue methods used for designing wind turbine blades seem not to be completely appropriate for these structures because they are still based on methods developed for metals and not for composite...... materials from which the blades are made. In this sense, the aim of this work is to develop more accurate and reliable fatigue-life prediction models for composite wind turbine blades. In this project, two types of fatigue models are implemented: fatigue-life models and damage mechanics models. In the first...

  4. Development of 52 inch last stage blade for steam turbine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kadoya, Yoshiki; Harada, Masakatsu; Watanabe, Eiichiro

    1985-01-01

    Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. has developed the last stage blades with 1320 mm length for a 1800 rpm LP turbine, and the verification by rotating vibration test using actual blades was finished, thus the blades were completed. In a nuclear power plant with an A-PWR of 3800 MW thermal output, the 1350 MW steam turbine has one HP turbine and three LP turbines coupled in tandem, and the optimum last stage blades for the LP turbines became the 1320 mm blades. The completion of these blades largely contributes to the improvement of thermal efficiency and the increase of generator output in large nuclear power plants, and has the possibility to decrease three LP turbines to two in 900 MW plants, which reduces the construction cost. The velocity energy of steam coming out of last stage blades is abandoned as exhaust loss in a condenser, which is the largest loss in a turbine. The increase of exhaust area using long blades reduces this loss. The economy of the 1320 mm blades, the features of the 1320 mm blades, the aerodynamic design and its verification, the prevention of the erosion of the 1320 mm blades due to wet steam, the strength design, the anti-vibration design and its verification, and the CAD/CAM system are reported. (Kako, I.)

  5. Estimation of gas turbine blades cooling efficiency

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Moskalenko, A.B.; Kozhevnikov, A.

    2016-01-01

    This paper outlines the results of the evaluation of the most thermally stressed gas turbine elements, first stage power turbine blades, cooling efficiency. The calculations were implemented using a numerical simulation based on the Finite Element Method. The volume average temperature of the blade

  6. Numerical analysis of turbine blade tip treatments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gopalaswamy, Nath S.; Whitaker, Kevin W.

    1992-01-01

    Three-dimensional solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations for a turbine blade with a turning angle of 180 degrees have been computed, including blade tip treatments involving cavities. The geometry approximates a preliminary design for the GGOT (Generic Gas Oxidizer Turbine). The data presented here will be compared with experimental data to be obtained from a linear cascade using original GGOT blades. Results have been computed for a blade with 1 percent clearance, based on chord, and three different cavity sizes. All tests were conducted at a Reynolds number of 4 x 10 exp 7. The grid contains 39,440 points with 10 spanwise planes in the tip clearance region of 5.008E-04 m. Streamline plots and velocity vectors together with velocity divergence plots reveal the general flow behavior in the clearance region. Blade tip temperature calculations suggest placement of a cavity close to the upstream side of the blade tip for reduction of overall blade tip temperature. The solutions do not account for the relative motion between the endwall and the turbine blade. The solutions obtained are generally consistent with previous work done in this area,

  7. Blade profile optimization of kaplan turbine using cfd analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Janjua, A.B.; Khalil, M.S.

    2013-01-01

    Utilization of hydro-power as renewable energy source is of prime importance in the world now. Hydropower energy is available in abundant in form of falls, canals rivers, dams etc. It means, there are various types of sites with different parameters like flow rate, heads, etc. Depending upon the sites, water turbines are designed and manufactured to avail hydro-power energy. Low head turbines on runof-river are widely used for the purpose. Low head turbines are classified as reaction turbines. For runof-river, depending upon the variety of site data, low head Kaplan turbines are selected, designed and manufactured. For any given site requirement, it becomes very essential to design the turbine runner blades through optimization of the CAD model of blades profile. This paper presents the optimization technique carried out on a complex geometry of blade profile through static and dynamic computational analysis. It is used through change of the blade profile geometry at five different angles in the 3D (Three Dimensional) CAD model. Blade complex geometry and design have been developed by using the coordinates point system on the blade in PRO-E /CREO software. Five different blade models are developed for analysis purpose. Based on the flow rate and heads, blade profiles are analyzed using ANSYS software to check and compare the output results for optimization of the blades for improved results which show that by changing blade profile angle and its geometry, different blade sizes and geometry can be optimized using the computational techniques with changes in CAD models. (author)

  8. Blade Profile Optimization of Kaplan Turbine Using CFD Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aijaz Bashir Janjua

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Utilization of hydro-power as renewable energy source is of prime importance in the world now. Hydropower energy is available in abundant in form of falls, canals rivers, dams etc. It means, there are various types of sites with different parameters like flow rate, heads, etc. Depending upon the sites, water turbines are designed and manufactured to avail hydro-power energy. Low head turbines on runof-river are widely used for the purpose. Low head turbines are classified as reaction turbines. For runof river, depending upon the variety of site data, low head Kaplan turbines are selected, designed and manufactured. For any given site requirement, it becomes very essential to design the turbine runner blades through optimization of the CAD model of blades profile. This paper presents the optimization technique carried out on a complex geometry of blade profile through static and dynamic computational analysis. It is used through change of the blade profile geometry at five different angles in the 3D (Three Dimensional CAD model. Blade complex geometry and design have been developed by using the coordinates point system on the blade in PRO-E /CREO software. Five different blade models are developed for analysis purpose. Based on the flow rate and heads, blade profiles are analyzed using ANSYS software to check and compare the output results for optimization of the blades for improved results which show that by changing blade profile angle and its geometry, different blade sizes and geometry can be optimized using the computational techniques with changes in CAD models.

  9. Wind Turbine Blade Design System - Aerodynamic and Structural Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dey, Soumitr

    2011-12-01

    The ever increasing need for energy and the depletion of non-renewable energy resources has led to more advancement in the "Green Energy" field, including wind energy. An improvement in performance of a Wind Turbine will enhance its economic viability, which can be achieved by better aerodynamic designs. In the present study, a design system that has been under development for gas turbine turbomachinery has been modified for designing wind turbine blades. This is a very different approach for wind turbine blade design, but will allow it to benefit from the features inherent in the geometry flexibility and broad design space of the presented system. It starts with key overall design parameters and a low-fidelity model that is used to create the initial geometry parameters. The low-fidelity system includes the axisymmetric solver with loss models, T-Axi (Turbomachinery-AXIsymmetric), MISES blade-to-blade solver and 2D wing analysis code XFLR5. The geometry parameters are used to define sections along the span of the blade and connected to the CAD model of the wind turbine blade through CAPRI (Computational Analysis PRogramming Interface), a CAD neutral API that facilitates the use of parametric geometry definition with CAD. Either the sections or the CAD geometry is then available for CFD and Finite Element Analysis. The GE 1.5sle MW wind turbine and NERL NASA Phase VI wind turbine have been used as test cases. Details of the design system application are described, and the resulting wind turbine geometry and conditions are compared to the published results of the GE and NREL wind turbines. A 2D wing analysis code XFLR5, is used for to compare results from 2D analysis to blade-to-blade analysis and the 3D CFD analysis. This kind of comparison concludes that, from hub to 25% of the span blade to blade effects or the cascade effect has to be considered, from 25% to 75%, the blade acts as a 2d wing and from 75% to the tip 3D and tip effects have to be taken into account

  10. Optimization design of blade shapes for wind turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Chen, Jin; Wang, Xudong; Shen, Wen Zhong

    2010-01-01

    For the optimization design of wind turbines, the new normal and tangential induced factors of wind turbines are given considering the tip loss of the normal and tangential forces based on the blade element momentum theory and traditional aerodynamic model. The cost model of the wind turbines...... and the optimization design model are developed. In the optimization model, the objective is the minimum cost of energy and the design variables are the chord length, twist angle and the relative thickness. Finally, the optimization is carried out for a 2 MW blade by using this optimization design model....... The performance of blades is validated through the comparison and analysis of the results. The reduced cost shows that the optimization model is good enough for the design of wind turbines. The results give a proof for the design and research on the blades of large scale wind turbines and also establish...

  11. A Long-Period Grating Sensor for Wind Turbine Blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Glavind, Lars

    This PhD project concerns the applied research for providing a novel sensor for measurements on wind turbine blades, based on Long-Period Gratings. The idea is based on the utilization of a special asymmetrical optical fibre with Long-Period Gratings for directional sensitive bend sensing...... blade material, where a suitable process and recoating material were investigated. The sensor was implemented and tested on a full scale wind turbine blade placed on a test rig. This first prototype has demonstrated the capability of the sensor for wind turbine blade monitoring, particular...... the possibility to distinguish between the flap- and edge-wise bend directions on the wind turbine blade, providing a selective sensor. The sensor has proven to be very robust and suitable for this application....

  12. Vibration analysis of gas turbine blade using FEM

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Iqbal, M.J.; Chohan, G.Y.; Khusnood, S.; Khan, M.A.

    2003-01-01

    In a typical turbo-machine, there is a stator row of blades, which guide the gases onto a rotor row of blades, to extract the mechanical power from the machine. A typical rotor blade was sees upstream disturbance from the stator row and as it rotates, receive a corresponding number of increasing and decreasing lift and moment forces alternating periodically, depending on the number of stator blades/nozzles/guide vanes. Thus all the blades in a turbo-machine receiver their major periodic excitation at a frequency equal to nozzle passing frequency. Since these forces are periodic, one has to consider several number of these harmonics in determining whether resonance takes place, when one of these harmonics coincides with any of the natural frequencies of the blades. Turbine blades have a variety of natural modes of vibration, predominantly as blade alone but also in combination with flexing of the disc rim. These mode occur at characteristic frequencies, which are determined by the distribution of mass and stiffness (in bending or torsion), resulting from the variable thickness over the blade area. Since the advent of steam turbines and their application in various sectors of industry, it is a common experience that a blade failure is a major cause of breakdown in these machines. Blade failures due to fatigue are predominantly vibration related. The dynamic loads on the blading can arise from many sources, the predominant being the source of the operation principles on which the machine is designed. This work deals with vibration analysis of a gas turbine blade using a finite element package ANSYS. Determined the natural frequencies and mode shapes for a turbine blade and a rectangular blade. Results have been validated experimentally using a rectangular blade. ANSYS results have also been compared against published results. (author)

  13. Research on the nonintrusive measurement of the turbine blade vibration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Shi hai; Li, Lu-ping; Rao, Hong-de

    2008-11-01

    It's one of the important ways to monitor the change of dynamic characteristic of turbine blades for ensuring safety operation of turbine unit. Traditional measurement systems for monitoring blade vibration generally use strain gauges attached to the surface of turbine blades, each strain gauge gives out an analogue signal related to blade deformation, it's maximal defect is only a few blades could be monitored which are attached by strain gauge. But the noncontact vibration measurement will be discussed would solve this problem. This paper deals with noncontact vibration measurement on the rotor blades of turbine through experiments. In this paper, the noncontact vibration measurement - Tip Timing Measurement will be presented, and will be improved. The statistics and DFT will be used in the improved measurement. The main advantage of the improved measurement is that only two sensors over the top of blades and one synchronous sensor of the rotor are used to get the exact vibration characteristics of the each blade in a row. In our experiment, we adopt NI Company's DAQ equipment: SCXI1001 and PCI 6221, three optical sensors, base on the graphics program soft LabVIEW to develop the turbine blade monitor system. At the different rotational speed of the rotor (1000r/m and 1200r/m) we do several experiments on the bench of the Turbine characteristic. Its results indicated that the vibration of turbine blade could be real-time monitored and accurately measured by the improved Tip Timing Measurement.

  14. Thermodynamic analysis of turbine blade cooling on the performance of gas turbine cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sarabchi, K.; Shokri, M.

    2002-01-01

    Turbine inlet temperature strongly affects gas turbine performance. Today blade cooling technologies facilitate the use of higher inlet temperatures. Of course blade cooling causes some thermodynamic penalties that destroys to some extent the positive effect of higher inlet temperatures. This research aims to model and evaluate the performance of gas turbine cycle with air cooled turbine. In this study internal and transpiration cooling methods has been investigated and the penalties as the result of gas flow friction, cooling air throttling, mixing of cooling air flow with hot gas flow, and irreversible heat transfer have been considered. In addition, it is attempted to consider any factor influencing actual conditions of system in the analysis. It is concluded that penalties due to blade cooling decrease as permissible temperature of the blade surface increases. Also it is observed that transpiration method leads to better performance of gas turbine comparing to internal cooling method

  15. Fracture analysis of adhesive joints in wind turbine blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eder, Martin Alexander; Bitsche, Robert

    2015-01-01

    Modern wind turbine rotor blades are usually made from fibre-reinforced composite subcomponents. In the final assembly stage, these subcomponents are bonded together by several adhesive joints. One important adhesive joint is situated at the trailing edge, which refers to the downstream edge where...... the air-flow rejoins and leaves the blade. Maintenance inspections of wind turbine rotor blades show that among other forms of damage, local debonding of the shells along the trailing edge is a frequent failure type. The cause of trailing edge failure in wind turbine blades is complex, and detailed...

  16. A deflection monitoring system for a wind turbine blade

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    2017-01-01

    A wind turbine blade comprising a system for monitoring the deflection of a wind turbine blade is described. The system comprises a wireless range-measurement system, having at least one wireless communication device located towards the root end of the blade and at least one wireless communication...

  17. Low Speed Technology for Small Turbine Development Reaction Injection Molded 7.5 Meter Wind Turbine Blade

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    David M. Wright; DOE Project Officer - Keith Bennett

    2007-07-31

    An optimized small turbine blade (7.5m radius) was designed and a partial section molded with the RIM (reaction-injection molded polymer) process for mass production. The intended market is for generic three-bladed wind turbines, 100 kilowatts or less, for grid-assist end users with rural and semi-rural sites, such as the farm/ranch market, having low to moderate IEC Class 3-4 wind regimes. This blade will have substantial performance improvements over, and be cheaper than, present-day 7.5m blades. This is made possible by the injection-molding process, which yields high repeatability, accurate geometry and weights, and low cost in production quantities. No wind turbine blade in the 7.5m or greater size has used this process. The blade design chosen uses a RIM skin bonded to a braided infused carbon fiber/epoxy spar. This approach is attractive to present users of wind turbine blades in the 5-10m sizes. These include rebladeing California wind farms, refurbishing used turbines for the Midwest farm market, and other manufacturers introducing new turbines in this size range.

  18. Thermal stresses investigation of a gas turbine blade

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gowreesh, S.; Pravin, V. K.; Rajagopal, K.; Veena, P. H.

    2012-06-01

    The analysis of structural and thermal stress values that are produced while the turbine is operating are the key factors of study while designing the next generation gas turbines. The present study examines structural, thermal, modal analysis of the first stage rotor blade of a two stage gas turbine. The design features of the turbine segment of the gas turbine have been taken from the preliminary design of a power turbine for maximization of an existing turbojet engine with optimized dump gap of the combustion chamber, since the allowable temperature on the turbine blade dependents on the hot gas temperatures from the combustion chamber. In the present paper simplified 3-D Finite Element models are developed with governing boundary conditions and solved using the commercial FEA software ANSYS. As the temperature has a significant effect on the overall stress on the rotor blades, a detail study on mechanical and thermal stresses are estimated and evaluated with the experimental values.

  19. Future Materials for Wind Turbine Blades - A Critical Review

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Raghavalu Thirumalai, Durai Prabhakaran

    2012-01-01

    Wind turbine industry is continuously evaluating material systems to replace the current thermoset composite technologies. Since turbine blades are the key component in the wind turbines and the size of the blade is increasing in today’s wind design, the material selection has become crucial...

  20. Turbine blade having a constant thickness airfoil skin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marra, John J

    2012-10-23

    A turbine blade is provided for a gas turbine comprising: a support structure comprising a base defining a root of the blade and a framework extending radially outwardly from the base, and an outer skin coupled to the support structure framework. The skin has a generally constant thickness along substantially the entire radial extent thereof. The framework and the skin define an airfoil of the blade.

  1. Study on the replacement of last moving blade at lower pressure turbine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koo, Jae Raeyang; Lee, Woo Kwang; Koo, Woo Sik; Kim, Yeon Hwan

    2003-01-01

    Vibration of turbine is concerned with array of last moving blade at lower pressure turbine. When last moving blade at lower pressure turbine was replaced, we must consider mass unbalance problems of blades. If mass unbalance happened at rotor, it is impossible to operate turbine. In this paper, we have how to minimize the mass unbalance problems of last moving blade at lower pressure turbine

  2. Stress analysis of composite wind turbine blade by finite element method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeh, Meng-Kao; Wang, Chen-Hsu

    2017-10-01

    In this study, the finite element analysis software ANSYS was used to analyze the composite wind turbine blade. The wind turbine blade model used is adopted from the 5 MW model of US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The wind turbine blade is a sandwich structure, comprising outermost carbon fiber cloth/epoxy composites, the inner glass fiber/vinylester layers, and PVC foam core, together with stiffeners. The wind pressure is converted into the load on the blade structure. The stress distribution and deformation of wind turbine blade were obtained by considering different pitch angles and at different angular positions. The Tsai-Hill criterion was used to determine the failure of wind turbine blade. The results show that at the 0° pitch angle, the wind turbine blade is subjected to the largest combined load and therefore the stress is the largest; with the increasing pitch angle, the load gradually decreases and the stress is also smaller. The stress and displacement are the greatest when the wind blade is located at 120° angular position from its highest vertex.

  3. Development of 52 inches last stage blade for steam turbines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suzuki, Atsuhide; Hisa, Shoichi; Nagao, Shinichiro; Ogata, Hisao

    1986-01-01

    The last stage blades of steam turbines are the important component controlling the power output and performance of plants. In order to realize a unit of large capacity and high efficiency, the proper exhaust area and the last stage blades having good performance are indispensable. Toshiba Corp. has completed the development of the 52 inch last stage blades for 1500 and 1800 rpm steam turbines. The 52 inch last stage blades are the longest in the world, which have the annular exhaust area nearly 1.5 times as much as that of 41 inch blades used for 1100 MW, 1500 rpm turbines in nuclear power stations. By adopting these 52 inch blades, the large capacity nuclear power plants up to 1800 MW can be economically constructed, the rate of heat consumption of 1350 MW plants is improved by 3 ∼ 4 % as compared with 41 inch blades, and in the plants up to 1100 MW, LP turbines can be reduced from three sets to two. The features of 52 inch blades, the flow pattern and blade form design, the structural strength analysis and the erosion withstanding property, and the verification by the rotation test of the actual blades, the performance test using a test turbine, the vibration analysis of the actually loaded blades and the analysis of wet steam behavior are reported. (Kako, I.)

  4. Wind Turbine Blade with Angled Girders

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    2011-01-01

    The present invention relates to a reinforced blade for a wind turbine, particularly to a blade having a new arrangement of two or more girders in the blade, wherein each of the girders is connected to the upper part and the lower part of the shell and forms an angle with another girder thereby...

  5. Numerical results in a vertical wind axis turbine with relative rotating blades

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bayeul-Laine, Annie-Claude; Dockter, Aurore; Simonet, Sophie; Bois, Gerard [Arts et Metiers PARISTECH (France)

    2011-07-01

    The use of wind energy to produce electricity through wind turbines has spread world-wide. The quantity of electricity produced is affected by numerous factors such as wind speed and direction and turbine design; the aim of this paper is to assess the influence of different blades on the performance of a turbine. This study was performed on a turbine in which the blades have a rotating movement, each around its own axis and around the turbine's axis. Unsteady simulations were carried out with several blade stagger angles and one wind speed and 2 different blade geometries were used for 4 rotational speeds. Results showed that the studied turbine gave better performance than vertical axis wind turbines and that blade sketch, blade speed ratios, and blade stagger angle were important influences on the performance. This study showed that this kind of turbine has the potential to achieve good performance but that further work needs to be done.

  6. New airfoil sections for straight bladed turbine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boumaza, B.

    1987-07-01

    A theoretical investigation of aerodynamic performance for vertical axis Darrieus wind turbine with new airfoils sections is carried out. The blade section aerodynamics characteristics are determined from turbomachines cascade model. The model is also adapted to the vertical Darrieus turbine for the performance prediction of the machine. In order to choose appropriate value of zero-lift-drag coefficient in calculation, an analytical expression is introduced as function of chord-radius ratio and Reynolds numbers. New airfoils sections are proposed and analyzed for straight-bladed turbine.

  7. New airfoil sections for straight bladed turbine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boumaza, B.

    1987-07-01

    A theoretical investigation of aerodynamic performance for vertical axis Darrieus wind turbine with new airfoils sections is carried out. The blade section aerodynamics characteristics are determined from turbomachines cascade model. The model is also adapted to the vertical Darrieus turbine for the performance prediction of the machine. In order to choose appropriate value of zero-lift-drag coefficient in calculation, an analytical expression is introduced as function of chord-radius ratio and Reynolds numbers. New airfoils sections are proposed and analyzed for straight-bladed turbine

  8. Aerodynamic shape optimization of non-straight small wind turbine blades

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shen, Xin; Yang, Hong; Chen, Jinge; Zhu, Xiaocheng; Du, Zhaohui

    2016-01-01

    Graphical abstract: Small wind turbine blades with 3D stacking lines (sweep and bend) have been considered and analyzed with an optimization code based on the lifting surface method. The results indicated that the power capture and the rotor thrust can be improved with these more complex geometries. The starting behavior of the small wind turbines can be improved by the optimization of the blade chord and twist angle distribution. - Highlights: • The small wind turbine blade was optimized with non-straight shape. • Lifting surface method with free wake was used for aerodyanmic performace evaluation. • The non-straight shape can be used to increase energy production and decrease the thrust. • The energy production should be sacrificed in order to increase the starting behavior. - Abstract: Small wind turbines usually operate in sub-optimal wind conditions in order to satisfy the demand where it is needed. The aerodynamic performance of small horizontal axis wind turbines highly depends on the geometry. In the present study, the geometry of wind turbine blades are optimized not only in terms of the distribution of the chord and twist angle but also with 3-dimensional stacking line. As the blade with 3-dimensional stacking line is given sweep in the plan of rotation and dihedral in the plan containing the blade and rotor axis, the common used blade element momentum method can no longer provide accurate aerodynamic performance solution. A lifting surface method with free wake model is used as the aerodynamic model in the present work. The annual energy production and the starting performance are selected as optimization objective. The starting performance is evaluated based on blade element method. The optimization of the geometry of the non-straight wind turbine blades is carried out by using a micro-genetic algorithm. Results show that the wind turbine blades with properly designed 3-dimensional stacking line can increase the annual energy production and have

  9. Structural experiment of wind turbine blades; Fushayo blade no zairyo rikigakuteki jikken kenkyu

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Seki, K; Shimizu, Y; Kuroyanagi, H [Tokai University, Tokyo (Japan)

    1997-11-25

    Aluminum, GFRP and composite of aluminum coated with carbon as structural materials for wind turbine blades were bending-tested, to improve blade bending stiffness, understand stress conditions at each position, and clarify structural dynamic strength by the bending-failure test. It is possible to estimate stress conditions at each position from the test results of displacement and strain at each load. The test results with GFRP are well explained qualitatively by the boundary theory, known as a theory for composite materials. The test gives reasonable material strength data, useful for designing wind turbines of high functions and safety. The results of the blade bending-failure test are in good agreement with the calculated structural blade strength. It is also found that GFRP is a good material of high structural strength for wind turbines. 8 refs., 6 tabs.

  10. Accelerated rain erosion of wind turbine blade coatings

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhang, Shizhong

    . There are four chapters in the thesis. In chapter 1, a literature survey provides background information to the field. Topics discussed are the global wind energy development, possible wind turbine constructions, blade structures and materials, blade coatings, and liquid erosion mechanisms. In chapter 2......During operation, the fast-moving blades of wind turbines are exposed to continuous impacts with rain droplets, hail, insects, or solid particles. This can lead to erosion of the blades, whereby the electrical efficiency is compromised and expensive repairs may be required. One possible solution...

  11. Numerical Simulation of Wind Turbine Blade-Tower Interaction

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Qiang Wang; Hu Zhou; Decheng Wan

    2012-01-01

    Numerical simulations of wind turbine blade-tower interaction by using the open source OpenFOAM tools coupled with arbitrary mesh interface (AMI) method were presented.The governing equations were the unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (PANS) which were solved by the pimpleDyMFoam solver,and the AMI method was employed to handle mesh movements.The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) phase Ⅵ wind turbine in upwind configuration was selected for numerical tests with different incoming wind speeds (5,10,15,and 25 m/s) at a fixed blade pitch and constant rotational speed.Detailed numerical results of vortex structure,time histories of thrust,and pressure distribution on the blade and tower were presented.The findings show that the wind turbine tower has little effect on the whole aerodynamic performance of an upwind wind turbine,while the rotating rotor will induce an obvious cyclic drop in the front pressure of the tower.Also,strong interaction of blade tip vortices with separation from the tower was observed.

  12. Aero-Thermo-Structural Design Optimization of Internally Cooled Turbine Blades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dulikravich, G. S.; Martin, T. J.; Dennis, B. H.; Lee, E.; Han, Z.-X.

    1999-01-01

    A set of robust and computationally affordable inverse shape design and automatic constrained optimization tools have been developed for the improved performance of internally cooled gas turbine blades. The design methods are applicable to the aerodynamics, heat transfer, and thermoelasticity aspects of the turbine blade. Maximum use of the existing proven disciplinary analysis codes is possible with this design approach. Preliminary computational results demonstrate possibilities to design blades with minimized total pressure loss and maximized aerodynamic loading. At the same time, these blades are capable of sustaining significantly higher inlet hot gas temperatures while requiring remarkably lower coolant mass flow rates. These results suggest that it is possible to design internally cooled turbine blades that will cost less to manufacture, will have longer life span, and will perform as good, if not better than, film cooled turbine blades.

  13. A Two-Bladed Concept Wind Turbine

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kim, Taeseong

    2012-01-01

    This article shows the potential for reducing extreme loads with an innovative design of wind turbine, a partial pitch two-bladed concept turbine. The most extreme conditions to test a turbine are considered to be stand-still combined with a grid failure in which the wind comes from all directions...

  14. Numerical simulation on a straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine with auxiliary blade

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Y.; Zheng, Y. F.; Feng, F.; He, Q. B.; Wang, N. X.

    2016-08-01

    To improve the starting performance of the straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine (SB-VAWT) at low wind speed, and the output characteristics at high wind speed, a flexible, scalable auxiliary vane mechanism was designed and installed into the rotor of SB-VAWT in this study. This new vertical axis wind turbine is a kind of lift-to-drag combination wind turbine. The flexible blade expanded, and the driving force of the wind turbines comes mainly from drag at low rotational speed. On the other hand, the flexible blade is retracted at higher speed, and the driving force is primarily from a lift. To research the effects of the flexible, scalable auxiliary module on the performance of SB-VAWT and to find its best parameters, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) numerical calculation was carried out. The calculation result shows that the flexible, scalable blades can automatic expand and retract with the rotational speed. The moment coefficient at low tip speed ratio increased substantially. Meanwhile, the moment coefficient has also been improved at high tip speed ratios in certain ranges.

  15. Super titanium blades for advanced steam turbines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Coulon, P.A.

    1990-01-01

    In 1986, the Alsthom Steam Turbines Department launched the manufacture of large titanium alloy blades: airfoil length of 1360 mm and overall length of 1520 mm. These blades are designed for the last-stage low pressure blading of advanced steam turbines operating at full speed (3000 rpm) and rating between 300 and 800 MW. Using titanium alloys for steam turbine exhaust stages as substitutes for chrome steels, due to their high strength/density ratio and their almost complete resistance to corrosion, makes it possible to increase the length of blades significantly and correspondingly that steam passage section (by up to 50%) with a still conservative stresses level in the rotor. Alsthom relies on 8 years of experience in the field of titanium, since as early as 1979 large titanium blades (airfoil length of 1240 mm, overall length of 1430 mm) were erected for experimental purposes on the last stage of a 900 MW unit of the Dampierre-sur-Loire power plant and now totals 45,000 operating hours without problems. The paper summarizes the main properties (chemical, mechanical and structural) recorded on very large blades and is based in particular on numerous fatigue corrosion test results to justify the use of the Ti 6 Al 4 V alloy in a specific context of micrographic structure

  16. Resonant vibration control of wind turbine blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Svendsen, Martin Nymann; Krenk, Steen; Høgsberg, Jan Becker

    2010-01-01

    . The efficiency of the resonant controller is demonstrated for a representative turbine blade exposed to turbulent wind loading. It is found that the present explicit tuning procedure yields close to optimal tuning, with very limited modal spill-over and effective reduction of the vibration amplitudes.......The paper deals with introduction of damping to specific vibration modes of wind turbine blades, using a resonant controller with acceleration feedback. The wind turbine blade is represented by three-dimensional, two-node finite elements in a local, rotating frame of reference. The element...... formulation accounts for arbitrary mass density distributions, general elastic crosssection properties and geometric stiffness effects due to internal stresses. A compact, linear formulation for aerodynamic forces with associated stiffness and damping terms is established and added to the structural model...

  17. Influence of Icing on the Modal Behavior of Wind Turbine Blades

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sudhakar Gantasala

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Wind turbines installed in cold climate sites accumulate ice on their structures. Icing of the rotor blades reduces turbine power output and increases loads, vibrations, noise, and safety risks due to the potential ice throw. Ice accumulation increases the mass distribution of the blade, while changes in the aerofoil shapes affect its aerodynamic behavior. Thus, the structural and aerodynamic changes due to icing affect the modal behavior of wind turbine blades. In this study, aeroelastic equations of the wind turbine blade vibrations are derived to analyze modal behavior of the Tjaereborg 2 MW wind turbine blade with ice. Structural vibrations of the blade are coupled with a Beddoes-Leishman unsteady attached flow aerodynamics model and the resulting aeroelastic equations are analyzed using the finite element method (FEM. A linearly increasing ice mass distribution is considered from the blade root to half-length and thereafter constant ice mass distribution to the blade tip, as defined by Germanischer Lloyd (GL for the certification of wind turbines. Both structural and aerodynamic properties of the iced blades are evaluated and used to determine their influence on aeroelastic natural frequencies and damping factors. Blade natural frequencies reduce with ice mass and the amount of reduction in frequencies depends on how the ice mass is distributed along the blade length; but the reduction in damping factors depends on the ice shape. The variations in the natural frequencies of the iced blades with wind velocities are negligible; however, the damping factors change with wind velocity and become negative at some wind velocities. This study shows that the aerodynamic changes in the iced blade can cause violent vibrations within the operating wind velocity range of this turbine.

  18. Vibration-Based Damage Identification in Wind Turbine Blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ulriksen, Martin Dalgaard; Tcherniak, Dmitri; Damkilde, Lars

    Due to the existing trend of placing wind turbines in impassable terrain, for example, offshore, these structures constitute prime candidates for being subjected to structural health monitoring (SHM). The wind turbine blades have in particular been paid research attention [1] as these compose one...... of the most common and critical components to fail in the turbines [2]. The standard structural integrity assessment of blades is based on visual inspection, which requires the turbine in question to be stopped while inspections are conducted. This procedure is extremely costly and tedious, hence emphasizing...

  19. Nonlinear aeroelastic modelling for wind turbine blades based on blade element momentum theory and geometrically exact beam theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, Lin; Liu, Xiongwei; Renevier, Nathalie; Stables, Matthew; Hall, George M.

    2014-01-01

    Due to the increasing size and flexibility of large wind turbine blades, accurate and reliable aeroelastic modelling is playing an important role for the design of large wind turbines. Most existing aeroelastic models are linear models based on assumption of small blade deflections. This assumption is not valid anymore for very flexible blade design because such blades often experience large deflections. In this paper, a novel nonlinear aeroelastic model for large wind turbine blades has been developed by combining BEM (blade element momentum) theory and mixed-form formulation of GEBT (geometrically exact beam theory). The nonlinear aeroelastic model takes account of large blade deflections and thus greatly improves the accuracy of aeroelastic analysis of wind turbine blades. The nonlinear aeroelastic model is implemented in COMSOL Multiphysics and validated with a series of benchmark calculation tests. The results show that good agreement is achieved when compared with experimental data, and its capability of handling large deflections is demonstrated. Finally the nonlinear aeroelastic model is applied to aeroelastic modelling of the parked WindPACT 1.5 MW baseline wind turbine, and reduced flapwise deflection from the nonlinear aeroelastic model is observed compared to the linear aeroelastic code FAST (Fatigue, Aerodynamics, Structures, and Turbulence). - Highlights: • A novel nonlinear aeroelastic model for wind turbine blades is developed. • The model takes account of large blade deflections and geometric nonlinearities. • The model is reliable and efficient for aeroelastic modelling of wind turbine blades. • The accuracy of the model is verified by a series of benchmark calculation tests. • The model provides more realistic aeroelastic modelling than FAST (Fatigue, Aerodynamics, Structures, and Turbulence)

  20. A review of damage detection methods for wind turbine blades

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Dongsheng; Song, Gangbing; Ren, Liang; Li, Hongnan; Ho, Siu-Chun M

    2015-01-01

    Wind energy is one of the most important renewable energy sources and many countries are predicted to increase wind energy portion of their whole national energy supply to about twenty percent in the next decade. One potential obstacle in the use of wind turbines to harvest wind energy is the maintenance of the wind turbine blades. The blades are a crucial and costly part of a wind turbine and over their service life can suffer from factors such as material degradation and fatigue, which can limit their effectiveness and safety. Thus, the ability to detect damage in wind turbine blades is of great significance for planning maintenance and continued operation of the wind turbine. This paper presents a review of recent research and development in the field of damage detection for wind turbine blades. Specifically, this paper reviews frequently employed sensors including fiber optic and piezoelectric sensors, and four promising damage detection methods, namely, transmittance function, wave propagation, impedance and vibration based methods. As a note towards the future development trend for wind turbine sensing systems, the necessity for wireless sensing and energy harvesting is briefly presented. Finally, existing problems and promising research efforts for online damage detection of turbine blades are discussed. (topical review)

  1. Korean experience with steam turbine blade inspection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jung, Hyun Kyu; Park, D.Y.; Park, Hyung Jin; Chung, Min Hwa

    1990-01-01

    Several turbine blade accidents in Korea have emphasized the importance of their adequate periodic inspection. As a typical example, a broken blade was found in the Low Pressure (LP) turbine at the 950 MWe KORI unit 3 during the 1986 overhaul after one year commercial operation. Since then the Manufacturer and the Utility company (KEPCO) have been concerned about the need of blade root inspection. The ultrasonic testing was applied to detect cracks in the blade roots without removing the blades from rotor. Due to the complex geometry of the roots, the test results could not be evaluated easily. We feel that the currently applied UT technique seems to be less reliable and more effective method of inspection must be developed in the near future. This paper describes the following items: The causes and analysis of blade damage The inspection techniques and results The remedial action to be taken (Repair and Replacement) The future plan

  2. A Critical Review of Future Materials for Wind Turbine Blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Raghavalu Thirumalai, Durai Prabhakaran

    2014-01-01

    Wind turbine industry is continuously evaluating materials systems to replace the current thermoset composite technologies. Since turbine blades are the key component in the wind turbines and the size of the blade is increasing in todays wind design, the materials selection has become crucial...

  3. Study on an Undershot Cross-Flow Water Turbine with Straight Blades

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yasuyuki Nishi

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Small-scale hydroelectric power generation has recently attracted considerable attention. The authors previously proposed an undershot cross-flow water turbine with a very low head suitable for application to open channels. The water turbine was of a cross-flow type and could be used in open channels with the undershot method, remarkably simplifying its design by eliminating guide vanes and the casing. The water turbine was fitted with curved blades (such as the runners of a typical cross-flow water turbine installed in tube channels. However, there was ambiguity as to how the blades’ shape influenced the turbine’s performance and flow field. To resolve this issue, the present study applies straight blades to an undershot cross-flow water turbine and examines the performance and flow field via experiments and numerical analyses. Results reveal that the output power and the turbine efficiency of the Straight Blades runner were greater than those of the Curved Blades runner regardless of the rotational speed. Compared with the Curved Blades runner, the output power and the turbine efficiency of the Straight Blades runner were improved by about 31.7% and about 67.1%, respectively.

  4. Static Structural and Modal Analysis of Gas Turbine Blade

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ranjan Kumar, Ravi; Pandey, K. M., Prof.

    2017-08-01

    Gas turbine is one of the most versatile items of turbo machinery nowadays. It is used in different modes such as power generation, oil and gas, process plants, aviation, domestic and related small industries. This paper is based on the problems concerning blade profile selection, material selection and turbine rotor blade vibration that seriously impact the induced stress-deformation and structural functioning of developmental gas turbine engine. In this paper for generating specific power by rotating blade at specific RPM, blade profile and material has been decided by static structural analysis. Gas turbine rotating blade RPM is decided by Modal Analysis so that the natural frequency of blade should not match with the excitation frequency. For the above blade profile has been modeled in SOLIDWORKS and analysis has been done in ANSYS WORKBENCH 14. Existing NACA6409 profile has been selected as base model and then it is modified by bending it through 72.5° and 145°. Hence these three different blade profiles have been analyzed for three different materials viz. Super Alloy X, Nimonic 80A and Inconel 625 at three different speed viz. 20000, 40000 and 60000RPM. It is found that NACA6409 with 72.5° bent gives best result for all material at all speed. Among all the material Inconel 625 gives best result. Hence Blade of Inconel 625 having 72.5° bent profile is the best combination for all RPM.

  5. FLOW PHYSICS OF 3-BLADED STRAIGHT CHORD H-DARRIEUS WIND TURBINE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rajat Gupta

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Steady-state two-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD simulations were performed using Fluent 6.0 software to analyze the flow physics of 3-bladed straight chord H-Darrieus wind turbine having blade twist of 300 for 10% of its chord at the trailing ends. The flow was simulated using finite volume method coupled with moving mesh technique to solve mass and momentum conservation equations. The standard k-ε turbulence model with enhanced wall condition was used. Second-order upwind discretization scheme was adopted for pressure-velocity coupling of the flow. Flow physics of the turbine was analyzed with the help of pressure and velocity contours. It was found that velocity magnitude decreases from upstream to downstream side across the turbine, which will cause overall lift for the turbine. Further, blade twist at the trailing ends creates circulations that interact with the blades in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation of the turbine which would enhance power production for the three bladed turbine.

  6. FLOW PHYSICS OF 3-BLADED STRAIGHT CHORD H- DARRIEUS WIND TURBINE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rajat Gupta

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Steady-state two-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD simulations were performed using Fluent 6.0 software to analyze the flow physics of 3-bladed straight chord H-Darrieus wind turbine having blade twist of 300 for 10% of its chord at the trailing ends. The flow was simulated using finite volume method coupled with moving mesh technique to solve mass and momentum conservation equations. The standard k- ε turbulence model with enhanced wall condition was used. Second-order upwind discretization scheme was adopted for pressure-velocity coupling of the flow. Flow physics of the turbine was analyzed with the help of pressure and velocity contours. It was found that velocity magnitude decreases from upstream to downstream side across the turbine, which will cause overall lift for the turbine. Further, blade twist at the trailing ends creates circulations that interact with the blades in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation of the turbine which would enhance power production for the three bladed turbine.

  7. Development of 1800 rpm, 43in. blade for large steam turbine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kuroda, Michio; Yamazaki, Yoshiaki; Namura, Kiyoshi; Taki, Takamitsu; Ninomiya, Satoshi.

    1978-01-01

    In the turbines for nuclear power generation, the inlet conditions of steam is low pressure and low temperature as compared with the turbines for thermal power generation, therefore generally the required steam flow rate is much more. It is the main problem to cope with this steam of large flow rate effectively with long final stage blades and to make a turbine compact. This newly developed blade aims at the turbines from 1100 to 1300 MW class for nuclear power generation and those of 1000 MW class for thermal power generation, and it is the first low revolution, long blade in Japan used for large capacity machines of 60 Hz. Hereinafter, the outline of various examinations carried out at the time of the tests on this blade and the features of this blade are described. There is large margin in the exhaust area with this blade, therefore the turbines with large power output and good performance can be produced. The loss of exhaust energy at turbine exit can be reduced, and thermal efficiency can be raised. Large capacity machines from 1100 to 1300 MW class can be manufactured with six-flow exhaust, tandem compound turbines. In order to confirm the reliability, the vibration characteristics of the blade were investigated in the test of this time, and also the overspeed test and endurance test were carried out. (Kako, I.)

  8. Optimization design of spar cap layup for wind turbine blade

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2012-01-01

    Based on the aerodynamic shape and structural form of the blade are fixed,a mathematical model of optimization design for wind turbine blade is established.The model is pursued with respect to minimum the blade mass to reduce the cost of wind turbine production.The material layup numbers of the spar cap are chosen as the design variables;while the demands of strength,stiffness and stability of the blade are employed as the constraint conditions.The optimization design for a 1.5 MW wind turbine blade is carried out by combing above objective and constraint conditions at the action of ultimate flapwise loads with the finite element software ANSYS.Compared with the original design,the optimization design result achieves a reduction of 7.2% of the blade mass,the stress and strain distribution of the blade is more reasonable,and there is no occurrence of resonance,therefore its effectiveness is verified.

  9. Repair welding of cracked steam turbine blades

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bhaduri, A.K.; Gill, T.P.S.; Albert, S.K.; Shanmugam, K.; Iyer, D.R.

    1999-01-01

    The procedure for repair welding of cracked steam turbine blades made of martensitic stainless steels has been developed using the gas tungsten arc welding process. Weld repair procedures were developed using both ER316L austenitic stainless steel filler wire and ER410 martensitic stainless steel filler wire. The repair welding procedure with austenitic filler wire was developed to avoid preheating of the blade as also hydrogen induced cold cracking, and involved evaluation of three different austenitic filler wires, viz. ER309L, ER316L and ERNiCr-3. The overall development of the repair welding procedure included selection of welding consumables (for austenitic filler metal), optimisation of post weld heat treatment parameters, selection of suitable method for local pre-heating and post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) of the blades, determination of mechanical properties of weldments in as-welded and PWHT conditions, and microstructural examination. After various trials using different procedures, the procedure of local PWHT using electrical resistance heating on the top surface of the weldment and monitoring the temperature by placing a thermocouple at the bottom of the weld, was found to give the most satisfactory results. A similar procedure was used for preheating while using ER410 filler metal. Mechanical testing of weldments before and after PWHT involved tensile tests at room temperature, face and root bend tests, and microhardness measurements across the fusion line and heat affected zone. During procedure qualification, mock-ups and actual repair welding, dye penetrant testing was used at different stages and where ever possible radiography was carried out. These procedures were developed for repair welding of cracked blades in the low-pressure (LP) steam turbines of Indian nuclear power plants. The procedure with ER316 L filler wire has so far been applied for repair welding of 2 cracked blades (made of AISI 410 SS) of LP steam turbines, while the procedure

  10. Study on Determination Method of Fatigue Testing Load for Wind Turbine Blade

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liao, Gaohua; Wu, Jianzhong

    2017-07-01

    In this paper, the load calculation method of the fatigue test was studied for the wind turbine blade under uniaxial loading. The characteristics of wind load and blade equivalent load were analyzed. The fatigue property and damage theory of blade material were studied. The fatigue load for 2MW blade was calculated by Bladed, and the stress calculated by ANSYS. Goodman modified exponential function S-N curve and linear cumulative damage rule were used to calculate the fatigue load of wind turbine blades. It lays the foundation for the design and experiment of wind turbine blade fatigue loading system.

  11. Reliability of wind turbine blades: An overview of materials testing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Holmes, John W.; Sørensen, Bent F.; Brøndsted, Povl

    2007-01-01

    an understanding of how damage develops in composite structures, composite materials and adhesives. Designing reliable wind turbine blades also requires the further development of laboratory scale and full scale test methods to evaluate the structural response and durability of new materials under various loading......The structural reliability of wind turbine components can have a profound impact on both the profitability and reputation of a wind turbine manufacturer or supplier of wind turbine components. The issue of reliability is of critical concern when large wind farm co-operatives are considered......, and when wind turbines are located in remote regions where the cost of inspections and repairs can be very high. From a structural viewpoint, wind turbine blades are subjected to very complex loading histories with coupled deformation modes. The long-term reliability of wind turbine blades requires...

  12. Implicit geometric representations for optimal design of gas turbine blades

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mansour, T.; Ghaly, W.

    2004-01-01

    Shape optimization requires a proper geometric representation of the blade profile; the parameters of such a representation are usually taken as design variables in the optimization process. This implies that the model must possess three specific features: flexibility, efficiency, and accuracy. For the specific task of aerodynamic optimization for turbine blades, it is critical to have flexibility in both the global and local design spaces in order to obtain a successful optimization. This work is concerned with the development of two geometric representations of turbine blade profiles that are appropriate for aerodynamic optimization: the Modified Rapid Axial Turbine Design (MRATD) model where the blade is represented by five low-order curves that satisfy eleven designer parameters; this model is suitable for a global search of the design space. The second model is NURBS parameterization of the blade profile that can be used for a local refinement. The two models are presented and are assessed for flexibility and accuracy when representing several typical turbine blade profiles. The models will be further discussed in terms of curve smoothness and blade shape representation with a multi-NURBS curve versus one curve and its effect on the flow field, in particular the pressure distribution along the blade surfaces, will be elaborated. (author)

  13. Transient power coefficients for a two-blade Savonius wind turbine

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pope, K.; Naterer, G. [Univ. of Ontario Inst. of Technology, Oshawa, ON (Canada). Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science

    2010-07-01

    The wind power industry had a 29 percent growth rate in installed capacity in 2008, and technological advances are helping to speed up growth by significantly increasing wind turbine power yields. While the majority of the industry's growth has come from large horizontal axis wind turbine installations, small wind turbines can also be used in a wide variety of applications. This study predicted the transient power coefficient for a Savonius vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) wind turbine with 2 blades. The turbine's flow field was used to analyze pressure distribution along the rotor blades in relation to the momentum, lift, and drag forces on the rotor surfaces. The integral force balance was used to predict the transient torque and power output of the turbine. The study examined the implications of the addition of a second blade on the model's ability to predict transient power outputs. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) programs were used to verify that the formulation can be used to accurately predict the transient power coefficients of VAWTs with Savonius blades. 11 refs., 1 tab., 6 figs.

  14. Determination of Turbine Blade Life from Engine Field Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaretsky, Erwin V.; Litt, Jonathan S.; Hendricks, Robert C.; Soditus, Sherry M.

    2013-01-01

    It is probable that no two engine companies determine the life of their engines or their components in the same way or apply the same experience and safety factors to their designs. Knowing the failure mode that is most likely to occur minimizes the amount of uncertainty and simplifies failure and life analysis. Available data regarding failure mode for aircraft engine blades, while favoring low-cycle, thermal-mechanical fatigue (TMF) as the controlling mode of failure, are not definitive. Sixteen high-pressure turbine (HPT) T-1 blade sets were removed from commercial aircraft engines that had been commercially flown by a single airline and inspected for damage. Each set contained 82 blades. The damage was cataloged into three categories related to their mode of failure: (1) TMF, (2) Oxidation/erosion (O/E), and (3) Other. From these field data, the turbine blade life was determined as well as the lives related to individual blade failure modes using Johnson-Weibull analysis. A simplified formula for calculating turbine blade life and reliability was formulated. The L10 blade life was calculated to be 2427 cycles (11 077 hr). The resulting blade life attributed to O/E equaled that attributed to TMF. The category that contributed most to blade failure was Other. If there were no blade failures attributed to O/E and TMF, the overall blade L(sub 10) life would increase approximately 11 to 17 percent.

  15. Blade Surface Pressure Distributions in a Rocket Engine Turbine: Experimental Work With On-Blade Pressure Transducers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hudson, Susan T.; Zoladz, Thomas F.; Griffin, Lisa W.; Turner, James E. (Technical Monitor)

    2000-01-01

    Understanding the unsteady aspects of turbine rotor flowfields is critical to successful future turbine designs. A technology program was conducted at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center to increase the understanding of unsteady environments for rocket engine turbines. The experimental program involved instrumenting turbine rotor blades with surface-mounted high frequency response pressure transducers. The turbine model was then tested to measure the unsteady pressures on the rotor blades. The data obtained from the experimental program is unique in three respects. First, much more unsteady data was obtained (several minutes per set point) than has been possible in the past. Also, two independent unsteady data acquisition systems and fundamental signal processing approaches were used. Finally, an extensive steady performance database existed for the turbine model. This allowed an evaluation of the effect of the on-blade instrumentation on the turbine's performance. This unique data set, the lessons learned for acquiring this type of data, and the improvements made to the data analysis and prediction tools will contribute to future turbine programs such as those for reusable launch vehicles.

  16. Study on optimal design of wind turbine blade airfoil and its application

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sun, Min Young; Kim, Dong Yong; Lim, Jae Kyoo

    2012-01-01

    This study was carried out with two goals. One was the development of a model of a wind turbine blade airfoil and the other was the application of the folding blade. In general, in large sized (MW) wind turbines, damage is prevented in small wind turbines since equipment costs and maintenance costs are high, and therefore, the blade will cause serious damage. The wind turbine proposed in this study does not require maintenance, and the blades do not break during high winds because they are folded in accordance with changes in the wind speed. But generators are not cut out, while maintaining a constant angle will continue to produce. The focus of this study, the wind turbine is continued by folding blade system in strong winds and gusts without stopping production

  17. Study on optimal design of wind turbine blade airfoil and its application

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sun, Min Young; Kim, Dong Yong; Lim, Jae Kyoo [Chonbuk Nat' l Univ., Jeonju (Korea, Republic of)

    2012-05-15

    This study was carried out with two goals. One was the development of a model of a wind turbine blade airfoil and the other was the application of the folding blade. In general, in large sized (MW) wind turbines, damage is prevented in small wind turbines since equipment costs and maintenance costs are high, and therefore, the blade will cause serious damage. The wind turbine proposed in this study does not require maintenance, and the blades do not break during high winds because they are folded in accordance with changes in the wind speed. But generators are not cut out, while maintaining a constant angle will continue to produce. The focus of this study, the wind turbine is continued by folding blade system in strong winds and gusts without stopping production.

  18. Composite ceramic blade for a gas turbine

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rossmann, A; Hoffmueller, W; Krueger, W

    1980-06-26

    The gas turbine blade consists of a supporting metal core which has at its lower end a modelled root and a profile blade made of ceramics enclosing it at some distance. The invention deals with a reliable connection between these two parts of the rotor blade: from the top end of the blade core a head protrudes supporting the thin-walled profile blade from below with a projection each pointing into the interior. The design of the projections and supporting surfaces is described and illustrated by drawings.

  19. Structural Reliability of Wind Turbine Blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dimitrov, Nikolay Krasimirov

    turbine blades. The main purpose is to draw a clear picture of how reliability-based design of wind turbines can be done in practice. The objectives of the thesis are to create methodologies for efficient reliability assessment of composite materials and composite wind turbine blades, and to map...... the uncertainties in the processes, materials and external conditions that have an effect on the health of a composite structure. The study considers all stages in a reliability analysis, from defining models of structural components to obtaining the reliability index and calibration of partial safety factors...... by developing new models and standards or carrying out tests The following aspects are covered in detail: ⋅ The probabilistic aspects of ultimate strength of composite laminates are addressed. Laminated plates are considered as a general structural reliability system where each layer in a laminate is a separate...

  20. Magnus wind turbines as an alternative to the blade ones

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bychkov, N M; Dovgal, A V; Kozlov, V V

    2007-01-01

    Experimental and calculated data on a wind turbine equipped with rotating cylinders instead of traditional blades are reported. Optimal parameters and the corresponding operational characteristics of the windwheel are given in comparison with those of the blade wind turbines

  1. Enhancing wind turbines efficiency with passive reconfiguration of flexible blades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cognet, Vincent P. A.; Thiria, Benjamin; Courrech Du Pont, Sylvain; MSC Team; PMMH Team

    2015-11-01

    Nature provides excellent examples where flexible materials are advantageous in a fluid stream. By folding, leaves decrease the drag caused by air stream; and birds' flapping is much more efficient with flexible wings. Motivated by this, we investigate the effect of flexible blades on the performance of a wind turbine. The effect of chordwise flexible blades is studied both experimentally and theoretically on a small wind turbine in steady state. Four parameters are varied: the wind velocity, the resisting torque, the pitch angle, and the blade's bending modulus. We find an optimum efficiency with respect to the bending modulus. By tuning our four parameters, the wind turbine with flexible blades has a high-efficiency range significantly larger than rigid blades', and, furthermore enhances the operating range. These results are all the more important as one of the current issues concerning wind turbines is the enlargement of their operating range. To explain these results, we propose a simple two-dimensional model by discretising the blade along the radius. We take into account the variation of drag and lift coefficients with the bending ability. This model matches experimental observations and demonstrates the contribution of the reconfiguration of the blade. Matiere et Systemes Complexes.

  2. Materials for Wind Turbine Blades: An Overview

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mishnaevsky, Leon; Branner, Kim; Petersen, Helga Nørgaard

    2017-01-01

    A short overview of composite materials for wind turbine applications is presented here. Requirements toward the wind turbine materials, loads, as well as available materials are reviewed. Apart from the traditional composites for wind turbine blades (glass fibers/epoxy matrix composites), natural...... composites, hybrid and nanoengineered composites are discussed. Manufacturing technologies for wind turbine composites, as well their testing and modelling approaches are reviewed....

  3. Materials for Wind Turbine Blades: An Overview.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mishnaevsky, Leon; Branner, Kim; Petersen, Helga Nørgaard; Beauson, Justine; McGugan, Malcolm; Sørensen, Bent F

    2017-11-09

    A short overview of composite materials for wind turbine applications is presented here. Requirements toward the wind turbine materials, loads, as well as available materials are reviewed. Apart from the traditional composites for wind turbine blades (glass fibers/epoxy matrix composites), natural composites, hybrid and nanoengineered composites are discussed. Manufacturing technologies for wind turbine composites, as well their testing and modelling approaches are reviewed.

  4. Rocket Engine Turbine Blade Surface Pressure Distributions Experiment and Computations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hudson, Susan T.; Zoladz, Thomas F.; Dorney, Daniel J.; Turner, James (Technical Monitor)

    2002-01-01

    Understanding the unsteady aspects of turbine rotor flow fields is critical to successful future turbine designs. A technology program was conducted at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center to increase the understanding of unsteady environments for rocket engine turbines. The experimental program involved instrumenting turbine rotor blades with miniature surface mounted high frequency response pressure transducers. The turbine model was then tested to measure the unsteady pressures on the rotor blades. The data obtained from the experimental program is unique in two respects. First, much more unsteady data was obtained (several minutes per set point) than has been possible in the past. Also, an extensive steady performance database existed for the turbine model. This allowed an evaluation of the effect of the on-blade instrumentation on the turbine's performance. A three-dimensional unsteady Navier-Stokes analysis was also used to blindly predict the unsteady flow field in the turbine at the design operating conditions and at +15 degrees relative incidence to the first-stage rotor. The predicted time-averaged and unsteady pressure distributions show good agreement with the experimental data. This unique data set, the lessons learned for acquiring this type of data, and the improvements made to the data analysis and prediction tools are contributing significantly to current Space Launch Initiative turbine airflow test and blade surface pressure prediction efforts.

  5. Construction of low-cost, Mod-OA wood composite wind turbine blades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lark, R. F.

    1983-01-01

    Two sixty-foot, low-cost, wood composite blades for service on 200 kW Mod-OA wind turbines were constructed. The blades were constructed of epoxy resin-bonded Douglas fir veneers for the leading edge sections, and paper honeycombcored, birch plywood faced panels for the afterbody sections. The blades were joined to the wind turbine hub by epoxy resin-bonded steel load take-off studs embedded into the root end of the blades. The blades were installed on the 200 kW Mod-OA wind turbine facility at Kahuku, Hawaii, The blades completed nearly 8,000 hours of operation over an 18 month period at an average power of 150 kW prior to replacement with another set of wood composite blades. The blades were replaced because of a corrosion failure of the steel shank on one stud. Inspections showed that the wood composite structure remained in excellent condition.

  6. Modeling of uncertainties for wind turbine blade design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, John Dalsgaard; Toft, Henrik Stensgaard

    2014-01-01

    Wind turbine blades are designed by a combination of tests and numerical calculations using finite element models of the blade. The blades are typically composite structures with laminates of glass-fiber and/or carbon-fibers glued together by a matrix material. This paper presents a framework...

  7. Flowfield Analysis of Savonius-type Wind Turbine blade

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Noh, Tae Hyun; Chang, Se Myong [Kunsan National Univ., Kunsan (Korea, Republic of); Seo, Hyun Soo [Korea Institute of Energy Research, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2007-07-01

    In this paper, we researched flow of 8000 {approx} 24000 Reynolds number around a blade model of Savonius-type wind turbine with experimental and numerical method. For the blade shape of arc, we analyzed flowfield with streak-image flow visualization, measured wake, computed drag coefficients, and compared them for given angle of attacks. The result of research can be used to design aerodynamic performance of Savonius-type turbine rotor directly.

  8. Integrated circuit cooled turbine blade

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Ching-Pang; Jiang, Nan; Um, Jae Y.; Holloman, Harry; Koester, Steven

    2017-08-29

    A turbine rotor blade includes at least two integrated cooling circuits that are formed within the blade that include a leading edge circuit having a first cavity and a second cavity and a trailing edge circuit that includes at least a third cavity located aft of the second cavity. The trailing edge circuit flows aft with at least two substantially 180-degree turns at the tip end and the root end of the blade providing at least a penultimate cavity and a last cavity. The last cavity is located along a trailing edge of the blade. A tip axial cooling channel connects to the first cavity of the leading edge circuit and the penultimate cavity of the trailing edge circuit. At least one crossover hole connects the penultimate cavity to the last cavity substantially near the tip end of the blade.

  9. Fundamentals for remote structural health monitoring of wind turbine blades - a preproject. Annex A. Cost-benefit for embedded sensors in large wind turbine blades

    OpenAIRE

    Hansen, L.G.; Lading, Lars

    2002-01-01

    This report contains the results of a cost-benefit analysis for the use of embed-ded sensors for damage detection in large wind turbine blades - structural health monitoring - (in connection with remote surveillance) of large wind turbine placedoff-shore. The total operating costs of a three-bladed 2MW turbine placed offshore either without sensors or with sensors are compared. The price of a structural health monitoring system of a price of 100 000 DKK (per tur-bine) results in a break-event...

  10. A novel folding blade of wind turbine rotor for effective power control

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xie, Wei; Zeng, Pan; Lei, Liping

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • A novel folding blade for wind turbine power control is proposed. • Wind tunnel experiments were conducted to analyze folding blade validity. • Folding blade is valid to control wind turbine power output. • Compared to pitch control, thrust was reduced by fold control in power regulation. • Optimum fold angles were found for wind turbine start up and aerodynamic brake. - Abstract: A concept of novel folding blade of horizontal axis wind turbine is proposed in current study. The folding blade comprises a stall regulated root blade section and a folding tip blade section with the fold axis inclined relative to blade span. By folding blade, lift force generated on the tip blade section changes and the moment arm also shortens, which leads to variations of power output. The blade folding actuation mechanism with servo motor and worm-gear reducer was designed. Wind turbine rotor control scheme and servo system with double feedback loops for blade fold angle control were proposed. In this study, a small folding blade model was tested in a wind tunnel to analyze its performance. The blade model performance was estimated in terms of rotation torque coefficient and thrust coefficient. Wind tunnel experiments were also conducted for pitch control using the same blade model in order to make a direct comparison. The power control, start up and aerodynamic brake performance of the folding blade were analyzed. According to the wind tunnel experiment results, fold angle magnitude significantly affected blade aerodynamic performance and the thrust characteristic together with the rotation torque characteristic of folding blade were revealed. The experiment results demonstrated that the folding blade was valid to control power output and had advantages in reducing thrust with maximum reduction of 51.1% compared to pitch control. Optimum fold angles of 55° and 90° were also found for start up and aerodynamic brake, respectively

  11. Blade pitch optimization methods for vertical-axis wind turbines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kozak, Peter

    Vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) offer an inherently simpler design than horizontal-axis machines, while their lower blade speed mitigates safety and noise concerns, potentially allowing for installation closer to populated and ecologically sensitive areas. While VAWTs do offer significant operational advantages, development has been hampered by the difficulty of modeling the aerodynamics involved, further complicated by their rotating geometry. This thesis presents results from a simulation of a baseline VAWT computed using Star-CCM+, a commercial finite-volume (FVM) code. VAWT aerodynamics are shown to be dominated at low tip-speed ratios by dynamic stall phenomena and at high tip-speed ratios by wake-blade interactions. Several optimization techniques have been developed for the adjustment of blade pitch based on finite-volume simulations and streamtube models. The effectiveness of the optimization procedure is evaluated and the basic architecture for a feedback control system is proposed. Implementation of variable blade pitch is shown to increase a baseline turbine's power output between 40%-100%, depending on the optimization technique, improving the turbine's competitiveness when compared with a commercially-available horizontal-axis turbine.

  12. Computational Fluid Dynamics Prediction of a Modified Savonius Wind Turbine with Novel Blade Shapes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wenlong Tian

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available The Savonius wind turbine is a type of vertical axis wind turbine (VAWTs that is simply composed of two or three arc-type blades which can generate power even under poor wind conditions. A modified Savonius wind turbine with novel blade shapes is introduced with the aim of increasing the power coefficient of the turbine. The effect of blade fullness, which is a main shape parameter of the blade, on the power production of a two-bladed Savonius wind turbine is investigated using transient computational fluid dynamics (CFD. Simulations are based on the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS equations with a renormalization group turbulent model. This numerical method is validated with existing experimental data and then utilized to quantify the performance of design variants. Results quantify the relationship between blade fullness and turbine performance with a blade fullness of 1 resulting in the highest coefficient of power, 0.2573. This power coefficient is 10.98% higher than a conventional Savonius turbine.

  13. Resonant Vibrations Resulting from the Re-Engineering of a Constant-Speed 2-Bladed Turbine to a Variable-Speed 3-Bladed Turbine

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fleming, P.; Wright, A. D.; Finersh, L. J.

    2010-12-01

    The CART3 (Controls Advanced Research Turbine, 3-bladed) at the National Wind Technology Center has recently been converted from a 2-bladed constant speed machine to a 3-bladed variable speed machine designed specically for controls research. The purpose of this conversion was to develop an advanced controls field-testing platform which has the more typical 3-bladed configuration. A result of this conversion was the emergence of several resonant vibrations, some of which initially prevented operation of the turbine until they could be explained and resolved. In this paper, the investigations into these vibrations are presented as 'lessons-learned'. Additionally, a frequency-domain technique called waterfall plotting is discussed and its usefulness in this research is illustrated.

  14. Analysis and improvement of gas turbine blade temperature measurement error

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gao, Shan; Wang, Lixin; Feng, Chi; Daniel, Ketui

    2015-01-01

    Gas turbine blade components are easily damaged; they also operate in harsh high-temperature, high-pressure environments over extended durations. Therefore, ensuring that the blade temperature remains within the design limits is very important. In this study, measurement errors in turbine blade temperatures were analyzed, taking into account detector lens contamination, the reflection of environmental energy from the target surface, the effects of the combustion gas, and the emissivity of the blade surface. In this paper, each of the above sources of measurement error is discussed, and an iterative computing method for calculating blade temperature is proposed. (paper)

  15. Analysis and improvement of gas turbine blade temperature measurement error

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Shan; Wang, Lixin; Feng, Chi; Daniel, Ketui

    2015-10-01

    Gas turbine blade components are easily damaged; they also operate in harsh high-temperature, high-pressure environments over extended durations. Therefore, ensuring that the blade temperature remains within the design limits is very important. In this study, measurement errors in turbine blade temperatures were analyzed, taking into account detector lens contamination, the reflection of environmental energy from the target surface, the effects of the combustion gas, and the emissivity of the blade surface. In this paper, each of the above sources of measurement error is discussed, and an iterative computing method for calculating blade temperature is proposed.

  16. Application of bamboo laminates in large-scale wind turbine blade design?

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Long WANG; Hui LI; Tongguang WANG

    2016-01-01

    From the viewpoint of material and structure in the design of bamboo blades of large-scale wind turbine, a series of mechanical property tests of bamboo laminates as the major enhancement materials for blades are presented. The basic mechanical characteristics needed in the design of bamboo blades are brie?y introduced. Based on these data, the aerodynamic-structural integrated design of a 1.5 MW wind turbine bamboo blade relying on a conventional platform of upwind, variable speed, variable pitch, and doubly-fed generator is carried out. The process of the structural layer design of bamboo blades is documented in detail. The structural strength and fatigue life of the designed wind turbine blades are certified. The technical issues raised from the design are discussed. Key problems and direction of the future study are also summarized.

  17. Computational method for the design of wind turbine blades

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vitale, A.J. [Instituto Argentino de Oceanografia, Camino La Carrindanga Km. 7.5, CC 804, B8000FWB Bahia Blanca (Argentina); Universidad Tecnologica Nacional Facultad Regional Bahia Blanca, GESE, 11 de Abril 461, B8000LMI Bahia Blanca (Argentina); Universidad Nacional del Sur, Dpto. de Ing. Electrica y de Computadoras, Av. Alem 1253, 8000 Bahia Blanca (Argentina); Rossi, A.P. [Universidad Tecnologica Nacional Facultad Regional Bahia Blanca, GESE, 11 de Abril 461, B8000LMI Bahia Blanca (Argentina); Universidad Nacional del Sur, Dpto. de Ing. Electrica y de Computadoras, Av. Alem 1253, 8000 Bahia Blanca (Argentina)

    2008-07-15

    Zeus Disenador was developed to design low-power, horizontal-axis wind turbine blades, by means of an iterative algorithm. With this software, it is possible to obtain the optimum blade shape for a wind turbine to satisfy energy requirements of an electric system with optimum rotor efficiency. The number of blades, the airfoil curves and the average wind velocity can be specified by the user. The user can also request particular edge conditions for the width of the blades and for the pitch angle. Results are provided in different windows. Two- and three-dimensional graphics show the aspect of the resultant blade. Numerical results are displayed for blade length, blade surface, pitch angle variation along the blade span, rotor angular speed, rotor efficiency and rotor output power. Software verifications were made by comparing rotor power and rotor efficiency for different designs. Results were similar to those provided by commercial wind generator manufacturers. (author)

  18. Effect of Wavy Trailing Edge on 100meter Flatback Wind Turbine Blade

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang, SJ; Baeder, J D

    2016-01-01

    The flatback trailing edge design for modern 100meter wind turbine blade has been developed and proposed to make wind turbine blade to be slender and lighter. On the other hand, it will increase aerodynamic drag; consequently the increased drag diminishes turbine power generation. Thus, an aerodynamic drag reducing technique should be accompanied with the flatback trailing edge in order to prevent loss of turbine power generation. In this work, a drag mitigation design, span-wise wavy trailing edge blade, has been applied to a modern 100meter blade. The span-wise trailing edge acts as a vortex generator, and breaks up the strong span-wise coherent trailing edge vortex structure at the flatback airfoil trailing edge which is a major source of large drag. Three-dimensional unsteady Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations have been performed for real scale wind turbine blade geometries. Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation (DDES) with the modified laminar-turbulent transition model has been applied to obtain accurate flow field predictions. Graphical Processor Unit (GPU)-accelerated computation has been conducted to reduce computational costs of the real scale wind turbine blade simulations. To verify the structural reliability of the wavy modification of the blade a simple Eigen buckling analysis has been performed in the current study. (paper)

  19. Materials of large wind turbine blades: Recent results in testing and modeling

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mishnaevsky, Leon; Brøndsted, Povl; Nijssen, Rogier

    2012-01-01

    The reliability of rotor blades is the pre-condition for the development and wide use of large wind turbines. In order to accurately predict and improve the wind turbine blade behavior, three main aspects of the reliability and strength of rotor blades were considered: (i) development of methods...... of the effect of the microstructure of wind turbine blade composites on their strength and ways of microstructural optimization of the materials. By testing reference coupons, the effect of testing parameters (temperature and frequency) on the lifetime of blade composites was investigated, and the input data...... clustering, misalignments, interface properties and other factors on the strength and lifetime of the wind turbine blade materials were investigated in the micromechanical finite element simulations. The results described in this paper stem from the Rotor Structure and Materials task of the UPWIND project...

  20. A shape adaptive airfoil for a wind turbine blade

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daynes, Stephen; Weaver, Paul M.

    2011-04-01

    The loads on wind turbine components are primarily from the blades. It is important to control these blade loads in order to avoid damaging the wind turbine. Rotor control technology is currently limited to controlling the rotor speed and the pitch of the blades. As blades increase in length it becomes less desirable to pitch the entire blade as a single rigid body, but instead there is a requirement to control loads more precisely along the length of the blade. This can be achieved with aerodynamic control devices such as flaps. Morphing technologies are good candidates for wind turbine flaps because they have the potential to create structures that have the conflicting abilities of being load carrying, light-weight and shape adaptive. A morphing flap design with a highly anisotropic cellular structure is presented which is able to undergo large deflections and high strains without a large actuation penalty. An aeroelastic analysis couples the work done by aerodynamic loads on the flap, the flap strain energy and the required actuation work to change shape. The morphing flap is experimentally validated with a manufactured demonstrator and shown to have reduced actuation requirements compared to a conventional hinged flap.

  1. Computational analysis of supercritical carbon dioxide flow around a turbine and compressor BLADE

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Tae W.; Kim, Nam H.; Suh, Kune Y.; Kim, Seung O.

    2007-01-01

    The turbine and compressor isentropic efficiencies are one of the major parameters affecting the overall Brayton cycle efficiency. Thus, the optimal turbine and compressor design should contribute to the economics of future nuclear fission and fusion energy systems. A computation analysis was performed utilizing CFX for the supercritical carbon dioxide (SCO 2 ) flow around a turbine and compressor blade to check on the potential efficiency of the turbine and compressor which determine such basic design values as the blade (or impeller) and nozzle (or diffuser) types, blade height, and minimum and maximum radii of the hub and tip. Basic design values of the turbine and compressor blades based on the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) design code was generated by ANSYS BladeGen TM . The boundary conditions were based on the KALIMER-600 secondary loop. Optimal SCO 2 turbine and compressor blades were developed for high efficiency of 90% by the computational analysis. (author)

  2. The Influence of Eroded Blades on Wind Turbine Performance Using Numerical Simulations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matthias Schramm

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available During their operation, wind turbine blades are eroded due to rain and hail, or they are contaminated with insects. Since the relative inflow velocity is higher at the outer than at the inner part of the blades, erosion occurs mostly at the outer blade region. In order to prevent strong erosion, it is possible to install a leading edge protection, which can be applied to the blades after the initial installation, but changes the shape of the initial airfoil sections. It is unclear how this modification influences the aerodynamic performance of the turbine. Hence, it is investigated in this work. The NREL 5 MW turbine is simulated with clean and eroded blades, which are compared to coated blades equipped with leading edge protection. Aerodynamic polars are generated by means of Computational Fluid Dynamics, and load calculations are conducted using the blade element momentum theory. The analysis in this work shows that, compared to clean rotor blades, the worse aerodynamic behaviour of strongly eroded blades can lead to power losses of 9 % . In contrast, coated blades only have a small impact on the turbine power of less than 1 % .

  3. Flutter of Darrieus wind turbine blades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ham, N. D.

    1978-01-01

    The testing of Darrieus wind turbines has indicated that under certain conditions, serious vibrations of the blades can occur, involving flatwise bending, torsion, and chordwise bending. A theoretical method of predicting the aeroelastic stability of the coupled bending and torsional motion of such blades with a view to determining the cause of these vibrations, and a means of suppressing them was developed.

  4. Effect of blades number to performance of Savonius water turbine in water pipe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamzah, Imron; Prasetyo, Ari; Tjahjana, D. D. D. Prija; Hadi, Syamsul

    2018-02-01

    Savonius is usually known as a wind turbine that works efficiently at low wind speed. In this research, the Savonius turbine is proposed for a pico hydro power plant that is installed straightly on the 3-inch vertical pipeline of rainwater and household waste. The Savonius water turbine was designed with blade curvature angle of 70°, the aspect ratio of 1, turbine diameter of 82 mm, and endplate ratio of 1,1. The experimental study investigated the effect of blades number to the performance of Savonius turbine on various volume flow rate of water. Savonius turbine with three blades number generated the highest coefficient of performance of 0.23 on tip speed ratio of 1.7 compared to turbines with the number of other blades.

  5. Study on visual detection method for wind turbine blade failure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Jianping; Shen, Zhenteng

    2018-02-01

    Start your abstract here…At present, the non-destructive testing methods of the wind turbine blades has fiber bragg grating, sound emission and vibration detection, but there are all kinds of defects, and the engineering application is difficult. In this regard, three-point slope deviation method, which is a kind of visual inspection method, is proposed for monitoring the running status of wind turbine blade based on the image processing technology. A better blade image can be got through calibration, image splicing, pretreatment and threshold segmentation algorithm. Design of the early warning system to monitor wind turbine blade running condition, recognition rate, stability and impact factors of the method were statistically analysed. The experimental results shown showed that it has highly accurate and good monitoring effect.

  6. Numerical investigation on aerodynamic performance of a novel vertical axis wind turbine with adaptive blades

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, Ying; Sun, Xiaojing; Dong, Xiaohua; Zhu, Bing; Huang, Diangui; Zheng, Zhongquan

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • A novel vertical axis wind turbine with deformed blades is designed. • The universal tendency of power characteristics for simulated turbine is found. • The whole flow field of different turbines from the aspect of vortex is analyzed. • The tracking analysis of vortex at different positions for a blade is conducted. • The aerodynamic performance of turbine with three deformed blades is analyzed. - Abstract: In this paper, a novel Darrieus vertical axis wind turbine was designed whose blade can be deformed automatically into a desired geometry and thus achieve a better aerodynamic performance. A series of numerical simulations were conducted by utilizing the United Computational Fluid Dynamics code. Firstly, analysis and comparison of the performance of undeformed and deformed blades for the rotors having different blades were conducted. Then, the power characteristics of each simulated turbine were summarized and a universal tendency was found. Secondly, investigation on the effect of blade number and solidity on the power performance of Darrieus vertical axis wind turbine with deformable and undeformable blades was carried out. The results indicated that compared to conventional turbines with same solidity, the maximum percentage increase in power coefficient that the low solidity turbine with three deformable blades can achieve is about 14.56%. When solidity is high and also turbine operates at low tip speed ratio of less than the optimum value, the maximum power coefficient increase for the turbines with two and four deformable blades are 7.51% and 8.07%, respectively. However, beyond the optimal tip speed ratio, the power improvement of the turbine using the deformable blades seems not significant and even slightly worse than the conventional turbines. The last section studied the transient behavior of vortex and turbulent flow structures around the deformable rotor blade to explore the physical mechanism of improving aerodynamic

  7. Multi-spectral temperature measurement method for gas turbine blade

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Shan; Feng, Chi; Wang, Lixin; Li, Dong

    2016-02-01

    One of the basic methods to improve both the thermal efficiency and power output of a gas turbine is to increase the firing temperature. However, gas turbine blades are easily damaged in harsh high-temperature and high-pressure environments. Therefore, ensuring that the blade temperature remains within the design limits is very important. There are unsolved problems in blade temperature measurement, relating to the emissivity of the blade surface, influences of the combustion gases, and reflections of radiant energy from the surroundings. In this study, the emissivity of blade surfaces has been measured, with errors reduced by a fitting method, influences of the combustion gases have been calculated for different operational conditions, and a reflection model has been built. An iterative computing method is proposed for calculating blade temperatures, and the experimental results show that this method has high precision.

  8. Pitched Blade Turbine Efficiency at Particle Suspension

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. Ceres

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Mixing suspensions is a very important hydraulic operation. The pitched six-blade turbine is a widely-used axial-flow impeller. This paper deals with effect relative impeller size and particle content on theefficiency of a pitched six-blade turbine at particle suspension. Two pitched six-blade turbines were used in model measurements of just suspension impeller speed. The ratios of the vessel to agitator diameter D/d were 3 and 4.5. The measurements were carried out in a dish-bottomed vessel 300 mm in diameter. The just suspension impeller speeds were measured using an electrochemical method, and were checked visually. A 2.5 % NaCl water solution was used as the liquid phase, and glass particles with four equivalent diameters between 0.18 and 0.89 mmand volumetric concentration from 2.5 % to 40% were usedasthesolid phase. The criterion values πs=Po√Fr'3(d/D7 were calculated from the particle suspension and power consumption measurements. The dependencies of πs on particle content cv show that larger agitators are more efficient for higher particle content.

  9. Nonlinear 3D calculations of turbine blade impact on turbine cover

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hatala, B.; Adamik, V.; Buchar, J.

    2000-01-01

    This paper present the approach used at the VUJE institute for the evaluation of a ruptured blade impact on the current protection cover of a SKODA 220 MW turbine. Firstly, it briefly describes experiments (Hopkinson-Davies split bar facility, Taylor tests) and numerical simulations used to obtain realistic material parameters needed for the Cowper- Symonds material model that is implemented in the code LS-DYNA3D. Then, numerical simulations, by using the code, of the ruptured blade impact on various protection barriers are presented. These simulations make it possible to find an optimal solution for a new turbine protection cover. (author)

  10. Gas Turbine Blade Damper Optimization Methodology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. K. Giridhar

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The friction damping concept is widely used to reduce resonance stresses in gas turbines. A friction damper has been designed for high pressure turbine stage of a turbojet engine. The objective of this work is to find out effectiveness of the damper while minimizing resonant stresses for sixth and ninth engine order excitation of first flexure mode. This paper presents a methodology that combines three essential phases of friction damping optimization in turbo-machinery. The first phase is to develop an analytical model of blade damper system. The second phase is experimentation and model tuning necessary for response studies while the third phase is evaluating damper performance. The reduced model of blade is developed corresponding to the mode under investigation incorporating the friction damper then the simulations were carried out to arrive at an optimum design point of the damper. Bench tests were carried out in two phases. Phase-1 deals with characterization of the blade dynamically and the phase-2 deals with finding optimal normal load at which the blade resonating response is minimal for a given excitation. The test results are discussed, and are corroborated with simulated results, are in good agreement.

  11. Optimized chord and twist angle distributions of wind turbine blade considering Reynolds number effects

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wang, L.; Tang, X. [Univ. of Central Lancashire. Engineering and Physical Sciences, Preston (United Kingdom); Liu, X. [Univ. of Cumbria. Sustainable Engineering, Workington (United Kingdom)

    2012-07-01

    The aerodynamic performance of a wind turbine depends very much on its blade geometric design, typically based on the blade element momentum (BEM) theory, which divides the blade into several blade elements. In current blade design practices based on Schmitz rotor design theory, the blade geometric parameters including chord and twist angle distributions are determined based on airfoil aerodynamic data at a specific Reynolds number. However, rotating wind turbine blade elements operate at different Reynolds numbers due to variable wind speed and different blade span locations. Therefore, the blade design through Schmitz rotor theory at a specific Reynolds number does not necessarily provide the best power performance under operational conditions. This paper aims to provide an optimal blade design strategy for horizontal-axis wind turbines operating at different Reynolds numbers. A fixed-pitch variable-speed (FPVS) wind turbine with S809 airfoil is chosen as a case study and a Matlab program which considers Reynolds number effects is developed to determine the optimized chord and twist angle distributions of the blade. The performance of the optimized blade is compared with that of the preliminary blade which is designed based on Schmitz rotor design theory at a specific Reynolds number. The results demonstrate that the proposed blade design optimization strategy can improve the power performance of the wind turbine. This approach can be further developed for any practice of horizontal axis wind turbine blade design. (Author)

  12. Distribution of defects in wind turbine blades and reliability assessment of blades containing defects

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stensgaard Toft, Henrik; Branner, Kim; Berring, Peter

    2009-01-01

    on the assumption that one error in the production process tends to trigger several defects. For both models additional information about number, type and size of the defects is included as stochastic variables. The probability of failure for a wind turbine blade will not only depend on variations in the material......In the present paper two stochastic models for the distribution of defects in wind turbine blades are proposed. The first model assumes that the individual defects are completely randomly distributed in the blade. The second model assumes that the defects occur in clusters of different size based...... properties and the load but also on potential defects in the blades. As a numerical example the probability of failure is calculated for the main spar both with and without defects in terms of delaminations. The delaminations increase the probability of failure compared to a perfect blade, but by applying...

  13. Wind Turbine Blades: An End of Life Perspective

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Beauson, Justine; Brøndsted, Povl

    2016-01-01

    In 2016, the first offshore windfarm constructed in the world—located in Denmark, near Ravnsborg—is turning 25 years old, and will soon be decommissioned. After decommissioning, most of the material of the turbine can be recycled; only the composite materials found in the blades represent...... a challenge. This part looks at end of life solutions for this material. Wind turbine blade structure and material are described. The ends of life solutions existing and under development are detailed....

  14. ANALYSIS OF MODERN TURBINE ENGINES WORKING SURFACE LAYERS BLADES WORK CONDITIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    М. A. Petrova

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available In the article the analysis of engine turbine blades performance operation conditions influence is presented. As a result the factors, resulting in poor durability of the blades in operation, the characteristic defects of the turbine blades are determined and the conclusion on the necessity of applying a protective coating on them is made.

  15. UWB Wind Turbine Blade Deflection Sensing for Wind Energy Cost Reduction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhang, Shuai; Jensen, Tobias Lindstrøm; Franek, Ondrej

    2015-01-01

    A new application of utilizing ultra-wideband (UWB) technology to sense wind turbine blade deflections is introduced in this paper for wind energy cost reduction. The lower UWB band of 3.1–5.3 GHz is applied. On each blade, there will be one UWB blade deflection sensing system, which consists...... is always of sufficient quality for accurate estimations under different deflections. The measured results reveal that the blade tip-root distance and blade deflection can be accurately estimated in the complicated and lossy wireless channels around a wind turbine blade. Some future research topics...

  16. Direct Numerical Simulations of a Full Stationary Wind-Turbine Blade

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qamar, Adnan; Zhang, Wei; Gao, Wei; Samtaney, Ravi

    2014-11-01

    Direct numerical simulation of flow past a full stationary wind-turbine blade is carried out at Reynolds number, Re = 10,000 placed at 0 and 5 (degree) angle of attack. The study is targeted to create a DNS database for verification of solvers and turbulent models that are utilized in wind-turbine modeling applications. The full blade comprises of a circular cylinder base that is attached to a spanwise varying airfoil cross-section profile (without twist). An overlapping composite grid technique is utilized to perform these DNS computations, which permits block structure in the mapped computational space. Different flow shedding regimes are observed along the blade length. Von-Karman shedding is observed in the cylinder shaft region of the turbine blade. Along the airfoil cross-section of the blade, near body shear layer breakdown is observed. A long tip vortex originates from the blade tip region, which exits the computational plane without being perturbed. Laminar to turbulent flow transition is observed along the blade length. The turbulent fluctuations amplitude decreases along the blade length and the flow remains laminar regime in the vicinity of the blade tip. The Strouhal number is found to decrease monotonously along the blade length. Average lift and drag coefficients are also reported for the cases investigated. Supported by funding under a KAUST OCRF-CRG grant.

  17. Modal analysis of wind turbine blades

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Larsen, G.C.; Hansen, M.H.; Baumgart, A.; Carlen, I.

    2002-02-01

    The modal analysis technique has been used to identify essential dynamic properties of wind turbine blades like natural frequencies, damping characteristics and mode shapes. Different experimental procedures have been considered, and the most appropriate of these has been selected. Although the comparison is based on measurements on a LM 19 m blade, the recommendations given are believed to be valid for other wind turbine blades as well. The reliability of the selected experimental analysis has been quantified by estimating the unsystematic variations in the experimental findings. Satisfactory results have been obtained for natural frequencies, damping characteristics and for the dominating deflection direction of the investigated mode shapes. For the secondary deflection directions, the observed experimental uncertainty may be considerable - especially for the torsional deflection. The experimental analysis of the LM 19 m blade has been compared with results from a state-of-the-art FE-modeling of the same blade. For some of the higher modes substantial discrepancies between the natural frequencies originating from the FE-modeling and the modal analysis, respectively, are observed. In general the qualitative features of measured and computed modes shapes are in good agreement. However, for the secondary deflection directions, substantial deviations in the absolute values may occur (when normalizing with respect to the primary deflection direction). Finally, suggestions of potential future improvements of the experimental procedure are discussed. (au)

  18. Steady State Structural Analysis of High Pressure Gas Turbine Blade using Finite Element Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mazarbhuiya, Hussain Mahamed Sahed Mostafa; Murari Pandey, Krishna

    2017-08-01

    In gas turbines the major portion of performance dependency lies upon turbine blade design. Turbine blades experience very high centrifugal, axial and tangential force during power generation. While withstanding these forces blades undergo elongation. Different methods have proposed for better enhancement of the mechanical properties of blade to withstand in extreme condition. Present paper describes the stress and elongation for blades having properties of different materials. Steady state structural analysis have performed in the present work for different materials (In 625, In 718, In 738, In 738 LC, MAR M246, Ni-Cr, Ti-alloy, Ti-Al, Ti-T6, U500). Remarkable finding is that the root of the blade is subjected to maximum stress for all blade materials and the blade made of MAR M246 has less stress and deformation among all other blade materials which can be selected as a suitable material for gas turbine blade.

  19. Hybrid anisotropic materials for wind power turbine blades

    CERN Document Server

    Golfman, Yosif

    2012-01-01

    Based on rapid technological developments in wind power, governments and energy corporations are aggressively investing in this natural resource. Illustrating some of the crucial new breakthroughs in structural design and application of wind energy generation machinery, Hybrid Anisotropic Materials for Wind Power Turbine Blades explores new automated, repeatable production techniques that expand the use of robotics and process controls. These practices are intended to ensure cheaper fabrication of less-defective anisotropic material composites used to manufacture power turbine blades. This boo

  20. Hot spot detection system for vanes or blades of a combustion turbine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Twerdochlib, M.

    1999-02-02

    This invention includes a detection system that can determine if a turbine component, such as a turbine vane or blade, has exceeded a critical temperature, such as a melting point, along any point along the entire surface of the vane or blade. This system can be employed in a conventional combustion turbine having a compressor, a combustor and a turbine section. Included within this system is a chemical coating disposed along the entire interior surface of a vane or blade and a closed loop cooling system that circulates a coolant through the interior of the vane or blade. If the temperature of the vane or blade exceeds a critical temperature, the chemical coating will be expelled from the vane or blade into the coolant. Since while traversing the closed loop cooling system the coolant passes through a detector, the presence of the chemical coating in the coolant will be sensed by the system. If the chemical coating is detected, this indicates that the vane or blade has exceeded a critical temperature. 5 figs.

  1. On Orientation Control of Suspended Blade During Installation in Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schmidt, Lasse; Roemer, Daniel Beck; Pedersen, Henrik Clemmensen

    2015-01-01

    This paper discusses problems involved in the procedure for offshore installation of blades in wind turbines, due to wind loads. In general the high winds at sea provides for nearly optimal conditions for harvesting energy via wind turbines due to the often high wind speeds and low turbulence...... intensity. However, the very same features also call for great difficulties during installation of the wind turbine blades, making this process extremely difficult, expensive and time consuming. Often the blades are hoisted to the wind turbine hub via cranes and sought held in appropriate positions by so......-called taglines/wires, but still significant motion oscillations of blade root ends are experienced, even at rather low wind speeds. The paper considers the possibility to dampen the oscillating motions via control of the tagline lengths. The main control strategy considered, is the possibility to control...

  2. Sub-scale Inverse Wind Turbine Blade Design Using Bound Circulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelley, Christopher; Berg, Jonathan

    2014-11-01

    A goal of the National Rotor Testbed project at Sandia is to design a sub-scale wind turbine blade that has similitude to a modern, commercial size blade. However, a smaller diameter wind turbine operating at the same tip-speed-ratio exhibits a different range of operating Reynolds numbers across the blade span, thus changing the local lift and drag coefficients. Differences to load distribution also affect the wake dynamics and stability. An inverse wind turbine blade design tool has been implemented which uses a target, dimensionless circulation distribution from a full-scale blade to find the chord and twist along a sub-scale blade. In addition, airfoil polar data are interpolated from a few specified span stations leading to a smooth, manufacturable blade. The iterative process perturbs chord and twist, after running a blade element momentum theory code, to reduce the residual sum of the squares between the modeled sub-scale circulation and the target full-scale circulation. It is shown that the converged sub-scale design also leads to performance similarity in thrust and power coefficients. Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.

  3. Design and construction of a simple blade pitch measurement system for small wind turbines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Whale, Jonathan [Research Institute of Sustainable Energy, Murdoch University, Perth, WA 6150 (Australia)

    2009-02-15

    For small wind turbines to be reliable they must have in place good mechanisms to protect themselves against very high winds or sudden removal of load. One common protection method in small wind turbines is that of blade feathering. It is important that the blade feathering mechanism of a small wind turbine is tested before the turbine is installed in the field. This paper presents a simple system for monitoring the blade feathering of a turbine with an overall component cost that small wind turbine manufacturers can afford. The Blade Pitch Measurement System (BPMS) has been designed and constructed by the Research Institute of Sustainable Energy (RISE) and aids small wind turbine manufacturers in testing and optimising the settings of the blade feathering mechanisms on their machines. The results show that the BPMS was successful in recording the behaviour of the blade feathering mechanism in field trials with a 20 kW and a 30 kW wind turbine. The BPMS displays significant potential as an effective, inexpensive system for small wind turbine manufacturers to ensure the reliability of their pitch regulating over-speed protection mechanisms. (author)

  4. Cooling of Gas Turbines. 6; Computed Temperature Distribution Through Cross Section of Water-Cooled Turbine Blade

    Science.gov (United States)

    Livingood, John N. B.; Sams, Eldon W.

    1947-01-01

    A theoretical analysis of the cross-sectional temperature distribution of a water-cooled turbine blade was made using the relaxation method to solve the differential equation derived from the analysis. The analysis was applied to specific turbine blade and the studies icluded investigations of the accuracy of simple methods to determine the temperature distribution along the mean line of the rear part of the blade, of the possible effect of varying the perimetric distribution of the hot gas-to -metal heat transfer coefficient, and of the effect of changing the thermal conductivity of the blade metal for a constant cross sectional area blade with two quarter inch diameter coolant passages.

  5. Effect of Trailing Edge Damage on Full-Scale Wind Turbine Blade Failure

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Haselbach, Philipp Ulrich; Branner, Kim

    2015-01-01

    Modern wind turbine rotor blades are normally assembled from large parts bonded together by adhesive joints. The structural parts of wind turbine blades are usually made of composite materials, where sandwich core materials as well as fibre composites are used. For most of the modern wind turbine...

  6. Determination of the number of Vertical Axis Wind Turbine blades based on power spectrum

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fedak Waldemar

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Technology of wind exploitation has been applied widely all over the world and has already reached the level in which manufacturers want to maximize the yield with the minimum investment outlays. The main objective of this paper is the determination of the optimal number of blades in the Cup-Bladed Vertical Axis Wind Turbine. Optimizing the size of the Vertical Axis Wind Turbine allows the reduction of costs. The maximum power of the rotor is selected as the performance target. The optimum number of Vertical Axis Wind Turbine blades evaluation is based on analysis of a single blade simulation and its superposition for the whole rotor. The simulation of working blade was done in MatLab environment. Power spectrum graphs were prepared and compared throughout superposition of individual blades in the Vertical Axis Wind Turbine rotor. The major result of this research is the Vertical Axis Wind Turbine power characteristic. On the basis of the analysis of the power spectra, optimum number of the blades was specified for the analysed rotor. Power spectrum analysis of wind turbine enabled the specification of the optimal number of blades, and can be used regarding investment outlays and power output of the Vertical Axis Wind Turbine.

  7. Determination of the number of Vertical Axis Wind Turbine blades based on power spectrum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fedak, Waldemar; Anweiler, Stanisław; Gancarski, Wojciech; Ulbrich, Roman

    2017-10-01

    Technology of wind exploitation has been applied widely all over the world and has already reached the level in which manufacturers want to maximize the yield with the minimum investment outlays. The main objective of this paper is the determination of the optimal number of blades in the Cup-Bladed Vertical Axis Wind Turbine. Optimizing the size of the Vertical Axis Wind Turbine allows the reduction of costs. The maximum power of the rotor is selected as the performance target. The optimum number of Vertical Axis Wind Turbine blades evaluation is based on analysis of a single blade simulation and its superposition for the whole rotor. The simulation of working blade was done in MatLab environment. Power spectrum graphs were prepared and compared throughout superposition of individual blades in the Vertical Axis Wind Turbine rotor. The major result of this research is the Vertical Axis Wind Turbine power characteristic. On the basis of the analysis of the power spectra, optimum number of the blades was specified for the analysed rotor. Power spectrum analysis of wind turbine enabled the specification of the optimal number of blades, and can be used regarding investment outlays and power output of the Vertical Axis Wind Turbine.

  8. Towing Tank and Flume Testing of Passively Adaptive Composite Tidal Turbine Blades: Preprint

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Murray, Robynne [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Ordonez-Sanchez, Stephanie [University of Strathclyde; Porter, Kate E. [University of Strathclyde; Johnstone, Cameron M. [University of Strathclyde; Doman, Darrel A. [Dalhousie University; Pegg, Michael J. [Dalhousie University

    2017-09-28

    Composite tidal turbine blades with bend-twist (BT) coupled layups allow the blade to self-adapt to local site conditions by passively twisting. Passive feathering has the potential to increase annual energy production and shed thrust loads and power under extreme tidal flows. Decreased hydrodynamic thrust and power during extreme conditions meann that the turbine support structure, generator, and other components can be sized more appropriately, resulting in a higher utilization factor and increased cost effectiveness. This paper presents new experimental data for a small-scale turbine with BT composite blades. The research team tested the turbine in the Kelvin Hydrodynamics Laboratory towing tank at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, United Kingdom, and in the recirculating current flume at the l Institut Francais de Recherche pour l Exploitation de la Mer Centre in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France. Tests were also performed on rigid aluminum blades with identical geometry, which yielded baseline test sets for comparison. The results from both facilities agreed closely, supporting the hypothesis that increased blade flexibility can induce load reductions. Under the most extreme conditions tested the turbine with BT blades had up to 11 percent lower peak thrust loads and a 15 percent reduction in peak power compared to the turbine with rigid blades. The load reductions varied as a function of turbine rotational velocity and ambient flow velocity.

  9. Design and manufacture of radar absorbing wind turbine blades - final report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2005-02-15

    This report describes the results of a collaborative project between QinetiQ Ltd and NOI (Scotland) Ltd to design and manufacture radar absorbent wind turbine blades. The main objectives were to: use predictive modelling to understand the contribution made by the blade to radar cross section (RCS) of the complete turbine; confirm that the turbine RCS could feasibility be reduced to appropriate levels through the use of radar absorbent material (RAM); and to demonstrate that introduction of stealth technology within current composite sections would allow RAM variants of the blade materials to be manufactured with minimal impact on the structure. The RCS of a turbine was predicted at frequencies at which representative air traffic control (ATC), weather and marine navigation radar systems operate. The material compositions that exist on the blades produced by NOI were studied and methods by which RAM could be introduced to each region were identified. RCS predictions for a blade having RAM over its surface were then repeated. The study showed that it was possible to modify all material regions of the NOI blades to create RAM with little or no degradation in structural properties, thus reducing detection by non-Doppler radar and ATC radars. A full practical demonstration of a stealthy turbine is recommended to allow the benefits of RCS reduction through the use of RAM to be quantified by all stakeholders.

  10. Optimization of Heat Transfer on Thermal Barrier Coated Gas Turbine Blade

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aabid, Abdul; Khan, S. A.

    2018-05-01

    In the field of Aerospace Propulsion technology, material required to resist the maximum temperature. In this paper, using thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) method in gas turbine blade is used to protect hot section component from high-temperature effect to extend the service life and reduce the maintenance costs. The TBCs which include three layers of coating corresponding initial coat is super alloy-INCONEL 718 with 1 mm thickness, bond coat is Nano-structured ceramic-metallic composite-NiCoCrAIY with 0.15 mm thickness and top coat is ceramic composite-La2Ce2O7 with 0.09 mm thickness on the nickel alloy turbine blade which in turn increases the strength, efficiency and life span of the blades. Modeling a gas turbine blade using CATIA software and determining the amount of heat transfer on thermal barrier coated blade using ANSYS software has been performed. Thermal stresses and effects of different TBCs blade base alloys are considered using CATIA and ANSYS.

  11. Bionic Design of Wind Turbine Blade Based on Long-Eared Owl's Airfoil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tian, Weijun; Yang, Zhen; Zhang, Qi; Wang, Jiyue; Li, Ming; Ma, Yi; Cong, Qian

    2017-01-01

    The main purpose of this paper is to demonstrate a bionic design for the airfoil of wind turbines inspired by the morphology of Long-eared Owl's wings. Glauert Model was adopted to design the standard blade and the bionic blade, respectively. Numerical analysis method was utilized to study the aerodynamic characteristics of the airfoils as well as the blades. Results show that the bionic airfoil inspired by the airfoil at the 50% aspect ratio of the Long-eared Owl's wing gives rise to a superior lift coefficient and stalling performance and thus can be beneficial to improving the performance of the wind turbine blade. Also, the efficiency of the bionic blade in wind turbine blades tests increases by 12% or above (up to 44%) compared to that of the standard blade. The reason lies in the bigger pressure difference between the upper and lower surface which can provide stronger lift.

  12. Verification of Thermal Models of Internally Cooled Gas Turbine Blades

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Igor Shevchenko

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Numerical simulation of temperature field of cooled turbine blades is a required element of gas turbine engine design process. The verification is usually performed on the basis of results of test of full-size blade prototype on a gas-dynamic test bench. A method of calorimetric measurement in a molten metal thermostat for verification of a thermal model of cooled blade is proposed in this paper. The method allows obtaining local values of heat flux in each point of blade surface within a single experiment. The error of determination of local heat transfer coefficients using this method does not exceed 8% for blades with radial channels. An important feature of the method is that the heat load remains unchanged during the experiment and the blade outer surface temperature equals zinc melting point. The verification of thermal-hydraulic model of high-pressure turbine blade with cooling allowing asymmetrical heat removal from pressure and suction sides was carried out using the developed method. An analysis of heat transfer coefficients confirmed the high level of heat transfer in the leading edge, whose value is comparable with jet impingement heat transfer. The maximum of the heat transfer coefficients is shifted from the critical point of the leading edge to the pressure side.

  13. Experimental investigation of turbine blade-tip excitation forces

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martinez-Sanchez, Manuel; Jaroux, Belgacem; Song, Seung Jin; Yoo, Soom-Yung; Palczynski, Taras

    1994-01-01

    Results of a program to investigate the magnitude and parametric variations of rotordynamic forces which arise in high power turbines due to blade-tip leakage effects are presented. Five different unshrouded turbine configurations and one configuration shrouded with a labyrinth seal were tested with static offsets of the turbine shaft. The forces along and perpendicular to the offset were measured directly with a rotating dynometer. Exploration of casing pressure and flow velocity distributions was used to investigate the force-generating mechanisms. For unshrouded turbines, the cross-forces originate mainly from the classical Alford mechanisms while the direct forces arise mainly from a slightly skewed pressure pattern. The Alford coefficient for cross-force was found to vary between 2.4 and 4.0, while the similar direct force coefficient varied from 1.5 to 3.5. The cross-forces are found to increase substantially when the gap is reduced from 3.0 to 1.9% of blade height, probably due to viscous blade-tip effects. The forces also increase when the hub gap between stator and rotor decreases. The force coefficient decreased with operating flow coefficient. In the case of the shrouded turbine, most of the forces arise from nonuniform seal pressures. This includes about 80% for the transverse forces. The rest appears to come from uneven work extraction. Their level is about 50% higher in the shrouded case.

  14. Integrated approach for stress based lifing of aero gas turbine blades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abu, Abdullahi Obonyegba

    In order to analyse the turbine blade life, the damage due to the combined thermal and mechanical loads should be adequately accounted for. This is more challenging when detailed component geometry is limited. Therefore, a compromise between the level of geometric detail and the complexity of the lifing method to be implemented would be necessary. This research focuses on how the life assessment of aero engine turbine blades can be done, considering the balance between available design inputs and adequate level of fidelity. Accordingly, the thesis contributes to developing a generic turbine blade lifing method that is based on the engine thermodynamic cycle; as well as integrating critical design/technological factors and operational parameters that influence the aero engine blade life. To this end, thermo-mechanical fatigue was identified as the critical damage phenomenon driving the life of the turbine blade.. The developed approach integrates software tools and numerical models created using the minimum design information typically available at the early design stages. Using finite element analysis of an idealised blade geometry, the approach captures relevant impacts of thermal gradients and thermal stresses that contribute to the thermo-mechanical fatigue damage on the gas turbine blade. The blade life is evaluated using the Neu/Sehitoglu thermo-mechanical fatigue model that considers damage accumulation due to fatigue, oxidation, and creep. The leading edge is examined as a critical part of the blade to estimate the damage severity for different design factors and operational parameters. The outputs of the research can be used to better understand how the environment and the operating conditions of the aircraft affect the blade life consumption and therefore what is the impact on the maintenance cost and the availability of the propulsion system. This research also finds that the environmental (oxidation) effect drives the blade life and the blade coolant

  15. Fundamentals for remote structural health monitoring of wind turbine blades - a preproject. Annex A. Cost-benefit for embedded sensors in large wind turbine blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, L.G.; Lading, Lars

    2002-01-01

    -bladed 2MW turbine placed offshore either without sensors or with sensors are compared. The price of a structural health monitoring system of a price of 100 000 DKK (per tur-bine) results in a break-eventime of about 3 years. For a price of 300 000 DKK the break-even time is about 8 years. However......This report contains the results of a cost-benefit analysis for the use of embed-ded sensors for damage detection in large wind turbine blades - structural health monitoring - (in connection with remote surveillance) of large wind turbine placedoff-shore. The total operating costs of a three......, the cost/benefit analysis has large uncertainties....

  16. Moving blade for steam turbines with axial flow

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Raschke, K.; Wehle, G.

    1976-01-01

    The invention concerns the improvement of the production of moving blades for steam turbines with axial flow, especially of multi-blades produced by welding of the top plates. It is proposed to weld the top plates before the moving blades are fitted into the rotor. Welding is this made much easier and can be carried out under protective gas and with better results. (UWI) [de

  17. Active Tuned Mass Dampers for Control of In-Plane Vibrations of Wind Turbine Blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fitzgerald, B.; Basu, Biswajit; Nielsen, Søren R.K.

    2013-01-01

    matrices. The aim of this paper is to determine whether ATMDs could be used to reduce in-plane blade vibrations in wind turbines with better performance than compared with their passive counterparts. A Euler–Lagrangian wind turbine mathematical model based on energy formulation was developed......, centrifugal, and turbulent aerodynamic loadings. Investigations show promising results for the use of ATMDs in the vibration control of wind turbine blades.......This paper investigates the use of active tuned mass dampers (ATMDs) for the mitigation of in-plane vibrations in rotating wind turbine blades. The rotating wind turbine blades with tower interaction represent time-varying dynamical systems with periodically varying mass, stiffness, and damping...

  18. Investigation of Structural Behavior due to Bend-Twist Couplings in Wind Turbine Blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fedorov, Vladimir; Dimitrov, Nikolay Krasimirov; Berggreen, Christian

    2010-01-01

    for predicting the torsional response of the wind turbine blades with built-in bend-twist couplings. Additionally, a number of improved full-scale tests using an advanced bi-axial servo-hydraulic load control have been performed on a wind turbine blade section provided by Vestas Wind Systems A/S. In the present......One of the problematic issues concerning the design of future large composite wind turbine blades is the prediction of bend-twist couplings and torsion behaviour. The current work is a continuation of a previous work [1,2], and it examines different finite element modelling approaches...... of the blade cross section as the defining surface, off-setting the location of the shell elements according to the specified thickness. The experimental full-scale tests were carried out on an 8 m section of a 23 m wind turbine blade with specially implemented bend-twist coupling. The blade was tested under...

  19. Multidisciplinary design optimization of film-cooled gas turbine blades

    OpenAIRE

    Shashishekara S. Talya; J. N. Rajadas; A. Chattopadhyay

    1999-01-01

    Design optimization of a gas turbine blade geometry for effective film cooling toreduce the blade temperature has been done using a multiobjective optimization formulation. Three optimization formulations have been used. In the first, the average blade temperature is chosen as the objective function to be minimized. An upper bound constraint has been imposed on the maximum blade temperature. In the second, the maximum blade temperature is chosen as the objective function to be minimized with ...

  20. Structural health monitoring of wind turbine blades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rumsey, Mark A.; Paquette, Joshua A.

    2008-03-01

    As electric utility wind turbines increase in size, and correspondingly, increase in initial capital investment cost, there is an increasing need to monitor the health of the structure. Acquiring an early indication of structural or mechanical problems allows operators to better plan for maintenance, possibly operate the machine in a de-rated condition rather than taking the unit off-line, or in the case of an emergency, shut the machine down to avoid further damage. This paper describes several promising structural health monitoring (SHM) techniques that were recently exercised during a fatigue test of a 9 meter glass-epoxy and carbon-epoxy wind turbine blade. The SHM systems were implemented by teams from NASA Kennedy Space Center, Purdue University and Virginia Tech. A commercial off-the-shelf acoustic emission (AE) NDT system gathered blade AE data throughout the test. At a fatigue load cycle rate around 1.2 Hertz, and after more than 4,000,000 fatigue cycles, the blade was diagnostically and visibly failing at the out-board blade spar-cap termination point at 4.5 meters. For safety reasons, the test was stopped just before the blade completely failed. This paper provides an overview of the SHM and NDT system setups and some current test results.

  1. An Innovative Approach To Making Ultra Light Weight Wind Turbine Blades

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suhail Zaki Farooqui

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available An innovative mould free method for the fabrication of ultimate light weight small wind turbine blades made out of composites has been suggested in this paper. The method has been practically applied with very satisfactory results. The method is low cost and is specifically suitable for individual small wind turbine makers. The airfoils used are simple to shape and possess good Cl/Cd characteristics. The blades are crafted using galvanized iron sheets, aluminum pipes, hard paper and fiberglass. A computer program is included with tip correction features to design the blades at the required power rating, wind speed, tip speed ratio and the chosen constant angle of attack. Results of the program run for designing 250 and 500 watt wind turbine blades at 8 m/s wind speed and tip speed ratios of 5.5 are tabulated. Performance results of the blades thus produced are also discussed.

  2. A practical approach to fracture analysis at the trailing edge of wind turbine rotor blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eder, Martin Alexander; Bitsche, Robert; Nielsen, Magda

    2014-01-01

    Wind turbine rotor blades are commonly manufactured from composite materials by a moulding process. Typically, the wind turbine blade is produced in two halves, which are eventually adhesively joined along their edges. Investigations of operating wind turbine blades show that debonding...

  3. Flow separation on wind turbines blades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corten, G. P.

    2001-01-01

    In the year 2000, 15GW of wind power was installed throughout the world, producing 100PJ of energy annually. This contributes to the total electricity demand by only 0.2%. Both the installed power and the generated energy are increasing by 30% per year world-wide. If the airflow over wind turbine blades could be controlled fully, the generation efficiency and thus the energy production would increase by 9%. Power Control To avoid damage to wind turbines, they are cut out above 10 Beaufort (25 m/s) on the wind speed scale. A turbine could be designed in such a way that it converts as much power as possible in all wind speeds, but then it would have to be to heavy. The high costs of such a design would not be compensated by the extra production in high winds, since such winds are rare. Therefore turbines usually reach maximum power at a much lower wind speed: the rated wind speed, which occurs at about 6 Beaufort (12.5 m/s). Above this rated speed, the power intake is kept constant by a control mechanism. Two different mechanisms are commonly used. Active pitch control, where the blades pitch to vane if the turbine maximum is exceeded or, passive stall control, where the power control is an implicit property of the rotor. Stall Control The flow over airfoils is called "attached" when it flows over the surface from the leading edge to the trailing edge. However, when the angle of attack of the flow exceeds a certain critical angle, the flow does not reach the trailing edge, but leaves the surface at the separation line. Beyond this line the flow direction is reversed, i.e. it flows from the trailing edge backward to the separation line. A blade section extracts much less energy from the flow when it separates. This property is used for stall control. Stall controlled rotors always operate at a constant rotation speed. The angle of attack of the flow incident to the blades is determined by the blade speed and the wind speed. Since the latter is variable, it determines

  4. Evaluation of feasibility of prestressed concrete for use in wind turbine blades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leiblein, S.; Londahl, D. S.; Furlong, D. B.; Dreier, M. E.

    1979-01-01

    A preliminary evaluation of the feasibility of the use of prestressed concrete as a material for low cost blades for wind turbines was conducted. A baseline blade design was achieved for an experimental wind turbine that met aerodynamic and structural requirements. Significant cost reductions were indicated for volume production. Casting of a model blade section showed no fabrication problems. Coupled dynamic analysis revealed that adverse rotor tower interactions can be significant with heavy rotor blades.

  5. Effect of number of blades on aerodynamic forces on a straight-bladed Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Qing'an; Maeda, Takao; Kamada, Yasunari; Murata, Junsuke; Furukawa, Kazuma; Yamamoto, Masayuki

    2015-01-01

    Small wind turbine performance and safety standard for straight-bladed Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) have not been developed in the world because of the lack of fundament experimental data. This paper focuses on the evaluation of aerodynamic forces depending on several numbers of blades in wind tunnel experiment. In the present study, the test airfoil of blade is symmetry airfoil of NACA 0021 and the number of blades is from two to five. Pressure acting on the surface of rotor blade is measured during rotation by multiport pressure devices and transmitted to a stationary system through wireless LAN. And then, the aerodynamic forces (tangential force, normal force et al.) are discussed as a function of azimuth angle, achieving a quantitative analysis of the effect of numbers of blades. Finally, the loads are compared with the experimental data of six-component balance. As a result, it is clarified that the power coefficient decreases with the increase of numbers of blades. Furthermore, the power which is absorbed from wind by wind turbine mainly depends on upstream region of azimuth angle of θ = 0°∼180°. In this way, these results are very important for developing the simple design equations and applications for straight-bladed VAWT. - Highlights: • Aerodynamic forces are measured by not only torque meter but also six-component balance. • The pressure distribution on the surface of rotor blade is directly measured by multiport pressure devices. • The power coefficient decreases with the increase of numbers of blades. • The fluctuation amplitudes from six-component balance show larger value than the results of pressure distribution.

  6. An Experimental Analysis of the Effect of Icing on Wind Turbine Rotor Blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Raja, Muhammad Imran; Hussain, Dil muhammed Akbar; Soltani, Mohsen

    2016-01-01

    Wind Turbine is highly nonlinear plant whose dynamics changes with change in aerodynamics of the rotor blade. Power extracted from the wind turbine is a function of coefficient of power (Cp). Wind turbine installed in the cold climate areas has an icing on its rotor blade which might change its...... aerodynamics. This paper is an experimental investigation of the aerodynamic changes occur due to effect of ice accumulated on the rotor blades of wind turbine. We have tested three small scale model of the NREL's 5MW rotor blade with same profile but simulated different icing effect on them. These models...... are printed with 3D printer and tested one by one in a Wind Tunnel. Lift, drag and moment coefficients are calculated from the measured experimental data and program WT-Perf based on blade-element momentum (BEM) theory is used to predict the performance of wind turbine. Cp curves generated from the test...

  7. Online monitoring of dynamic tip clearance of turbine blades in high temperature environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Yu; Zhong, Chong; Zhu, Xiaoliang; Zhe, Jiang

    2018-04-01

    Minimized tip clearance reduces the gas leakage over turbine blade tips and improves the thrust and efficiency of turbomachinery. An accurate tip clearance sensor, measuring the dynamic clearances between blade tips and the turbine case, is a critical component for tip clearance control. This paper presents a robust inductive tip clearance sensor capable of monitoring dynamic tip clearances of turbine machines in high-temperature environments and at high rotational speeds. The sensor can also self-sense the temperature at a blade tip in situ such that temperature effect on tip clearance measurement can be estimated and compensated. To evaluate the sensor’s performance, the sensor was tested for measuring the tip clearances of turbine blades under various working temperatures ranging from 700 K to 1300 K and at turbine rotational speeds ranging from 3000 to 10 000 rpm. The blade tip clearance was varied from 50 to 2000 µm. The experiment results proved that the sensor can accurately measure the blade tip clearances with a temporal resolution of 10 µm. The capability of accurately measuring the tip clearances at high temperatures (~1300 K) and high turbine rotation speeds (~30 000 rpm), along with its compact size, makes it promising for online monitoring and active control of blade tip clearances of high-temperature turbomachinery.

  8. Methods of Enhancing the Operating Characteristics of Gas-Turbine Blades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ospennikova, O. G.; Visik, E. M.; Gerasimov, V. V.; Kolyadov, E. V.

    2017-12-01

    This paper considers the main tendencies of development and ways of introduction of new technological solutions and alloys in the production of industrial gas-turbine unit (GTU) blades and presents a review of modern corrosion-resistant alloys, casting units for high-gradient directional solidification, and the techniques providing the preparation of a single-crystal structure in the blades of stationary turbine plants.

  9. Manufacturing a 9-Meter Thermoplastic Composite Wind Turbine Blade: Preprint

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Murray, Robynne [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Snowberg, David R [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Berry, Derek S [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Beach, Ryan [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Rooney, Samantha A [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Swan, Dana [Arkema Inc.

    2017-12-06

    Currently, wind turbine blades are manufactured from a combination of glass and/or carbon fiber composite materials with a thermoset resin such as epoxy, which requires energy-intensive and expensive heating processes to cure. Newly developed in-situ polymerizing thermoplastic resin systems for composite wind turbine blades polymerize at room temperature, eliminating the heating process and significantly reducing the blade manufacturing cycle time and embodied energy, which in turn reduces costs. Thermoplastic materials can also be thermally welded, eliminating the need for adhesive bonds between blade components and increasing the overall strength and reliability of the blades. As well, thermoplastic materials enable end-of-life blade recycling by reheating and decomposing the materials, which is a limitation of existing blade technology. This paper presents a manufacturing demonstration for a 9-m-long thermoplastic composite wind turbine blade. This blade was constructed in the Composites Manufacturing Education and Technology facility at the National Wind Technology Center at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) using a vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding process. Johns Manville fiberglass and an Arkema thermoplastic resin called Elium were used. Additional materials included Armacell-recycled polyethylene terephthalate foam from Creative Foam and low-cost carbon- fiber pultruded spar caps (manufactured in collaboration with NREL, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Huntsman, Strongwell, and Chomarat). This paper highlights the development of the thermoplastic resin formulations, including an additive designed to control the peak exothermic temperatures. Infusion and cure times of less than 3 hours are also demonstrated, highlighting the efficiency and energy savings associated with manufacturing thermoplastic composite blades.

  10. Blade number impact on pressure and performance of archimedes screw turbine using CFD

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maulana, Muhammad Ilham; Syuhada, Ahmad; Nawawi, Muhammad

    2018-02-01

    Many rivers in Indonesia can be used as source of mini/micro hydro power plant using low head turbine. The most suitable type of turbine used in fluid flow with low head is the Archimedes screw turbine. The Archimedes screw hydro turbine is a relative newcomer to the small-scale hydropower that can work efficiently on heads as low as 10 meter. In this study, the performance of Archimedes water turbines that has different blade numbers that are thoroughly evaluated to obtain proper blade configuration. For this purpose, numerical simulations are used to predict the pressure changes that occur along the turbine. The simulation results show that turbines with an amount of two blades have more sloping pressure distribution so that it has better stability.

  11. Determination of Remaining Useful Life of Gas Turbine Blade

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Meor Said Mior Azman

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this research is to determine the remaining useful life of gas turbine blade, using service-exposed turbine blades. This task is performed using Stress Rupture Test (SRT under accelerated test conditions where the applied stresses to the specimen is between 400 MPa to 600 MPa and the test temperature is 850°C. The study will focus on the creep behaviour of the 52000 hours service-exposed blades, complemented with creep-rupture modelling using JMatPro software and microstructure examination using optical microscope. The test specimens, made up of Ni-based superalloy of the first stage turbine blades, are machined based on International Standard (ISO 24. The results from the SRT will be analyzed using these two main equations – Larson-Miller Parameter and Life Fraction Rule. Based on the results of the remaining useful life analysis, the 52000h service-exposed blade has the condition to operate in the range of another 4751 hr to 18362 hr. The microstructure examinations shows traces of carbide precipitation that deteriorate the grain boundaries that occurs during creep process. Creep-rupture life modelling using JMatPro software has shown good agreement with the accelerated creep rupture test with minimal error.

  12. H-Darrieus Wind Turbine with Blade Pitch Control

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I. Paraschivoiu

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available A procedure for computing the optimal variation of the blades' pitch angle of an H-Darrieus wind turbine that maximizes its torque at given operational conditions is proposed and presented along with the results obtained on a 7 kW prototype. The CARDAAV code, based on the “Double-Multiple Streamtube” model developed by the first author, is used to determine the performances of the straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine. This was coupled with a genetic algorithm optimizer. The azimuthal variation of the blades' pitch angle is modeled with an analytical function whose coefficients are used as variables in the optimization process. Two types of variations were considered for the pitch angle: a simple sinusoidal one and one which is more general, relating closely the blades' pitch to the local flow conditions along their circular path. A gain of almost 30% in the annual energy production was obtained with the polynomial optimal pitch control.

  13. Analysis of Pressure Fluctuations in a Prototype Pump-Turbine with Different Numbers of Runner Blades in Turbine Mode

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Deyou Li

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available In pump-turbines, high pressure fluctuation is one of the crucial instabilities, which is harmful to the stable and effective operation of the entire unit. Extensive studies have been carried out to investigate pressure fluctuations (amplitude and frequency at specific locations. However, limited research was conducted on the distribution of pressure fluctuations in turbine mode in a pump-turbine, as well as the influence of the number of runner blades on pressure fluctuations. Hence, in this study, three dimensional numerical simulations were performed to predict the distribution of pressure fluctuations with different numbers of runner blades in a prototype pump-turbine in turbine mode using the shear stress transport (SST k-ω turbulence model. Three operating points with the same hydraulic head and different mass flow rates were simulated. The distribution of pressure fluctuation components of blade passing frequency and its harmonics in the direction along the whole flow path, as well as along the circumferential direction, was presented. The mass flow rate and number of runner blades have great influence on the distribution of pressure fluctuations, especially at blade passing frequency along circumferential direction. The mass flow rate mainly affects the position of peak pressure fluctuations, while the number of runner blades mainly changes the number of peak pressure fluctuations. Additionally, the number of runner blades influences the dominant frequencies of pressure fluctuations especially in the spiral casing and draft tube.

  14. Effect of the number of blades and solidity on the performance of a vertical axis wind turbine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delafin, PL; Nishino, T.; Wang, L.; Kolios, A.

    2016-09-01

    Two, three and four bladed ϕ-shape Vertical Axis Wind Turbines are simulated using a free-wake vortex model. Two versions of the three and four bladed turbines are considered, one having the same chord length as the two-bladed turbine and the other having the same solidity as the two-bladed turbine. Results of the two-bladed turbine are validated against published experimental data of power coefficient and instantaneous torque. The effect of solidity on the power coefficient is presented and the instantaneous torque, thrust and lateral force of the two-, three- and four-bladed turbines are compared for the same solidity. It is found that increasing the number of blades from two to three significantly reduces the torque, thrust and lateral force ripples. Adding a fourth blade further reduces the ripples except for the torque at low tip speed ratio. This work aims to help choosing the number of blades during the design phase of a vertical axis wind turbine.

  15. Wind turbine blade shear web disbond detection using rotor blade operational sensing and data analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Myrent, Noah; Adams, Douglas E; Griffith, D Todd

    2015-02-28

    A wind turbine blade's structural dynamic response is simulated and analysed with the goal of characterizing the presence and severity of a shear web disbond. Computer models of a 5 MW offshore utility-scale wind turbine were created to develop effective algorithms for detecting such damage. Through data analysis and with the use of blade measurements, a shear web disbond was quantified according to its length. An aerodynamic sensitivity study was conducted to ensure robustness of the detection algorithms. In all analyses, the blade's flap-wise acceleration and root-pitching moment were the clearest indicators of the presence and severity of a shear web disbond. A combination of blade and non-blade measurements was formulated into a final algorithm for the detection and quantification of the disbond. The probability of detection was 100% for the optimized wind speed ranges in laminar, 30% horizontal shear and 60% horizontal shear conditions. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

  16. Research on automatic inspection technique of real-time radiography for turbine-blade

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhou, Z.G.; Zhao, S.; An, Z.G.

    2004-01-01

    To inspect turbine blade automatically, with a real-time radiographic system based on X-ray flat panel detector, computerized defect extraction technique is studied on the basis of characteristics of turbine blade's digital radiographic images. At first, in the light of a variety of gray-level in a turbine blade's digital radiographic image, it is divided into six subareas. An adaptive median filter is used to smooth defects in each subarea. Then, the filtrated image is subtracted from the raw image and a difference image with flat background and outstanding defects is obtained. After that, thresholding is applied to the difference image and defects in the turbine blade become obvious. Later on, a morphological opening is used to realize noise reduction. In order to ensure the accuracy of defects, a region growing method is adopted to reconstruct the defects. Finally, the feature data of defects are extracted. The comparison between computerized feature extraction results and human interpretation results indicates that the method mentioned above is effective and efficient, which will lay a good foundation for automatic inspection of turbine-blade with X-ray. (author)

  17. Experimental investigation on performance of crossflow wind turbine as effect of blades number

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurniawati, Diniar Mungil; Tjahjana, Dominicus Danardono Dwi Prija; Santoso, Budi

    2018-02-01

    Urban living is one of the areas with large electrical power consumption that requires a power supply that is more than rural areas. The number of multi-storey buildings such as offices, hotels and several other buildings that caused electricity power consumption in urban living is very high. Therefore, energy alternative is needed to replace the electricity power consumption from government. One of the utilization of renewable energy in accordance with these conditions is the installation of wind turbines. One type of wind turbine that is now widely studied is a crossflow wind turbines. Crossflow wind turbine is one of vertical axis wind turbine which has good self starting at low wind speed condition. Therefore, the turbine design parameter is necessary to know in order to improve turbine performance. One of wind turbine performance parameter is blades number. The main purpose of this research to investigate the effect of blades number on crossflow wind turbine performance. The design of turbine was 0.4 × 0.4 m2 tested by experimental method with configuration on three kinds of blades number were 8,16 and 20. The turbine investigated at low wind speed on 2 - 5 m/s. The result showed that best performance on 16 blade number.

  18. Structural dynamic analysis of turbine blade

    Science.gov (United States)

    Antony, A. Daniel; Gopalsamy, M.; Viswanadh, Chaparala B. V.; Krishnaraj, R.

    2017-10-01

    In any gas turbine design cycle, blade design is a crucial element which needs maximum attention to meet the aerodynamic performance, structural safety margins, manufacturing feasibility, material availability etc. In present day gas turbine engines, most of the failures occur during engine development test and in-service, in rotor and stator blades due to fatigue and resonance failures. To address this issue, an extensive structural dynamic analysis is carried out to predict the natural frequencies and mode shapes using FE methods. Using the dynamics characteristics, the Campbell diagram is constructed to study the possibility of resonance at various operating speeds. In this work, the feasibility of using composite material in place of titanium alloy from the structural dynamics point of view. This is being attempted in a Low-pressure compressor where the temperatures are relatively low and fixed with the casings. The analysis will be carried out using FE method for different composite material with different lamina orientations chosen through the survey. This study will focus on the sensitivity of blade mode shapes to different laminae orientations, which will be used to alter the natural frequency and tailor the mode shapes. Campbell diagrams of existing titanium alloy are compared with the composite materials with different laminae at all critical operating conditions. The existing manufacturing methods and the proven techniques for blade profiles will also be discussed in this report.

  19. Videometric research on deformation measurement of large-scale wind turbine blades

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2011-01-01

    Utilization of wind energy is a promising way to generate power,and wind turbine blades play a key role in collecting the wind energy effectively.This paper attempts to measure the deformation parameter of wind turbine blades in mechanics experiments using a videometric method. In view that the blades experience small buckling deformation and large integral deformation simultaneously, we proposed a parallel network measurement(PNM) method including the key techniques such as camera network construction,c...

  20. Lightning transient analysis in wind turbine blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Candela Garolera, Anna; Holbøll, Joachim; Madsen, Søren Find

    2013-01-01

    The transient behavior of lightning surges in the lightning protection system of wind turbine blades has been investigated in this paper. The study is based on PSCAD models consisting of electric equivalent circuits with lumped and distributed parameters involving different lightning current...... waveforms. The aim of the PSCAD simulations is to study the voltages induced by the lightning current in the blade that may cause internal arcing. With this purpose, the phenomenon of current reflections in the lightning down conductor of the blade and the electromagnetic coupling between the down conductor...... and other internal conductive elements of the blade is studied. Finally, several methods to prevent internal arcing are discussed in order to improve the lightning protection of the blade....

  1. Vibrational analysis of vertical axis wind turbine blades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kapucu, Onur

    The goal of this research is to derive a vibration model for a vertical axis wind turbine blade. This model accommodates the affects of varying relative flow angle caused by rotating the blade in the flow field, uses a simple aerodynamic model that assumes constant wind speed and constant rotation rate, and neglects the disturbance of wind due to upstream blade or post. The blade is modeled as elastic Euler-Bernoulli beam under transverse bending and twist deflections. Kinetic and potential energy equations for a rotating blade under deflections are obtained, expressed in terms of assumed modal coordinates and then plugged into Lagrangian equations where the non-conservative forces are the lift and drag forces and moments. An aeroelastic model for lift and drag forces, approximated with third degree polynomials, on the blade are obtained assuming an airfoil under variable angle of attack and airflow magnitudes. A simplified quasi-static airfoil theory is used, in which the lift and drag coefficients are not dependent on the history of the changing angle of attack. Linear terms on the resulting equations of motion will be used to conduct a numerical analysis and simulation, where numeric specifications are modified from the Sandia-17m Darrieus wind turbine by Sandia Laboratories.

  2. Ice accretion modeling for wind turbine rotor blades

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chocron, D.; Brahimi, T.; Paraschivoiu, I.; Bombardier, J.A. [Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal (Canada)

    1997-12-31

    The increasing application of wind energy in northern climates implies operation of wind turbines under severe atmospheric icing conditions. Such conditions are well known in the Scandinavian countries, Canada and most of Eastern European countries. An extensive study to develop a procedure for the prediction of ice accretion on wind turbines rotor blades appears to be essential for the safe and economic operation of wind turbines in these cold regions. The objective of the present paper is to develop a computer code capable of simulating the shape and amount of ice which may accumulate on horizontal axis wind turbine blades when operating in icing conditions. The resulting code is capable to predict and simulate the formation of ice in rime and glaze conditions, calculate the flow field and particle trajectories and to perform thermodynamic analysis. It also gives the possibility of studying the effect of different parameters that influence ice formation such as temperature, liquid water content, droplet diameter and accretion time. The analysis has been conducted on different typical airfoils as well as on NASA/DOE Mod-0 wind turbine. Results showed that ice accretion on wind turbines may reduce the power output by more than 20%.

  3. Coupling analysis of wind turbine blades based on aeroelastics and aerodynsmics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wang, Xudong; Chen, Jin; Zhang, Shigiang

    2010-01-01

    The structural dynamic equations of blades were constructed for blades of wind turbines. The vibration velocity of blades and the relative flow velocity were calculated using the structural dynamics model. Based on the BEM (Blade Element Momentum) theory and traditional areodynamics, the coupling...

  4. Calibration procedures for improved accuracy of wind turbine blade load measurement

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dahlberg, J.Aa. [Aeronautical Research Inst. of Sweden, Bromma (Sweden); Johansson, Hjalmar [Teknikgruppen AB, Sollentuna (Sweden)

    1996-12-01

    External loads acting on wind turbine blades are mainly transferred via the hub to the rest of the structure. It is therefore a normal approach to measure the loads acting on the turbine by load measurements in the blade roots. The load measurement is often accomplished by measurements of strain on the surface of the blade or the hub. The strain signals are converted to loads by applying calibration factors to the measurements. This paper deals with difficulties associated with load measurements on two different wind turbines; one with strain gauges applied to a steel hub where a linear stress-load relationship is expected and the other with strain gauges applied to the GFRP blade close to the bearings where strong non-linearity`s and temperature effects are expected. This paper suggests calibration methods to overcome these problems. 2 refs, 11 figs

  5. Multi-spectral pyrometer for gas turbine blade temperature measurement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Shan; Wang, Lixin; Feng, Chi

    2014-09-01

    To achieve the highest possible turbine inlet temperature requires to accurately measuring the turbine blade temperature. If the temperature of blade frequent beyond the design limits, it will seriously reduce the service life. The problem for the accuracy of the temperature measurement includes the value of the target surface emissivity is unknown and the emissivity model is variability and the thermal radiation of the high temperature environment. In this paper, the multi-spectral pyrometer is designed provided mainly for range 500-1000°, and present a model corrected in terms of the error due to the reflected radiation only base on the turbine geometry and the physical properties of the material. Under different working conditions, the method can reduce the measurement error from the reflect radiation of vanes, make measurement closer to the actual temperature of the blade and calculating the corresponding model through genetic algorithm. The experiment shows that this method has higher accuracy measurements.

  6. Application of additive laser technologies in the gas turbine blades design process

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shevchenko, I. V.; Rogalev, A. N.; Osipov, S. K.; Bychkov, N. M.; Komarov, I. I.

    2017-11-01

    An emergence of modern innovative technologies requires delivering new and modernization existing design and production processes. It is especially relevant for designing the high-temperature turbines of gas turbine engines, development of which is characterized by a transition to higher parameters of working medium in order to improve their efficient performance. A design technique for gas turbine blades based on predictive verification of thermal and hydraulic models of their cooling systems by testing of a blade prototype fabricated using the selective laser melting technology was presented in this article. Technique was proven at the time of development of the first stage blade cooling system for the high-pressure turbine. An experimental procedure for verification of a thermal model of the blades with convective cooling systems based on the comparison of heat-flux density obtained from the numerical simulation data and results of tests in a liquid-metal thermostat was developed. The techniques makes it possible to obtain an experimentally tested blade version and to exclude its experimental adjustment after the start of mass production.

  7. Laser shock peening of steam turbine blade for enhanced service life

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    2014-02-13

    Feb 13, 2014 ... Fretting-fatigue is an important factor influencing service life of turbine blades. The present paper describes laser shock peening of potential crack nucleation site in the root region of steam turbine blade for its enhanced service life. The experimental study, performed with an in-house developed 2.5 J/7 ns ...

  8. Accuracy of an efficient framework for structural analysis of wind turbine blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Blasques, José Pedro Albergaria Amaral; Bitsche, Robert D.; Fedorov, Vladimir

    2016-01-01

    -section analysis tool is able to capture the effects stemming from material anisotropy and inhomogeneity for sections of arbitrary geometry. The proposed framework is very efficient and therefore ideally suited for integration within wind turbine aeroelastic design and analysis tools. A number of benchmark......This paper presents a novel framework for the structural design and analysis of wind turbine blades and establishes its accuracy. The framework is based on a beam model composed of two parts—a 2D finite element-based cross-section analysis tool and a 3D beam finite element model. The cross...... examples are presented comparing the results from the proposed beam model to 3D shell and solid finite element models. The examples considered include a square prismatic beam, an entire wind turbine rotor blade and a detailed wind turbine blade cross section. Phenomena at both the blade length scale...

  9. Influence of coating quality on the service life of land-based gas turbine blades

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cheruvu, N.S. [Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio (United States)

    2007-06-15

    The land-based gas turbine blades operate at severe operating conditions: higher metal temperatures and stresses, and severe duty cycles. Metallic coatings with or without a top ceramic coating have been used to protect the turbine blades. The durability of the coating system is one of the prime life-limiting factors of modem gas turbine blades. The quality of the coating plays a critical role on the coating life. This paper discusses the failure mechanisms of the coatings and describes how the quality of the coating affects the service life of a gas turbine blade. A few case studies are presented in the paper. (orig.)

  10. Aerodynamic optimization of the blades of diffuser-augmented wind turbines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vaz, Jerson R.P.; Wood, David H.

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • An optimization procedure to design shrouded wind turbine blades is proposed. • The procedure relies on the diffuser speed-up ratio. • The diffuser speed-up ratio increases the velocity at the rotor plane. • Chord and twist angle are optimized for typical speed-up ratios. • The procedure is applicable for any tip-speed ratio greater than 1. - Abstract: Adding an exit diffuser is known to allow wind turbines to exceed the classical Betz–Joukowsky limit for a bare turbine. It is not clear, however, if there is a limit for diffuser-augmented turbines or whether the structural and other costs of the diffuser outweigh any gain in power. This work presents a new approach to the aerodynamic optimization of a wind turbine with a diffuser. It is based on an extension of the well-known Blade Element Theory and a simple model for diffuser efficiency. It is assumed that the same conditions for the axial velocity in the wake of an ordinary wind turbine can be applied on the flow far downwind of the diffuser outlet. An algorithm to optimize the blade chord and twist angle distributions in the presence of a diffuser was developed and implemented. As a result, an aerodynamic improvement of the turbine rotor geometry was achieved with the blade shape sensitive to the diffuser speed-up ratio. In order to evaluate the proposed approach, a comparison with the classical Glauert optimization was performed for a flanged diffuser, which increased the efficiency. In addition, a comparative assessment was made with experimental results available in the literature, suggesting better performance for the rotor designed with the proposed optimization procedure.

  11. Bioinspired turbine blades offer new perspectives for wind energy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cognet, V.; Courrech du Pont, S.; Dobrev, I.; Massouh, F.; Thiria, B.

    2017-02-01

    Wind energy is becoming a significant alternative solution for future energy production. Modern turbines now benefit from engineering expertise, and a large variety of different models exists, depending on the context and needs. However, classical wind turbines are designed to operate within a narrow zone centred around their optimal working point. This limitation prevents the use of sites with variable wind to harvest energy, involving significant energetic and economic losses. Here, we present a new type of bioinspired wind turbine using elastic blades, which passively deform through the air loading and centrifugal effects. This work is inspired from recent studies on insect flight and plant reconfiguration, which show the ability of elastic wings or leaves to adapt to the wind conditions and thereby to optimize performance. We show that in the context of energy production, the reconfiguration of the elastic blades significantly extends the range of operating regimes using only passive, non-consuming mechanisms. The versatility of the new turbine model leads to a large increase of the converted energy rate, up to 35%. The fluid/elasticity mechanisms involved for the reconfiguration capability of the new blades are analysed in detail, using experimental observations and modelling.

  12. Optimization model for rotor blades of horizontal axis wind turbines

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    LIU Xiong; CHEN Yan; YE Zhiquan

    2007-01-01

    This paper presents an optimization model for rotor blades of horizontal axis wind turbines. The model refers to the wind speed distribution function on the specific wind site, with an objective to satisfy the maximum annual energy output. To speed up the search process and guarantee a global optimal result, the extended compact genetic algorithm (ECGA) is used to carry out the search process.Compared with the simple genetic algorithm, ECGA runs much faster and can get more accurate results with a much smaller population size and fewer function evaluations. Using the developed optimization program, blades of a 1.3 MW stall-regulated wind turbine are designed. Compared with the existing blades, the designed blades have obviously better aerodynamic performance.

  13. Wavelet Transformation for Damage Identication in Wind Turbine Blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ulriksen, Martin Dalgaard; Skov, Jonas falk; Kirkegaard, Poul Henning

    2014-01-01

    The present paper documents a proposed modal and wavelet analysis-based structural health monitoring (SHM) method for damage identification in wind turbine blades. A finite element (FE) model of a full-scale wind turbine blade is developed and introduced to a transverse surface crack. Hereby, post......-damage mode shapes are derived through modal analysis and subsequently analyzed with continuous two-dimensional wavelet transformation for damage identification, namely detection, localization and assessment. It is found that valid damage identification is obtained even when utilizing the mode shape...

  14. Damage tolerance and structural monitoring for wind turbine blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    McGugan, Malcolm; Pereira, Gilmar Ferreira; Sørensen, Bent F.

    2015-01-01

    The paper proposes a methodology for reliable design and maintenance of wind turbine rotor blades using a condition monitoring approach and a damage tolerance index coupling the material and structure. By improving the understanding of material properties that control damage propagation it will b......The paper proposes a methodology for reliable design and maintenance of wind turbine rotor blades using a condition monitoring approach and a damage tolerance index coupling the material and structure. By improving the understanding of material properties that control damage propagation...

  15. A New Method for Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT Blade Optimization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammadreza Mohammadi

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Iran has a great potential for wind energy. This paper introduces optimization of 7 wind turbine blades for small and medium scales in a determined wind condition of Zabol site, Iran, where the average wind speed is considered 7 m /s. Considered wind turbines are 3 bladed and radius of 7 case study turbine blades are 4.5 m, 6.5 m, 8 m, 9 m, 10 m, 15.5 m and 20 m. As the first step, an initial design is performed using one airfoil (NACA 63-215 across the blade. In the next step, every blade is divided into three sections, while the 20 % of first part of the blade is considered as root, the 5% of last the part is considered as tip and the rest of the blade as mid part. Providing necessary input data, suitable airfoils for wind turbines including 43 airfoils are extracted and their experimental data are entered in optimization process. Three variables in this optimization problem would be airfoil type, attack angle and chord, where the objective function is maximum output torque. A MATLAB code was written for design and optimization of the blade, which was validated with a previous experimental work. In addition, a comparison was made to show the effect of optimization with two variables (airfoil type and attack angle versus optimization with three variables (airfoil type, attack angle and chord on output torque increase. Results of this research shows a dramatic increase in comparison to initial designed blade with one airfoil where two variable optimization causes 7.7% to 22.27 % enhancement and three variable optimization causes 17.91% up to 24.48% rise in output torque .Article History: Received Oct 15, 2015; Received in revised form January 2, 2016; Accepted January 14, 2016; Available online How to Cite This Article: Mohammadi, M., Mohammadi, A. and Farahat, S. (2016 A New Method for Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT Blade Optimization. Int. Journal of Renewable Energy Development, 5(1,1-8. http://dx.doi.org/10.14710/ijred.5.1.1-8

  16. Modal properties and stability of bend–twist coupled wind turbine blades

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. R. Stäblein

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Coupling between bending and twist has a significant influence on the aeroelastic response of wind turbine blades. The coupling can arise from the blade geometry (e.g. sweep, prebending, or deflection under load or from the anisotropic properties of the blade material. Bend–twist coupling can be utilized to reduce the fatigue loads of wind turbine blades. In this study the effects of material-based coupling on the aeroelastic modal properties and stability limits of the DTU 10 MW Reference Wind Turbine are investigated. The modal properties are determined by means of eigenvalue analysis around a steady-state equilibrium using the aero-servo-elastic tool HAWCStab2 which has been extended by a beam element that allows for fully coupled cross-sectional properties. Bend–twist coupling is introduced in the cross-sectional stiffness matrix by means of coupling coefficients that introduce twist for flapwise (flap–twist coupling or edgewise (edge–twist coupling bending. Edge–twist coupling can increase or decrease the damping of the edgewise mode relative to the reference blade, depending on the operational condition of the turbine. Edge–twist to feather coupling for edgewise deflection towards the leading edge reduces the inflow speed at which the blade becomes unstable. Flap–twist to feather coupling for flapwise deflections towards the suction side increase the frequency and reduce damping of the flapwise mode. Flap–twist to stall reduces frequency and increases damping. The reduction of blade root flapwise and tower bottom fore–aft moments due to variations in mean wind speed of a flap–twist to feather blade are confirmed by frequency response functions.

  17. Model predictive control of trailing edge flaps on a wind turbine blade

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Castaignet, D.B.

    2011-11-15

    Trailing edge flaps on wind turbine blades have been investigated for several years. Aero-servoelastic simulations carried out with different simulation tools, trailing edge flaps configurations and controller designs proved that trailing edge flaps are a suitable solution for reducing some of the wind turbine fatigue and extreme loads. This potential was confirmed with wind tunnel tests made on blade sections with trailing edge flaps and on a scaled two-bladed wind turbine in a wind tunnel. The work presented in this thesis includes a full-scale test run on a Vestas V27 wind turbine equipped with three trailing edge flaps on one blade, located on DTU's Risoe Campus in Roskilde, Denmark. This thesis is divided into three parts: the controller design, results from simulations, and results from the experiments. The trailing edge flaps controller designed for this project is based on a frequency-weighted model predictive control, tuned in order to target only the flapwise blade root loads at the frequencies contributing the most to blade root fatigue damage (the 1P, 2P and 3P frequencies), and to avoid unnecessary wear and tear of the actuators at high frequencies. A disturbance model consisting in periodic disturbances at the rotor speed harmonic frequencies and a quasi-steady input disturbance is aggregated to an analytical model of a spinning blade with trailing edge flaps. Simulations on a multi-megawatt wind turbine show the potential of the trailing edge flaps to reduce the flapwise blade root fatigue loads by 23%, but also the main shaft and the tower fatigue loads by up to 32%. Extreme loads during normal production also benefit from the trailing edge flaps. At last, the same controller was run on the Vestas V27 wind turbine located at the Risoe Campus of the Technical University of Denmark, in Roskilde, Denmark. One blade of the turbine was equipped with three independent trailing edge flaps. In spite of the failure of several sensors and actuators, the

  18. Adhesive Joints in Wind Turbine Blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jørgensen, Jeppe Bjørn

    to be determined in several different ways. The accuracy of different ways of measuring residual stresses in the adhesive was tested by applying five different methods on a single sandwich test specimen (laminate/adhesive/laminate) that was instrumented with strain gauges and fiber Bragg gratings. Quasi...... of the project is to develop new- and to improve the existing design rules for adhesive joints in wind turbine blades. The first scientific studies of adhesive joints were based on stress analysis, which requires that the bond-line is free of defects, but this is rarely the case for a wind turbine blade. Instead...... curing and test temperatures) on the formation of transverse cracks in the adhesive were tested experimentally. It was assumed that the transverse cracks evolved due to a combination of mechanical- and residual stresses in the adhesive. A new approach was developed that allows the residual stress...

  19. Life assessment of gas turbine blades after long term service

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Auerkari, Pertti; Salonen, Jorma [VTT, Espoo (Finland); Maekinen, Sari [Helsingin Energia, Helsinki (Finland); Karvonen, Ikka; Tanttari, Heikki [Lappeenrannan Laempoevoima, Lappeenranta (Finland); Kangas, Pekka [Neste Oil, Kilpilahti (Finland); Scholz, Alfred [Technische Univ. Darmstadt (Germany); Vacchieri, Erica [Ansaldo Richerche, Genoa (Italy)

    2010-07-01

    Turbine blade samples from three land based gas turbines have been subjected to systematic condition and life assessment after long term service (88000 - 109000 equivalent operating hours, eoh), when approaching the nominal or suggested life limits. The blades represent different machine types, materials and design generations, and uncooled blading outside the hottest front end of the turbine, i.e. blades with relatively large size and considerable expected life. For a reasonable assessment, a range of damage mechanisms need to be addressed and evaluated for the impact in the residual life. The results suggested significant additional safe life for all three blade sets. In some cases this could warrant yet another life cycle comparable to that of new blades, even after approaching the nominal end of life in terms of recommended equivalent operating hours. This is thought to be partly because of base load combined cycle operation and natural gas fuel, or modest operational loading if the design also accounted for more intensive cycling operation and more corrosive oil firing. In any case, long term life extension is only appropriate if not intervened by events of overloading, overheating or other sudden events such as foreign object damage (FOD), and if supported by the regular inspection and maintenance program to control in-service damage. Condition based assessment therefore remains an important part of the blade life management after the decision of accepted life extension. (orig.)

  20. Deflection estimation of a wind turbine blade using FBG sensors embedded in the blade bonding line

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Sang-Woo; Kang, Woo-Ram; Jeong, Min-Soo; Lee, In; Kwon, Il-Bum

    2013-01-01

    Estimating the deflection of flexible composite wind turbine blades is very important to prevent the blades from hitting the tower. Several researchers have used fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors—a type of optical fiber sensor (OFS)—to monitor the structural behavior of the blades. They can be installed on the surface and/or embedded in the interior of composites. However, the typical installation positions of OFSs present several problems, including delamination of sensing probes and a higher risk of fiber breakage during installation. In this study, we proposed using the bonding line between the shear web and spar cap as a new installation position of embedded OFSs for estimating the deflection of the blades. Laboratory coupon tests were undertaken preliminarily to confirm the strain measuring capability of embedded FBG sensors in adhesive layers, and the obtained values were verified by comparison with results obtained by electrical strain gauges and finite element analysis. We performed static loading tests on a 100 kW composite wind turbine blade to evaluate its deflections using embedded FBG sensors positioned in the bonding line. The deflections were estimated by classical beam theory considering a rigid body rotation near the tip of the blade. The evaluated tip deflections closely matched those measured by a linear variable differential transformer. Therefore, we verified the capability of embedded FBG sensors for evaluating the deflections of wind turbine blades. In addition, we confirmed that the bonding line between the shear web and spar cap is a practical location to embed the FBG sensors. (paper)

  1. Effect of the blade arc angle on the performance of a Savonius wind turbine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhaoyong Mao

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Savonius wind turbine is a common vertical axis wind turbine which simply comprises two or three arc-type blades and can generate power under poor wind conditions. With the aim of increasing the turbine’s power efficiency, the effect of the blade arc angle on the performance of a typical two-bladed Savonius wind turbine is investigated with a transient computational fluid dynamics method. Simulations were based on the Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stokes equations, and the renormalization group k − ε turbulent model was utilized. The numerical method was validated with existing experimental data. The results indicate that the turbine with a blade arc angle of 160 ∘ generates the maximum power coefficient, 0.2836, which is 8.37% higher than that from a conventional Savonius turbine.

  2. Bionic Design of Wind Turbine Blade Based on Long-Eared Owl’s Airfoil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Weijun Tian

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The main purpose of this paper is to demonstrate a bionic design for the airfoil of wind turbines inspired by the morphology of Long-eared Owl’s wings. Glauert Model was adopted to design the standard blade and the bionic blade, respectively. Numerical analysis method was utilized to study the aerodynamic characteristics of the airfoils as well as the blades. Results show that the bionic airfoil inspired by the airfoil at the 50% aspect ratio of the Long-eared Owl’s wing gives rise to a superior lift coefficient and stalling performance and thus can be beneficial to improving the performance of the wind turbine blade. Also, the efficiency of the bionic blade in wind turbine blades tests increases by 12% or above (up to 44% compared to that of the standard blade. The reason lies in the bigger pressure difference between the upper and lower surface which can provide stronger lift.

  3. Enhanced efficiency steam turbine blading - for cleaner coal plant

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fowler, A.; Bell, D.; Cao, C.; Fowler, R.; Oliver, P.; Greenough, C.; Timmis, P. [ALSTOM Power, Rugby (United Kingdom)

    2005-03-01

    The aim of this project was to increase the efficiency of the short height stages typically found in high pressure steam turbine cylinders. For coal fired power plant, this will directly lead to a reduction in the amount of fuel required to produce electrical power, resulting in lower power station emissions. The continual drive towards higher cycle efficiencies demands increased inlet steam temperatures and pressures, which necessarily leads to shorter blade heights. Further advances in blading for short height stages are required in order to maximise the benefit. To achieve this, an optimisation of existing 3 dimensional designs was carried out and a new 3 dimensional fixed blade for use in the early stages of the high pressure turbine was developed. 28 figs., 5 tabs.

  4. A study for soundness of turbine blade root using ultrasonic and phased array

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gil, Doo Song; Park, Sang Ki; Cho, Yong Sang; Lee, Sang Gug; Huh, Kuang Bum

    2003-01-01

    Power plant is consisted of many component parts for the generation of the electricity, and occasionally, turbine equipment may be caused in break-down because of the damage of the blade root. Phased array ultrasonic testing system has become available for practical application in complicated geometry such as turbine blade root, tenon, disc in power industry. This research describes the characteristics of phased array ultrasonic testing signal for various type of blade roots in thermal Power Plant turbines. This application of Phased array ultrasonic testing system has been promoted mainly to save inspection time and labor cost of turbine inspection. The characteristic of phased array ultrasonic testing signal for power plant component in very simple to understand but to difficult for perform the inspection. This paper is focused on the safety of the turbine equipment by the ultrasonic measurement and phased array analysis. As a result of the test through ultrasonic and phased array method, we have concluded that the main damage in these turbine blade root parts could be generated by the concentrated stress and centrifugal force.

  5. Fish passage assessment of an advanced hydropower turbine and conventional turbine using blade-strike modeling

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Deng, Z.; Carlson, T. J.; Dauble, D. D.; Ploskey, G. R. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352 (United States)

    2011-07-01

    Hydropower is the largest renewable energy source in the world. However, in the Columbia and Snake River basins, several species of Pacific salmon and steelhead have been listed for protection under the Endangered Species Act due to significant declines of fish population. Dam operators and design engineers are thus faced with the task of making hydroelectric facilities more fish friendly through changes in hydro-turbine design and operation. Public Utility District No. 2 of Grant County, Washington, applied for relicensing from the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to replace the 10 turbines at Wanapum Dam with advanced hydropower turbines that were designed to increase power generation and improve fish passage conditions. We applied both deterministic and stochastic blade-strike models to compare fish passage performance of the newly installed advanced turbine to an existing turbine. Modeled probabilities were compared to the results of a large-scale live-fish survival study and a Sensor Fish study under the same operational parameters. Overall, injury rates predicted by the deterministic model were higher than experimental rates of injury, while those predicted by the stochastic model were in close agreement with experimental results. Fish orientation at the time of entry into the plane of the leading edges of the turbine runner blades was an important factor contributing to uncertainty in modeled results. The advanced design turbine had slightly higher modeled injury rates than the existing turbine design; however, no statistical evidence suggested significant differences in blade-strike injuries between the two turbines, thus the hypothesis that direct fish survival rate through the advanced hydropower turbine is equal to or higher than that for fish passing through the conventional turbine could not be rejected. (authors)

  6. Fish Passage Assessment of an Advanced Hydropower Turbine and Conventional Turbine Using Blade-Strike Modeling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhiqun Deng

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Hydropower is the largest renewable energy source in the world. However, in the Columbia and Snake River basins, several species of Pacific salmon and steelhead have been listed for protection under the Endangered Species Act due to significant declines of fish population. Dam operators and design engineers are thus faced with the task of making hydroelectric facilities more fish friendly through changes in hydro-turbine design and operation. Public Utility District No. 2 of Grant County, Washington, applied for relicensing from the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to replace the 10 turbines at Wanapum Dam with advanced hydropower turbines that were designed to increase power generation and improve fish passage conditions. We applied both deterministic and stochastic blade-strike models to compare fish passage performance of the newly installed advanced turbine to an existing turbine. Modeled probabilities were compared to the results of a large-scale live-fish survival study and a Sensor Fish study under the same operational parameters. Overall, injury rates predicted by the deterministic model were higher than experimental rates of injury, while those predicted by the stochastic model were in close agreement with experimental results. Fish orientation at the time of entry into the plane of the leading edges of the turbine runner blades was an important factor contributing to uncertainty in modeled results. The advanced design turbine had slightly higher modeled injury rates than the existing turbine design; however, no statistical evidence suggested significant differences in blade-strike injuries between the two turbines, thus the hypothesis that direct fish survival rate through the advanced hydropower turbine is equal to or higher than that for fish passing through the conventional turbine could not be rejected.

  7. Large-area photogrammetry based testing of wind turbine blades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poozesh, Peyman; Baqersad, Javad; Niezrecki, Christopher; Avitabile, Peter; Harvey, Eric; Yarala, Rahul

    2017-03-01

    An optically based sensing system that can measure the displacement and strain over essentially the entire area of a utility-scale blade leads to a measurement system that can significantly reduce the time and cost associated with traditional instrumentation. This paper evaluates the performance of conventional three dimensional digital image correlation (3D DIC) and three dimensional point tracking (3DPT) approaches over the surface of wind turbine blades and proposes a multi-camera measurement system using dynamic spatial data stitching. The potential advantages for the proposed approach include: (1) full-field measurement distributed over a very large area, (2) the elimination of time-consuming wiring and expensive sensors, and (3) the need for large-channel data acquisition systems. There are several challenges associated with extending the capability of a standard 3D DIC system to measure entire surface of utility scale blades to extract distributed strain, deflection, and modal parameters. This paper only tries to address some of the difficulties including: (1) assessing the accuracy of the 3D DIC system to measure full-field distributed strain and displacement over the large area, (2) understanding the geometrical constraints associated with a wind turbine testing facility (e.g. lighting, working distance, and speckle pattern size), (3) evaluating the performance of the dynamic stitching method to combine two different fields of view by extracting modal parameters from aligned point clouds, and (4) determining the feasibility of employing an output-only system identification to estimate modal parameters of a utility scale wind turbine blade from optically measured data. Within the current work, the results of an optical measurement (one stereo-vision system) performed on a large area over a 50-m utility-scale blade subjected to quasi-static and cyclic loading are presented. The blade certification and testing is typically performed using International

  8. Stress analysis and life prediction of gas turbine blade

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hsiung, H. C.; Dunn, A. J.; Woodling, D. R.; Loh, D. L.

    1988-01-01

    A stress analysis procedure is presented for a redesign of the Space Shuttle Main Engine high pressure fuel turbopump turbine blades. The analysis consists of the one-dimensional scoping analysis to support the design layout and the follow-on three-dimensional finite element analysis to confirm the blade design at operating loading conditions. Blade life is evaluated based on high-cycle fatigue and low-cycle fatigue.

  9. Effect of blade flutter and electrical loading on small wind turbine noise

    Science.gov (United States)

    The effect of blade flutter and electrical loading on the noise level of two different size wind turbines was investigated at the Conservation and Production Research Laboratory (CPRL) near Bushland, TX. Noise and performance data were collected on two blade designs tested on a wind turbine rated a...

  10. Design of a fibrous composite preform for wind turbine rotor blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Jens Zangenberg; Brøndsted, Povl; Kofoed, M.

    2014-01-01

    The present work addresses the different factors and challenges one must cope with in the design process of a composite preform used for the load-carrying main laminate of a wind turbine rotor blade. The design process is split up into different key elements, each of which are presented...... and discussed separately. The key elements are all interconnected, which complicate the design process and involves an iterative procedure. The aim is to provide an overview of the process that governs the design of composite preforms for wind turbine blades. The survey can be used as an information source...... on composite preform manufacturing. Basic knowledge on wind turbine blade technology and composites is assumed. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved....

  11. Fiber-Optic Defect and Damage Locator System for Wind Turbine Blades

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dr. Vahid Sotoudeh; Dr. Richard J. Black; Dr. Behzad Moslehi; Mr. Aleks Plavsic

    2010-10-30

    IFOS in collaboration with Auburn University demonstrated the feasibility of a Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) integrated sensor system capable of providing real time in-situ defect detection, localization and quantification of damage. In addition, the system is capable of validating wind turbine blade structural models, using recent advances in non-contact, non-destructive dynamic testing of composite structures. This new generation method makes it possible to analyze wind turbine blades not only non-destructively, but also without physically contacting or implanting intrusive electrical elements and transducers into the structure. Phase I successfully demonstrated the feasibility of the technology with the construction of a 1.5 kHz sensor interrogator and preliminary instrumentation and testing of both composite material coupons and a wind turbine blade.

  12. Dual-axis resonance testing of wind turbine blades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hughes, Scott; Musial, Walter; White, Darris

    2014-01-07

    An apparatus (100) for fatigue testing test articles (104) including wind turbine blades. The apparatus (100) includes a test stand (110) that rigidly supports an end (106) of the test article (104). An actuator assembly (120) is attached to the test article (104) and is adapted for substantially concurrently imparting first and second forcing functions in first and second directions on the test article (104), with the first and second directions being perpendicular to a longitudinal axis. A controller (130) transmits first and second sets of displacement signals (160, 164) to the actuator assembly (120) at two resonant frequencies of the test system (104). The displacement signals (160, 164) initiate the actuator assembly (120) to impart the forcing loads to concurrently oscillate the test article (104) in the first and second directions. With turbine blades, the blades (104) are resonant tested concurrently for fatigue in the flapwise and edgewise directions.

  13. Active vibration-based structural health monitoring system for wind turbine blade: Demonstration on an operating Vestas V27 wind turbine

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tcherniak, Dmitri; Mølgaard, Lasse Lohilahti

    2017-01-01

    enough to be able to propagate the entire blade length. This article demonstrates the system on a Vestas V27 wind turbine. One blade of the wind turbine was equipped with the system, and a 3.5-month monitoring campaign was conducted while the turbine was operating normally. During the campaign, a defect......—a trailing-edge opening—was artificially introduced into the blade and its size was gradually increased from the original 15 to 45 cm. Using a semi-supervised learning algorithm, the system was able to detect even the smallest amount of damage while the wind turbine was operating under different weather......This study presents a structural health monitoring system that is able to detect structural defects of wind turbine blade such as cracks, leading/trailing-edge opening, or delamination. It is shown that even small defects of at least 15 cm size can be detected remotely without stopping the wind...

  14. Application of Circulation Controlled Blades for Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Velissarios Kourkoulis

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available The blades of a vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT rotor see an inconsistent angle of attack through its rotation. Consequently, VAWT blades generally use symmetrical aerofoils with a lower lift-to-drag ratio than cambered aerofoils tailored to maximise horizontal axis wind turbine rotor performance. This paper considers the feasibility of circulation controlled (CC VAWT blades, using a tangential air jet to provide lift and therefore power augmentation. However CC blade sections require a higher trailing-edge thickness than conventional sections giving rise to additional base drag. The choice of design parameters is a compromise between lift augmentation, additional base drag as well as the power required to pump the air jet. Although CC technology has been investigated for many years, particularly for aerospace applications, few researchers have considered VAWT applications. This paper considers the feasibility of the technology, using Computational Fluid Dynamics to evaluate a baseline CC aerofoil with different trailing-edge ellipse shapes. Lift and drag increments due to CC are considered within a momentum based turbine model to determine net power production. The study found that for modest momentum coefficients significant net power augmentation can be achieved with a relatively simple aerofoil geometry if blowing is controlled through the blades rotation.

  15. Recycled wind turbine blades as a feedstock for second generation composites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mamanpush, Seyed Hossein; Li, Hui; Englund, Karl; Tabatabaei, Azadeh Tavousi

    2018-06-01

    With an increase in renewable wind energy via turbines, an underlying problem of the turbine blade disposal is looming in many areas of the world. These wind turbine blades are predominately a mixture of glass fiber composites (GFCs) and wood and currently have not found an economically viable recycling pathway. This work investigates a series of second generation composites fabricated using recycled wind turbine material and a polyurethane adhesive. The recycled material was first comminuted via a hammer-mill through a range of varying screen sizes, resinated and compressed to a final thickness. The refined particle size, moisture content and resin content were assessed for their influence on the properties of recycled composites. Static bending, internal bond and water sorption properties were obtained for all composites panels. Overall improvement of mechanical properties correlated with increase in resin content, moisture content, and particle size. The current investigation demonstrates that it is feasible and promising to recycle the wind turbine blade to fabricate value-added high-performance composite. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Experimental Investigation of Inter-Blade Vortices in a Model Francis Turbine

    Science.gov (United States)

    LIU, Demin; LIU, Xiaobing; ZHAO, Yongzhi

    2017-07-01

    The inter-blade vortex in a Francis turbine becomes one of the main hydraulic factors that are likely to cause blade erosion at deep part load operating conditions. However, the causes and the mechanism of inter-blade vortex are still under investigation according to present researches. Thus the causes of inter-blade vortex and the effect of different hydraulic parameters on the inter-blade vortex are investigated experimentally. The whole life cycle of the inter-blade vortex is observed by a high speed camera. The test results illustrate the whole life cycle of the inter-blade vortex from generation to separation and even to fading. It is observed that the inter-blade vortex becomes stronger with the decreasing of flow and head, which leads to pressure fluctuation. Meanwhile, the pressure fluctuations in the vane-less area and the draft tube section become stronger when inter-blade vortices exist in the blade channel. The turbine will be damaged if operating in the inter-blade vortex zone, so its operating range must be far away from that zone. This paper reveals the main cause of the inter-blade vortex which is the larger incidence angle between the inflow angle and the blade angle on the leading edge of the runner at deep part load operating conditions.

  17. Damage Identification of Wind Turbine Blades Using Piezoelectric Transducers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Seong-Won Choi

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the experimental results of active-sensing structural health monitoring (SHM techniques, which utilize piezoelectric transducers as sensors and actuators, for determining the structural integrity of wind turbine blades. Specifically, Lamb wave propagations and frequency response functions at high frequency ranges are used to estimate the condition of wind turbine blades. For experiments, a 1 m section of a CX-100 blade is used. The goal of this study is to assess and compare the performance of each method in identifying incipient damage with a consideration given to field deployability. Overall, these methods yielded a sufficient damage detection capability to warrant further investigation. This paper also summarizes the SHM results of a full-scale fatigue test of a 9 m CX-100 blade using piezoelectric active sensors. This paper outlines considerations needed to design such SHM systems, experimental procedures and results, and additional issues that can be used as guidelines for future investigations.

  18. Observations of dynamic stall on Darrieus wind turbine blades

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fujisawa, N.; Shibuya, S. [Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering, Niigata University, 8050 Ikarashi 2, 950-2181 Niigata (Japan)

    2001-02-01

    Flow field around a Darrieus wind turbine blade in dynamic stall is studied by flow visualization and particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurement in stationary and rotating frames of reference. The experiment is carried out using the small-scale Darrieus wind turbine in a water tunnel. The unsteady nature of the dynamic stall observed by the flow visualization is quantitatively reproduced in the instantaneous velocity distributions by PIV measurement, which describes the successive shedding of two pairs of stall vortices from the blade moving upstream. The mechanism of dynamic stall is due to the successive generation of separation on the inner surface of the blade followed by the formation of roll-up vortices from the outer surface. Although the qualitative nature of the dynamic stall is independent of the tip-speed ratios, the blade angle for stall appearance and the growth rate of the stall vortices are influenced by the change in tip-speed ratios.

  19. Fatigue Life of Wind Turbine Blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thoft-Christensen, Palle

    2010-01-01

    The present paper analyses the possibility of reducing the expected damage accumulation during tower passage by modifying the wind turbine tower design from a traditional mono-tower to a tripod. Due to a narrow stagnation zone the stress reversals and hence the damage accumulation in the blades...

  20. Reduction of Environmental Impact Effect of Disposing Wind Turbine Blades

    OpenAIRE

    Rahnama, Behzad

    2011-01-01

    Wind power industry is expected to be one of the fastest growing renewable energy sources inthe world. The growth specially focuses on growing industries and markets, because ofeconomical condition for wind power development besides political decisions.According to growth of wind turbine industries, wind turbine blades are growing fast in both sizeand number. The problem that now arises is how to deal with the blades at the end of their lifecycle. This Master Thesis describes existing methods...

  1. Development of a structure-dependent material model for complex, high-temperature environments and stresses. Example: turbine blades, turbine discs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schubert, F.

    1988-01-01

    For the optimum use of new high-temperature superalloys for turbine discs and blades, it is necessary to develop new design concepts which, on the one hand, permit a quantitative allocation of the structural characteristics to the deformation behaviour and damage mechanisms and, on the other hand, take into account the real course of stress. It is planned to use PM-Udinet 700 as material for turbine discs and IN 738 LC with supplementary tests of IN 100 for turbine blades. For turbine discs, a probabilistic model is developed, for turbine blades, cooled at the interior, first a deterministic model is developed and then a probabilistic model is prepared. The concept for the development of the models is dealt with in detail. The project started in April 1987, therefore only first investigation results can be reported. (orig.) [de

  2. Antenna Gain Impact on UWB Wind Turbine Blade Deflection Sensing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhang, Shuai; Franek, Ondrej; Byskov, Claus

    2018-01-01

    Antenna gain impact on UWB wind turbine blade deflection sensing is studied in this paper. Simulations are applied with a 4.5-meter blade tip. The antennas with high gain (HG) and low gain (LG) in free space are simulated inside a blade. It is interesting to find that tip antennas with HG and LG...

  3. Advanced multistage turbine blade aerodynamics, performance, cooling, and heat transfer

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fleeter, S.; Lawless, P.B. [Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)

    1995-10-01

    The gas turbine has the potential for power production at the highest possible efficiency. The challenge is to ensure that gas turbines operate at the optimum efficiency so as to use the least fuel and produce minimum emissions. A key component to meeting this challenge is the turbine. Turbine performance, both aerodynamics and heat transfer, is one of the barrier advanced gas turbine development technologies. This is a result of the complex, highly three-dimensional and unsteady flow phenomena in the turbine. Improved turbine aerodynamic performance has been achieved with three-dimensional highly-loaded airfoil designs, accomplished utilizing Euler or Navier-Stokes Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) codes. These design codes consider steady flow through isolated blade rows. Thus they do not account for unsteady flow effects. However, unsteady flow effects have a significant impact on performance. Also, CFD codes predict the complete flow field. The experimental verification of these codes has traditionally been accomplished with point data - not corresponding plane field measurements. Thus, although advanced CFD predictions of the highly complex and three-dimensional turbine flow fields are available, corresponding data are not. To improve the design capability for high temperature turbines, a detailed understanding of the highly unsteady and three-dimensional flow through multi-stage turbines is necessary. Thus, unique data are required which quantify the unsteady three-dimensional flow through multi-stage turbine blade rows, including the effect of the film coolant flow. This requires experiments in appropriate research facilities in which complete flow field data, not only point measurements, are obtained and analyzed. Also, as design CFD codes do not account for unsteady flow effects, the next logical challenge and the current thrust in CFD code development is multiple-stage analyses that account for the interactions between neighboring blade rows.

  4. Further dual purpose evolutionary optimization of small wind turbine blades

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Clifton-Smith, M J; Wood, D H

    2007-01-01

    Much work has been done to maximise the power extraction of wind turbine blades. However, small wind turbines are also required to be self starting and whilst blades designed for maximum power extraction can be optimised analytically, these blades often have poor starting performance. The numeric method of Differential Evolution is used here to maximise for both power and starting performance. Standard blade element theory is used to calculate the power coefficient, and a modified blade element method for starting time. The chord and twist of each blade element make up the genes for evolution. Starting times can be improved by a factor of 20 with only a small reduction in power coefficient. With the introduction of the tip speed ratio as an additional gene, up to 10% improvement in power coefficient was achieved. A second study was done in another case where analytical optimisation is not possible; the inclusion of tip losses. The inclusion resulted in only a small increase in the optimum chord in the tip region which becomes less noticeable at lower tip speed ratios

  5. Design of a 21 m blade with Risø-A1 airfoils for active stall controlled wind turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fuglsang, Peter; Sangill, O.; Hansen, P.

    2002-01-01

    This is the final report, from the project, "Design of a Rotor/Airfoil Family for Active Stall-regulated Wind Turbines by Use of Multi-point Optimization". It describes the full scale testing of a 21 m wind turbine blade specially designed for active stallregulation. Design objectives were...... increased ratio of produced energy to turbine loads and more stable power control characteristics. Both were taken directly into account during the design of the blade using numerical optimization. The blade used theRisø-A1 airfoil family, which was specially designed for operation on wind turbine blades....... The new blade was designed to replace the LM 21.0P blade. A measurement campaign was carried out simultaneously on two identical adjacent wind turbines where onehad the new blades and the other had LM 21.0P blades. Power and loads including blade section moments for the new blades were measured to assess...

  6. Structural damage identification in wind turbine blades using piezoelectric active sensing with ultrasonic validation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Claytor, Thomas N [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Ammerman, Curtt N [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Park, Gyu Hae [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Farinholt, Kevin M [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Farrar, Charles R [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Atterbury, Marie K [Los Alamos National Laboratory

    2010-01-01

    This paper gives a brief overview of a new project at LANL in structural damage identification for wind turbines. This project makes use of modeling capabilities and sensing technology to understand realistic blade loading on large turbine blades, with the goal of developing the technology needed to automatically detect early damage. Several structural health monitoring (SHM) techniques using piezoelectric active materials are being investigated for the development of wireless, low power sensors that interrogate sections of the wind turbine blade using Lamb wave propagation data, frequency response functions (FRFs), and time-series analysis methods. The modeling and sensor research will be compared with extensive experimental testing, including wind tunnel experiments, load and fatigue tests, and ultrasonic scans - on small- to mid-scale turbine blades. Furthermore, this study will investigate the effect of local damage on the global response of the blade by monitoring low-frequency response changes.

  7. Torsional Performance of Wind Turbine Blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Branner, Kim; Berring, Peter; Berggreen, Christian

    2007-01-01

    The present work investigates how well different finite element modeling techniques can predict bending and torsion behavior of a wind turbine blade. Two shell models are investigated. One model has element offsets and the other has the elements at the mid-thickness surfaces of the model. The las...

  8. Prediction of Fatigue Crack Growth in Gas Turbine Engine Blades Using Acoustic Emission.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Zhiheng; Yang, Guoan; Hu, Kun

    2018-04-25

    Fatigue failure is the main type of failure that occurs in gas turbine engine blades and an online monitoring method for detecting fatigue cracks in blades is urgently needed. Therefore, in this present study, we propose the use of acoustic emission (AE) monitoring for the online identification of the blade status. Experiments on fatigue crack propagation based on the AE monitoring of gas turbine engine blades and TC11 titanium alloy plates were conducted. The relationship between the cumulative AE hits and the fatigue crack length was established, before a method of using the AE parameters to determine the crack propagation stage was proposed. A method for predicting the degree of crack propagation and residual fatigue life based on the AE energy was obtained. The results provide a new method for the online monitoring of cracks in the gas turbine engine blade.

  9. Small wind turbines with timber blades for developing countries: Materials choice, development, installation and experiences

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mishnaevsky, Leon; Freere, Peter; Sinha, Rakesh

    2011-01-01

    The low cost wind turbines with timber blades represent a good solution for the decentralized energy production in off-grid regions of developing countries. This paper summarizes the results of investigations on the mechanical testing and choice of timber for wind blades, testing of different...... of the blades and turbines. It was further demonstrated that the low cost wind turbines with timber blades represent a promising and viable option for the decentralized energy production in developing countries, which also opens new areas for businesses....

  10. Lightning Damage to Wind Turbine Blades From Wind Farms in the U.S

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Candela Garolera, Anna; Madsen, Søren Find; Nissim, Maya

    2016-01-01

    , laminate structure, and lightning protection systems. The statistics consist of the distribution of lightning damage along the blade and classify the damage by severity. In addition, the frequency of lightning damage to more than one blade of a wind turbine after a thunderstorm is assessed. The results......This paper presents statistical data about lightning damage on wind turbine blades reported at different wind farms in the U.S. The analysis is based on 304 cases of damage due to direct lightning attachment on the blade surface. This study includes a large variety of blades with different lengths...

  11. Model predictive control of trailing edge flaps on a wind turbine blade

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Castaignet, Damien Bruno

    of the wind turbine fatigue and extreme loads. This potential was confirmed with wind tunnel tests made on blade sections with trailing edge flaps and on a scaled two-bladed wind turbine in a wind tunnel. The work presented in this thesis includes a full-scale test run on a Vestas V27 wind turbine equipped...... fatigue loads by 23%, but also the main shaft and the tower fatigue loads by up to 32%. Extreme loads during normal production also benefit from the trailing edge flaps. At last, the same controller was run on the Vestas V27 wind turbine located at the Risø Campus of the Technical University of Denmark......Trailing edge flaps on wind turbine blades have been investigated for several years. Aero-servoelastic simulations carried out with different simulation tools, trailing edge flaps configurations and controller designs proved that trailing edge flaps are a suitable solution for reducing some...

  12. Effects of Blade Boundary Layer Transition and Daytime Atmospheric Turbulence on Wind Turbine Performance Analyzed with Blade-Resolved Simulation and Field Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nandi, Tarak Nath

    Relevant to utility scale wind turbine functioning and reliability, the present work focuses on enhancing our understanding of wind turbine responses from interactions between energy-dominant daytime atmospheric turbulence eddies and rotating blades of a GE 1.5 MW wind turbine using a unique data set from a GE field experiment and computer simulations at two levels of fidelity. Previous studies have shown that the stability state of the lower troposphere has a major impact on the coherent structure of the turbulence eddies, with corresponding differences in wind turbine loading response. In this study, time-resolved aerodynamic data measured locally at the leading edge and trailing edge of three outer blade sections on a GE 1.5 MW wind turbine blade and high-frequency SCADA generator power data from a daytime field campaign are combined with computer simulations that mimic the GE wind turbine within a numerically generated atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) flow field which is a close approximation of the atmospheric turbulence experienced by the wind turbine in the field campaign. By combining the experimental and numerical data sets, this study describes the time-response characteristics of the local loadings on the blade sections in response to nonsteady nonuniform energetic atmospheric turbulence eddies within a daytime ABL which have spatial scale commensurate with that of the turbine blade length. This study is the first of its kind where actuator line and blade boundary layer resolved CFD studies of a wind turbine field campaign are performed with the motivation to validate the numerical predictions with the experimental data set, and emphasis is given on understanding the influence of the laminar to turbulent transition process on the blade loadings. The experimental and actuator line method data sets identify three important response time scales quantified at the blade location: advective passage of energy-dominant eddies (≈25 - 50 s), blade rotation (1P

  13. Design and optimization for strength and integrity of tidal turbine rotor blades

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu, Pengfei; Veitch, Brian

    2012-01-01

    Tidal turbine rotor blade fractures and failures have resulted in substantial damage and hence cost of repair and recovery. The present work presents a rotor blade design and optimization method to address the blade structural strength design problem. The generic procedure is applicable to both turbine rotors and propellers. The optimization method seeks an optimum blade thickness distribution across the span with a prescribed constant safety factor for all the blade sections. This optimization procedure serves two purposes: while maintaining the required structural strength and integrity for an ultimate inflow speed, it aims to reduce the material to a minimum and to maintain power generation efficiency or improve the hydrodynamic efficiency. The value of the chosen minimum safety factor depends on the actual working conditions of the turbine in which the sectional peak loading and frequency are used: the harsher the environment, the larger the required safety factor. An engineering software tool with both hydrodynamic and structural capabilities was required to predict the instantaneous loading acting on all the blade sections, as well as the strength of a local blade section with a given blade geometry and chosen material. A time-domain, 3D unsteady panel method was then implemented based on a marine propeller software tool and used to perform the optimization. A 3-blade 20-m tidal turbine that was prototyped in parallel with the current work for the Bay of Fundy was used as an example for optimization. The optimum thickness distribution for a required safety factor at the ultimate possible inflow speed resulted in 37.6% saving in blade material. The blade thickness and distribution as a function of a maximum inflow speed of 6 m/s is also presented. The blade material used in the example was taken as nickel–aluminium–bronze (NAB) but the procedure was developed to be applicable to propeller or turbine blades of basically any material. -- Highlights: ► A

  14. Material matters: Controllable rubber trailing edge flap regulates load on wind turbine blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aagaard Madsen, Helge

    2010-01-01

    In wind farms, nearby wind turbines exert considerable influence and generate turbulence on turbine blades. Because the blades are so long, there can be considerable differences in localized loading from the gusts along the blade. The Risø DTU researchers has developed a controllable rubber trail...... in an open jet wind tunnel shows promising results. In the wind tunnel, it is possible to regulate the wind speed as well as turn the blade profile to simulate a change in wind direction in relation to the profile....

  15. Design and evaluation of low-cost laminated wood composite blades for intermediate size wind turbines: Blade design, fabrication concept, and cost analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lieblein, S.; Gaugeon, M.; Thomas, G.; Zueck, M.

    1982-01-01

    As part of a program to reduce wind turbine costs, an evaluation was conducted of a laminated wood composite blade for the Mod-OA 200 kW wind turbine. The effort included the design and fabrication concept for the blade, together with cost and load analyses. The blade structure is composed of laminated Douglas fir veneers for the primary spar and nose sections, and honeycomb cored plywood panels for the trailing edges sections. The attachment of the wood blade to the rotor hub was through load takeoff studs bonded into the blade root. Tests were conducted on specimens of the key structural components to verify the feasibility of the concept. It is concluded that the proposed wood composite blade design and fabrication concept is suitable for Mod-OA size turbines (125-ft diameter rotor) at a cost that is very competitive with other methods of manufacture.

  16. UWB Wind Turbine Blade Deflection Sensing for Wind Energy Cost Reduction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Shuai; Jensen, Tobias Lindstrøm; Franek, Ondrej; Eggers, Patrick C F; Olesen, Kim; Byskov, Claus; Pedersen, Gert Frølund

    2015-08-12

    A new application of utilizing ultra-wideband (UWB) technology to sense wind turbine blade deflections is introduced in this paper for wind energy cost reduction. The lower UWB band of 3.1-5.3 GHz is applied. On each blade, there will be one UWB blade deflection sensing system, which consists of two UWB antennas at the blade root and one UWB antenna at the blade tip. The detailed topology and challenges of this deflection sensing system are addressed. Due to the complexity of the problem, this paper will first realize the on-blade UWB radio link in the simplest case, where the tip antenna is situated outside (and on the surface of) a blade tip. To investigate this case, full-blade time-domain measurements are designed and conducted under different deflections. The detailed measurement setups and results are provided. If the root and tip antenna locations are properly selected, the first pulse is always of sufficient quality for accurate estimations under different deflections. The measured results reveal that the blade tip-root distance and blade deflection can be accurately estimated in the complicated and lossy wireless channels around a wind turbine blade. Some future research topics on this application are listed finally.

  17. Studi Eksperimental Perancangan Turbin Air Terapung Tipe Helical Blade

    OpenAIRE

    Muhammad, Andi Haris; Had, Abdul Latief; Terti, Wayan

    2016-01-01

    This research describes the design of floating helical water turbine for electric power generation in free flow and low head water operation. The design involves the use of strips attached to the blades of turbine. The efficiency of turbine (??) investigation was carried out using empirical formulas. The rotation of turbine (n) of the calculation with variation strips angles (450, 900, and 1350) were obtained through captive model tests carried out in towing tank. The result indicated the eff...

  18. Measurements of UWB Pulse Propagation Along a Wind Turbine Blade at 1 to 20 GHz

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hejselbæk, Johannes; Syrytsin, Igor A.; Eggers, Patrick Claus F.

    2018-01-01

    This paper describes propagation measurements of an Ultra Wide Band (UWB) pulse along a full-scale wind turbine blade. The aim is to use the UWB channel characteristics to determine the deflection of the wind turbine blade under different wind loads. The frequency response is measured from 1 to 20...... the reflection originates a ray-tracing study incorporating a model of the curvature of the blade have been conducted. This showed the area causing the reflections depended highly on the placement of the antenna on the wind turbine blade....

  19. Application of Computer Simulation to Identify Erosion Resistance of Materials of Wet-steam Turbine Blades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Korostelyov, D. A.; Dergachyov, K. V.

    2017-10-01

    A problem of identifying the efficiency of using materials, coatings, linings and solderings of wet-steam turbine rotor blades by means of computer simulation is considered. Numerical experiments to define erosion resistance of materials of wet-steam turbine blades are described. Kinetic curves for erosion area and weight of the worn rotor blade material of turbines K-300-240 LMP and atomic icebreaker “Lenin” have been defined. The conclusion about the effectiveness of using different erosion-resistant materials and protection configuration of rotor blades is also made.

  20. Individual pitch control of NREL 5MW wind turbine blade for load reduction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    La, Yo Han; Nam, Yoon Su; Hoon, Son Jae

    2012-01-01

    As the size of a wind turbine increases, the rotor diameter increases. Rotor blades experience mechanical loads caused by the wind shear and the tower shadow effect. These mechanical loads reduce the life of the wind turbine. Therefore, with increasing size of the wind turbine, wind turbine control system design for the mitigation of mechanical loads is important. In this study, Individual Pitch Control in introduced for reducing the mechanical loads of rotor blades, and a simulation for IPC performance verification is discussed

  1. Test Rig for Evaluating Active Turbine Blade Tip Clearance Control Concepts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lattime, Scott B.; Steinetz, Bruce M.; Robbie, Malcolm G.

    2003-01-01

    Improved blade tip sealing in the high pressure compressor and high pressure turbine can provide dramatic improvements in specific fuel consumption, time-on-wing, compressor stall margin and engine efficiency as well as increased payload and mission range capabilities of both military and commercial gas turbine engines. The preliminary design of a mechanically actuated active clearance control (ACC) system for turbine blade tip clearance management is presented along with the design of a bench top test rig in which the system is to be evaluated. The ACC system utilizes mechanically actuated seal carrier segments and clearance measurement feedback to provide fast and precise active clearance control throughout engine operation. The purpose of this active clearance control system is to improve upon current case cooling methods. These systems have relatively slow response and do not use clearance measurement, thereby forcing cold build clearances to set the minimum clearances at extreme operating conditions (e.g., takeoff, re-burst) and not allowing cruise clearances to be minimized due to the possibility of throttle transients (e.g., step change in altitude). The active turbine blade tip clearance control system design presented herein will be evaluated to ensure that proper response and positional accuracy is achievable under simulated high-pressure turbine conditions. The test rig will simulate proper seal carrier pressure and temperature loading as well as the magnitudes and rates of blade tip clearance changes of an actual gas turbine engine. The results of these evaluations will be presented in future works.

  2. Definition of a 5MW/61.5m wind turbine blade reference model.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Resor, Brian Ray

    2013-04-01

    A basic structural concept of the blade design that is associated with the frequently utilized %E2%80%9CNREL offshore 5-MW baseline wind turbine%E2%80%9D is needed for studies involving blade structural design and blade structural design tools. The blade structural design documented in this report represents a concept that meets basic design criteria set forth by IEC standards for the onshore turbine. The design documented in this report is not a fully vetted blade design which is ready for manufacture. The intent of the structural concept described by this report is to provide a good starting point for more detailed and targeted investigations such as blade design optimization, blade design tool verification, blade materials and structures investigations, and blade design standards evaluation. This report documents the information used to create the current model as well as the analyses used to verify that the blade structural performance meets reasonable blade design criteria.

  3. A Combined High and Low Cycle Fatigue Model for Life Prediction of Turbine Blades

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shun-Peng Zhu

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Combined high and low cycle fatigue (CCF generally induces the failure of aircraft gas turbine attachments. Based on the aero-engine load spectrum, accurate assessment of fatigue damage due to the interaction of high cycle fatigue (HCF resulting from high frequency vibrations and low cycle fatigue (LCF from ground-air-ground engine cycles is of critical importance for ensuring structural integrity of engine components, like turbine blades. In this paper, the influence of combined damage accumulation on the expected CCF life are investigated for turbine blades. The CCF behavior of a turbine blade is usually studied by testing with four load-controlled parameters, including high cycle stress amplitude and frequency, and low cycle stress amplitude and frequency. According to this, a new damage accumulation model is proposed based on Miner’s rule to consider the coupled damage due to HCF-LCF interaction by introducing the four load parameters. Five experimental datasets of turbine blade alloys and turbine blades were introduced for model validation and comparison between the proposed Miner, Manson-Halford, and Trufyakov-Kovalchuk models. Results show that the proposed model provides more accurate predictions than others with lower mean and standard deviation values of model prediction errors.

  4. Pose estimation for mobile robots working on turbine blade

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ma, X.D.; Chen, Q.; Liu, J.J.; Sun, Z.G.; Zhang, W.Z. [Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China). Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials Processing Technology, Ministry of Education, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering

    2009-03-11

    This paper discussed a features point detection and matching task technique for mobile robots used in wind turbine blade applications. The vision-based scheme used visual information from the robot's surrounding environment to match successive image frames. An improved pose estimation algorithm based on a scale invariant feature transform (SIFT) was developed to consider the characteristics of local images of turbine blades, pose estimation problems, and conditions. The method included a pre-subsampling technique for reducing computation and bidirectional matching for improving precision. A random sample consensus (RANSAC) method was used to estimate the robot's pose. Pose estimation conditions included a wide pose range; the distance between neighbouring blades; and mechanical, electromagnetic, and optical disturbances. An experimental platform was used to demonstrate the validity of the proposed algorithm. 20 refs., 6 figs.

  5. Achieving better cooling of turbine blades using numerical simulation methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Inozemtsev, A. A.; Tikhonov, A. S.; Sendyurev, C. I.; Samokhvalov, N. Yu.

    2013-02-01

    A new design of the first-stage nozzle vane for the turbine of a prospective gas-turbine engine is considered. The blade's thermal state is numerically simulated in conjugate statement using the ANSYS CFX 13.0 software package. Critical locations in the blade design are determined from the distribution of heat fluxes, and measures aimed at achieving more efficient cooling are analyzed. Essentially lower (by 50-100°C) maximal temperature of metal has been achieved owing to the results of the performed work.

  6. Nonlinear modeling of tuned liquid dampers (TLDs) in rotating wind turbine blades for damping edgewise vibrations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhang, Zili; Nielsen, Søren R. K.; Basu, Biswajit

    2015-01-01

    Tuned liquid dampers (TLDs) utilize the sloshing motion of the fluid to suppress structural vibrations and become a natural candidate for damping vibrations in rotating wind turbine blades. The centrifugal acceleration at the tip of a wind turbine blade can reach a magnitude of 7–8g. This facilit......Tuned liquid dampers (TLDs) utilize the sloshing motion of the fluid to suppress structural vibrations and become a natural candidate for damping vibrations in rotating wind turbine blades. The centrifugal acceleration at the tip of a wind turbine blade can reach a magnitude of 7–8g...... free-surface elevation equally well, the one-mode model can still be utilized for the design of TLD. Parametric optimization of the TLD is carried out based on the one-mode model, and the optimized damper effectively improves the dynamic response of wind turbine blades....

  7. Multi-objective shape optimization of runner blade for Kaplan turbine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Power machines LMZ, Saint Petersburg (Russian Federation))" data-affiliation=" (OJSC Power machines LMZ, Saint Petersburg (Russian Federation))" >Semenova, A; Power machines LMZ, Saint Petersburg (Russian Federation))" data-affiliation=" (OJSC Power machines LMZ, Saint Petersburg (Russian Federation))" >Pylev, I; Chirkov, D; Lyutov, A; Chemy, S; Skorospelov, V

    2014-01-01

    Automatic runner shape optimization based on extensive CFD analysis proved to be a useful design tool in hydraulic turbomachinery. Previously the authors developed an efficient method for Francis runner optimization. It was successfully applied to the design of several runners with different specific speeds. In present work this method is extended to the task of a Kaplan runner optimization. Despite of relatively simpler blade shape, Kaplan turbines have several features, complicating the optimization problem. First, Kaplan turbines normally operate in a wide range of discharges, thus CFD analysis of each variant of the runner should be carried out for several operation points. Next, due to a high specific speed, draft tube losses have a great impact on the overall turbine efficiency, and thus should be accurately evaluated. Then, the flow in blade tip and hub clearances significantly affects the velocity profile behind the runner and draft tube behavior. All these features are accounted in the present optimization technique. Parameterization of runner blade surface using 24 geometrical parameters is described in details. For each variant of runner geometry steady state three-dimensional turbulent flow computations are carried out in the domain, including wicket gate, runner, draft tube, blade tip and hub clearances. The objectives are maximization of efficiency in best efficiency and high discharge operation points, with simultaneous minimization of cavitation area on the suction side of the blade. Multiobjective genetic algorithm is used for the solution of optimization problem, requiring the analysis of several thousands of runner variants. The method is applied to optimization of runner shape for several Kaplan turbines with different heads

  8. Multi-objective shape optimization of runner blade for Kaplan turbine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Semenova, A.; Chirkov, D.; Lyutov, A.; Chemy, S.; Skorospelov, V.; Pylev, I.

    2014-03-01

    Automatic runner shape optimization based on extensive CFD analysis proved to be a useful design tool in hydraulic turbomachinery. Previously the authors developed an efficient method for Francis runner optimization. It was successfully applied to the design of several runners with different specific speeds. In present work this method is extended to the task of a Kaplan runner optimization. Despite of relatively simpler blade shape, Kaplan turbines have several features, complicating the optimization problem. First, Kaplan turbines normally operate in a wide range of discharges, thus CFD analysis of each variant of the runner should be carried out for several operation points. Next, due to a high specific speed, draft tube losses have a great impact on the overall turbine efficiency, and thus should be accurately evaluated. Then, the flow in blade tip and hub clearances significantly affects the velocity profile behind the runner and draft tube behavior. All these features are accounted in the present optimization technique. Parameterization of runner blade surface using 24 geometrical parameters is described in details. For each variant of runner geometry steady state three-dimensional turbulent flow computations are carried out in the domain, including wicket gate, runner, draft tube, blade tip and hub clearances. The objectives are maximization of efficiency in best efficiency and high discharge operation points, with simultaneous minimization of cavitation area on the suction side of the blade. Multiobjective genetic algorithm is used for the solution of optimization problem, requiring the analysis of several thousands of runner variants. The method is applied to optimization of runner shape for several Kaplan turbines with different heads.

  9. Wind turbine blades for harnessing energy from Malaysian low speed wind - manufacturing technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abas Abd Wahab; Azmin Shakrine

    2000-01-01

    Blades for wind turbine to harness energy in the Malaysia low speed winds have been designed. During wind tunnel testing, wind turbine model using this type of blades has cut in speed of 1.5 m/s and turned at 450 rpm at 4 m/s wind. The blades, due to their critical dimensions of 1.2 m length, 5 cm thickness, tapered and 15 degree twist, were difficult to produce especially in large number. Several production methods have been studied but for economical mass production, fibreglass blades using CNC cutting mould were chosen. The blade and mould designs and the manufacturing processes are briefly outlined in this paper. (Author)

  10. 100-kW hingeless metal wind turbine blade design, analysis and fabrication

    Science.gov (United States)

    Donham, R. E.; Schmidt, J.; Linscott, B. S.

    1975-01-01

    The design, fabrication and analysis of aluminum wind turbine rotor blades is discussed. The blades are designed to meet criteria established for a 100-kilowatt wind turbine generator operating between 8 and 60-mile-per-hour speeds at 40 revolutions per minute. The design wind speed is 18 miles per hour. Two rotor blades are used on a new facility which includes a hingeless hub and its shaft, gearbox, generator and tower. Experience shows that, for stopped rotors, safe wind speeds are strongly dependent on blade torsional and bending rigidities which the basic D spar structural blade design provides. The 0.25-inch-thick nose skin is brake/bump formed to provide the basic 'D' spar structure for the tapered, twisted blades. Adequate margins for flutter and divergence are predicted from the use of existing, correlated stopped rotor and helicopter rotor analysis programs.

  11. Contactless Diagnostics of Turbine Blade Vibration and Damage

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prochazka, Pavel; Vanek, Frantisek

    2011-01-01

    The study deals with the contactless diagnostic method used for the identification of steam turbine blade strain, vibration and damage. The tip-timing method based on the evaluation of time differences of blade passages in different rotor revolutions has been modified and improved to provide more precise and reliable results. A new approach to the analysis of the amplitude and time differences of impulse signals generated by a blade passage has been applied. Amplitudes and frequencies of vibrations and static position of blades ascertained by the diagnostic process are used to establish the state of blade damage. A contactless diagnostic system VDS-UT based on magneto-resistive sensors was developed in the Institute of Thermomechanics Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. The system provides on-line monitoring of vibration amplitudes and frequencies of all blades and notification of possible blade damage. Evaluation of the axial and circumferential components of the deflections by measuring the amplitude of blade impulse signals results in an overall improvement of the method. Using magneto-resistive sensors, blade elongation and untwisting can be determined as well.

  12. Damage Detection Based on Static Strain Responses Using FBG in a Wind Turbine Blade.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tian, Shaohua; Yang, Zhibo; Chen, Xuefeng; Xie, Yong

    2015-08-14

    The damage detection of a wind turbine blade enables better operation of the turbines, and provides an early alert to the destroyed events of the blade in order to avoid catastrophic losses. A new non-baseline damage detection method based on the Fiber Bragg grating (FBG) in a wind turbine blade is developed in this paper. Firstly, the Chi-square distribution is proven to be an effective damage-sensitive feature which is adopted as the individual information source for the local decision. In order to obtain the global and optimal decision for the damage detection, the feature information fusion (FIF) method is proposed to fuse and optimize information in above individual information sources, and the damage is detected accurately through of the global decision. Then a 13.2 m wind turbine blade with the distributed strain sensor system is adopted to describe the feasibility of the proposed method, and the strain energy method (SEM) is used to describe the advantage of the proposed method. Finally results show that the proposed method can deliver encouraging results of the damage detection in the wind turbine blade.

  13. Numerical Investigation of the Tip Vortex of a Straight-Bladed Vertical Axis Wind Turbine with Double-Blades

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yanzhao Yang

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Wind velocity distribution and the vortex around the wind turbine present a significant challenge in the development of straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs. This paper is intended to investigate influence of tip vortex on wind turbine wake by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD simulations. In this study, the number of blades is two and the airfoil is a NACA0021 with chord length of c = 0.265 m. To capture the tip vortex characteristics, the velocity fields are investigated by the Q-criterion iso-surface (Q = 100 with shear-stress transport (SST k-ω turbulence model at different tip speed ratios (TSRs. Then, mean velocity, velocity deficit and torque coefficient acting on the blade in the different spanwise positions are compared. The wind velocities obtained by CFD simulations are also compared with the experimental data from wind tunnel experiments. As a result, we can state that the wind velocity curves calculated by CFD simulations are consistent with Laser Doppler Velocity (LDV measurements. The distribution of the vortex structure along the spanwise direction is more complex at a lower TSR and the tip vortex has a longer dissipation distance at a high TSR. In addition, the mean wind velocity shows a large value near the blade tip and a small value near the blade due to the vortex effect.

  14. Blade Bearing Friction Estimation of Operating Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Perisic, Nevena; Pedersen, Bo Juul; Kirkegaard, Poul Henning

    2012-01-01

    Blade root bearing on a wind turbine (WTG) enables pitching of blades for power control and rotor braking and is a WTG critical component. As the size of modern WTGs is constantly increasing, this leads to relatively less rigid bearings, more sensitive to deformations, thus WTG operational...... reliability can be increased by continuous monitoring of blade bearing. High blade bearing friction is undesirable, as it may be associated with excessive heating of the surfaces, damage and/or inefficient operation. Thus, continuous observation of bearing friction level is crucial for blade bearing health...... monitoring systems. A novel algorithm for online monitoring of bearing friction level is developed combining physical knowledge about pitch system dynamics with state estimator, i.e. observer theory and signal processing assuming realistic sensor availability. Results show estimation of bearing friction...

  15. Probabilistic characterization of wind turbine blades via aeroelasticity and spinning finite element formulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Velazquez, Antonio; Swartz, R. Andrew

    2012-04-01

    Wind energy is an increasingly important component of this nation's renewable energy portfolio, however safe and economical wind turbine operation is a critical need to ensure continued adoption. Safe operation of wind turbine structures requires not only information regarding their condition, but their operational environment. Given the difficulty inherent in SHM processes for wind turbines (damage detection, location, and characterization), some uncertainty in conditional assessment is expected. Furthermore, given the stochastic nature of the loading on turbine structures, a probabilistic framework is appropriate to characterize their risk of failure at a given time. Such information will be invaluable to turbine controllers, allowing them to operate the structures within acceptable risk profiles. This study explores the characterization of the turbine loading and response envelopes for critical failure modes of the turbine blade structures. A framework is presented to develop an analytical estimation of the loading environment (including loading effects) based on the dynamic behavior of the blades. This is influenced by behaviors including along and across-wind aero-elastic effects, wind shear gradient, tower shadow effects, and centrifugal stiffening effects. The proposed solution includes methods that are based on modal decomposition of the blades and require frequent updates to the estimated modal properties to account for the time-varying nature of the turbine and its environment. The estimated demand statistics are compared to a code-based resistance curve to determine a probabilistic estimate of the risk of blade failure given the loading environment.

  16. Aeroelastic multidisciplinary design optimization of a swept wind turbine blade

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pavese, Christian; Tibaldi, Carlo; Zahle, Frederik

    2017-01-01

    Mitigating loads on a wind turbine rotor can reduce the cost of energy. Sweeping blades produces a structural coupling between flapwise bending and torsion, which can be used for load alleviation purposes. A multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) problem is formulated including the blade sweep...

  17. Computational investigation of flow control by means of tubercles on Darrieus wind turbine blades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sevinç, K.; Özdamar, G.; Şentürk, U.; Özdamar, A.

    2015-09-01

    This work presents the current status of the computational study of the boundary layer control of a vertical axis wind turbine blade by modifying the blade geometry for use in wind energy conversion. The control method is a passive method which comprises the implementation of the tubercle geometry of a humpback whale flipper onto the leading edge of the blades. The baseline design is an H-type, three-bladed Darrieus turbine with a NACA 0015 cross-section. Finite-volume based software ANSYS Fluent was used in the simulations. Using the optimum control parameters for a NACA 634-021 profile given by Johari et al. (2006), turbine blades were modified. Three dimensional, unsteady, turbulent simulations for the blade were conducted to look for a possible improvement on the performance. The flow structure on the blades was investigated and flow phenomena such as separation and stall were examined to understand their impact on the overall performance. For a tip speed ratio of 2.12, good agreement was obtained in the validation of the baseline model with a relative error in time- averaged power coefficient of 1.05%. Modified turbine simulations with a less expensive but less accurate turbulence model yielded a decrease in power coefficient. Results are shown comparatively.

  18. Concepts for Reusing Composite Materials from Decommissioned Wind Turbine Blades in Affordable Housing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lawrence C. Bank

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The very rapid growth in wind energy technology in the last 15 years has led to a rapid growth in the amount of non-biodegradable, thermosetting fiber reinforced polymer (FRP composite materials used in wind turbine blades. This paper discusses conceptual architectural and structural options for recycling these blades by reusing parts of wind turbine blades in new or retrofitted housing projects. It focuses on large-sized FRP pieces that can be salvaged from the turbine blades and can potentially be useful in infrastructure projects where harsh environmental conditions (water and high humidity exist. Since reuse design should be for specific regional locations and architectural characteristics the designs presented in this paper are for the coastal regions of the Yucatan province in Mexico on the Gulf of Mexico where low-quality masonry block informal housing is vulnerable to severe hurricanes and flooding. To demonstrate the concept a prototype 100 m long wind blade model developed by Sandia National Laboratories is used to show how a wind blade can be broken down into parts, thus making it possible to envision architectural applications for the different wind blade segments for housing applications.

  19. Stochastic models for strength of wind turbine blades using tests

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Toft, H.S.; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

    2008-01-01

    The structural cost of wind turbine blades is dependent on the values of the partial safety factors which reflect the uncertainties in the design values, including statistical uncertainty from a limited number of tests. This paper presents a probabilistic model for ultimate and fatigue strength...... of wind turbine blades especially considering the influence of prior knowledge and test results and how partial safety factors can be updated when additional full-scale tests are performed. This updating is performed by adopting a probabilistic design basis based on Bayesian statistical methods....

  20. Potential Coir Fibre Composite for Small Wind Turbine Blade Application

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bakri Bakri

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Natural fibers have been developed as reinforcement of composite to shift synthetic fibers. One of potential natural fibers developed is coir fiber. This paper aims to describe potential coir fiber as reinforcement of composite for small wind turbine blade application. The research shows that mechanical properties ( tensile, impact, shear, flexural and compression strengths of coir fiber composite have really similar to wood properties for small wind turbine blade material, but inferior to glass fiber composite properties. The effect of weathering was also evaluated to coir fiber composite in this paper.

  1. Niobium-Matrix-Composite High-Temperature Turbine Blades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaplan, Richard B.; Tuffias, Robert H.; La Ferla, Raffaele; Heng, Sangvavann; Harding, John T.

    1995-01-01

    High-temperture composite-material turbine blades comprising mainly niobium matrices reinforced with refractory-material fibers being developed. Of refractory fibrous materials investigated, FP-AL(2)0(3), tungsten, and polymer-based SiC fibers most promising. Blade of this type hollow and formed in nearly net shape by wrapping mesh of reinforcing refractory fibers around molybdenum mandrel, then using thermal-gradient chemical-vapor infiltration (CVI) to fill interstices with niobium. CVI process controllable and repeatable, and kinetics of both deposition and infiltration well understood.

  2. Multi-piece wind turbine rotor blades and wind turbines incorporating same

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moroz,; Mieczyslaw, Emilian [San Diego, CA

    2008-06-03

    A multisection blade for a wind turbine includes a hub extender having a pitch bearing at one end, a skirt or fairing having a hole therethrough and configured to mount over the hub extender, and an outboard section configured to couple to the pitch bearing.

  3. Measurement of Unsteady Aerodynamics Load on the Blade of Field Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kamada, Yasunari; Maeda, Takao; Naito, Keita; Ouchi, Yuu; Kozawa, Masayoshi

    This paper describes an experimental field study of the rotor aerodynamics of wind turbines. The test wind turbine is a horizontal axis wind turbine, or: HAWT with a diameter of 10m. The pressure distributions on the rotating blade are measured with multi point pressure transducers. Sectional aerodynamic forces are analyzed from pressure distribution. Blade root moments are measured simultaneously by a pair of strain gauges. The inflow wind is measured by a three component sonic anemometer, the local inflow of the blade section are measured by a pair of 7 hole Pitot tubes. The relation between the aerodynamic moments on the blade root from pressure distribution and the mechanical moment from strain gauges is discussed. The aerodynamic moments are estimated from the sectional aerodynamic forces and show oscillation caused by local wind speed and direction change. The mechanical moment shows similar oscillation to the aerodynamic excepting the short period oscillation of the blade first mode frequency. The fluctuation of the sectional aerodynamic force triggers resonant blade oscillations. Where stall is present along the blade section, the blade's first mode frequency is dominant. Without stall, the rotating frequency is dominant in the blade root moment.

  4. Torsional Stiffness Effects on the Dynamic Stability of a Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Blade

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Min-Soo Jeong

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available Aeroelastic instability problems have become an increasingly important issue due to the increased use of larger horizontal axis wind turbines. To maintain these large structures in a stable manner, the blade design process should include studies on the dynamic stability of the wind turbine blade. Therefore, fluid-structure interaction analyses of the large-scaled wind turbine blade were performed with a focus on dynamic stability in this study. A finite element method based on the large deflection beam theory is used for structural analysis considering the geometric nonlinearities. For the stability analysis, a proposed aerodynamic approach based on Greenberg’s extension of Theodorsen’s strip theory and blade element momentum method were employed in conjunction with a structural model. The present methods proved to be valid for estimations of the aerodynamic responses and blade behavior compared with numerical results obtained in the previous studies. Additionally, torsional stiffness effects on the dynamic stability of the wind turbine blade were investigated. It is demonstrated that the damping is considerably influenced by variations of the torsional stiffness. Also, in normal operating conditions, the destabilizing phenomena were observed to occur with low torsional stiffness.

  5. Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Blade Design Methodologies for Efficiency Enhancement—A Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shafiqur Rehman

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Among renewable sources of energy, wind is the most widely used resource due to its commercial acceptance, low cost and ease of operation and maintenance, relatively much less time for its realization from concept till operation, creation of new jobs, and least adverse effect on the environment. The fast technological development in the wind industry and availability of multi megawatt sized horizontal axis wind turbines has further led the promotion of wind power utilization globally. It is a well-known fact that the wind speed increases with height and hence the energy output. However, one cannot go above a certain height due to structural and other issues. Hence other attempts need to be made to increase the efficiency of the wind turbines, maintaining the hub heights to acceptable and controllable limits. The efficiency of the wind turbines or the energy output can be increased by reducing the cut-in-speed and/or the rated-speed by modifying and redesigning the blades. The problem is tackled by identifying the optimization parameters such as annual energy yield, power coefficient, energy cost, blade mass, and blade design constraints such as physical, geometric, and aerodynamic. The present paper provides an overview of the commonly used models, techniques, tools and experimental approaches applied to increase the efficiency of the wind turbines. In the present review work, particular emphasis is made on approaches used to design wind turbine blades both experimental and numerical, methodologies used to study the performance of wind turbines both experimentally and analytically, active and passive techniques used to enhance the power output from wind turbines, reduction in cut-in-speed for improved wind turbine performance, and lastly the research and development work related to new and efficient materials for the wind turbines.

  6. Study on Unified Chaotic System-Based Wind Turbine Blade Fault Diagnostic System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuo, Ying-Che; Hsieh, Chin-Tsung; Yau, Her-Terng; Li, Yu-Chung

    At present, vibration signals are processed and analyzed mostly in the frequency domain. The spectrum clearly shows the signal structure and the specific characteristic frequency band is analyzed, but the number of calculations required is huge, resulting in delays. Therefore, this study uses the characteristics of a nonlinear system to load the complete vibration signal to the unified chaotic system, applying the dynamic error to analyze the wind turbine vibration signal, and adopting extenics theory for artificial intelligent fault diagnosis of the analysis signal. Hence, a fault diagnostor has been developed for wind turbine rotating blades. This study simulates three wind turbine blade states, namely stress rupture, screw loosening and blade loss, and validates the methods. The experimental results prove that the unified chaotic system used in this paper has a significant effect on vibration signal analysis. Thus, the operating conditions of wind turbines can be quickly known from this fault diagnostic system, and the maintenance schedule can be arranged before the faults worsen, making the management and implementation of wind turbines smoother, so as to reduce many unnecessary costs.

  7. Effect of Geometric Uncertainties on the Aerodynamic Characteristic of Offshore Wind Turbine Blades

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ernst, Benedikt; Schmitt, Henning; Seume, Jörg R

    2014-01-01

    Offshore wind turbines operate in a complex unsteady flow environment which causes unsteady aerodynamic loads. The unsteady flow environment is characterized by a high degree of uncertainty. In addition, geometry variations and material imperfections also cause uncertainties in the design process. Probabilistic design methods consider these uncertainties in order to reach acceptable reliability and safety levels for offshore wind turbines. Variations of the rotor blade geometry influence the aerodynamic loads which also affect the reliability of other wind turbine components. Therefore, the present paper is dealing with geometric uncertainties of the rotor blades. These can arise from manufacturing tolerances and operational wear of the blades. First, the effect of geometry variations of wind turbine airfoils on the lift and drag coefficients are investigated using a Latin hypercube sampling. Then, the resulting effects on the performance and the blade loads of an offshore wind turbine are analyzed. The variations of the airfoil geometry lead to a significant scatter of the lift and drag coefficients which also affects the damage-equivalent flapwise bending moments. In contrast to that, the effects on the power and the annual energy production are almost negligible with regard to the assumptions made

  8. 3D numerical analysis and optimization of aerodynamic performance of turbine blade

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Dingbiao; Xie Wen; Zhou Junjie

    2010-01-01

    To reduce the stator profile loss and improve the efficiency of the industrial steam turbine, a numerical analysis and optimization of the data for the steam turbine stator blade are conducted by the NUMECA,a CFD software. The result shows that, compared with the original blade, the 'after loading' blade is with the best static pressure coefficient distribution, and effectively postpones the transition point position, reduces the radial pressure gradient of suction surface, and cut down the secondary flow loss effectively. The total pressure losses of the 'after loading' blade is 1.03%, which is the least, and the single-stage efficiency is 94.462%, which is the maximum and increases 14.33%. Thus, the aerodynamic performance of stage is improved obviously, the profile loss decreases through using the 'after loading' blade. (authors)

  9. The effect of blade pitch in the rotor hydrodynamics of a cross-flow turbine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Somoano, Miguel; Huera-Huarte, Francisco

    2016-11-01

    In this work we will show how the hydrodynamics of the rotor of a straight-bladed Cross-Flow Turbine (CFT) are affected by the Tip Speed Ratio (TSR), and the blade pitch angle imposed to the rotor. The CFT model used in experiments consists of a three-bladed (NACA-0015) vertical axis turbine with a chord (c) to rotor diameter (D) ratio of 0.16. Planar Digital Particle Image Velocimetry (DPIV) was used, with the laser sheet aiming at the mid-span of the blades, illuminating the inner part of the rotor and the near wake of the turbine. Tests were made by forcing the rotation of the turbine with a DC motor, which provided precise control of the TSR, while being towed in a still-water tank at a constant Reynolds number of 61000. A range of TSRs from 0.7 to 2.3 were covered for different blade pitches, ranging from 8° toe-in to 16° toe-out. The interaction between the blades in the rotor will be discussed by examining dimensionless phase-averaged vorticity fields in the inner part of the rotor and mean velocity fields in the near wake of the turbine. Supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Grant BES-2013-065366 and project DPI2015-71645-P.

  10. New Method for Dual-Axis Fatigue Testing of Large Wind Turbine Blades Using Resonance Excitation and Spectral Loading

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    White, D.

    2004-04-01

    The blades of a wind turbine are generally considered to be the most critical component of the wind turbine system. The fundamental purpose of performing fatigue tests on wind turbine blades is to demonstrate that a blade, when manufactured to a certain set of specifications, has the prescribed reliability and service life. The purpose of the research conducted for this project is the advancement of knowledge and capabilities in the area of wind turbine blade fatigue testing.

  11. Mechanical Design, Analysis, and Testing of a Two-Bladed Wind Turbine Hub

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cotrell, J.

    2002-06-01

    Researchers at the National Wind Technology Center (NWTC) in Golden, Colorado, began performing the Unsteady Aerodynamics Experiment in 1993 to better understand the unsteady aerodynamics and structural responses of horizontal-axis wind turbines. The experiment consists of an extensively instrumented, downwind, three-bladed, 20-kilowatt wind turbine. In May 1995, I received a request from the NWTC to design a two-bladed hub for the experiment. For my thesis, I present the results of the mechanical design, analysis, and testing of the hub. The hub I designed is unique because it runs in rigid, teetering, or independent blade-flapping modes. In addition, the design is unusual because it uses two servomotors to pitch the blades independently. These features are used to investigate new load reduction, noise reduction, blade pitch optimization, and yaw control techniques for two-bladed turbines. I used a methodology by G. Phal and W. Bietz to design the hub. The hub meets all the performance specifications except that it achieves only 90% of the specified teeter range. In my thesis, I focus on the analysis and testing of the hub body. I performed solid-mechanics calculations, ran a finite-element analysis simulation, and experimentally investigated the structural integrity of the hub body.

  12. Reliability-based design of wind turbine blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Toft, Henrik Stensgaard; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

    2011-01-01

    Reliability-based design of wind turbine blades requires identification of the important failure modes/limit states along with stochastic models for the uncertainties and methods for estimating the reliability. In the present paper it is described how reliability-based design can be applied to wi...

  13. Fluidic load control for wind turbines blades

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Boeije, C.S.; Vries, de H.; Cleine, I.; Emden, van E.; Zwart, G.G.M.; Stobbe, H.; Hirschberg, A.; Hoeijmakers, H.W.M.; Maureen Hand, xx

    2009-01-01

    This paper describes the initial steps into the investigation of the possibility of reducing fatigue loads on wind turbine blades by the application of fluidic jets. This investigation involves static pressure measurements as well as numerical simulations for a non-rotating NACA-0018 airfoil. The

  14. Review of the Phenomenon of Ice Shedding from Wind Turbine Blades

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H Xue

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Wind power is a sustainable source of energy. However, there are certain challenges to be  overcome. One of the operational challenges is the phenomenon of ice shedding. Icing happens on wind turbine blades in cold regions. When ice grows to a certain size, it separates from the wind turbine blades resulting in the phenomenon of ice shedding. This phenomenon is of significantly dangerous for equipment and personnel in the region. Ice shedding may happen either because of vibrations or bending in blades. However, it was noticed by operators at Nygårdsfjell wind park, Narvik, Norway that ice shedding is more probable to happen when blades are stopped and turned back on. This observation reveals the fact that bending of blades (from loaded to unloaded positions allows the ice to separate and hence result in ice shedding. This can be linked to the phenomenon of icing, mechanical and adhesive properties of ice. This paper reviews above in detail.

  15. Optimization of Savonius turbines using an obstacle shielding the returning blade

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mohamed, M.H.; Janiga, G.; Pap, E.; Thevenin, D. [Lab. of Fluid Dynamics and Technical Flows, University of Magdeburg ' ' Otto von Guericke' ' (Germany)

    2010-11-15

    Due to the worldwide energy crisis, research and development activities in the field of renewable energy have been considerably increased in many countries. In Germany, wind energy is becoming particularly important. Although considerable progress has already been achieved, the available technical design is not yet adequate to develop reliable wind energy converters for conditions corresponding to low wind speeds and urban areas. The Savonius turbine appears to be particularly promising for such conditions, but suffers from a poor efficiency. The present study considers a considerably improved design in order to increase the output power of a Savonius turbine with either two or three blades. In addition, the improved design leads to a better self-starting capability. To achieve these objectives, the position of an obstacle shielding the returning blade of the Savonius turbine and possibly leading to a better flow orientation toward the advancing blade is optimized. This automatic optimization is carried out by coupling an in-house optimization library (OPAL) with an industrial flow simulation code (ANSYS-Fluent). The optimization process takes into account the output power coefficient as target function, considers the position and the angle of the shield as optimization parameters, and relies on Evolutionary Algorithms. A considerable improvement of the performance of Savonius turbines can be obtained in this manner, in particular a relative increase of the power output coefficient by more than 27%. It is furthermore demonstrated that the optimized configuration involving a two-blade rotor is better than the three-blade design. (author)

  16. Relevance of aerodynamic modelling for load reduction control strategies of two-bladed wind turbines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luhmann, B.; Cheng, P. W.

    2014-06-01

    A new load reduction concept is being developed for the two-bladed prototype of the Skywind 3.5MW wind turbine. Due to transport and installation advantages both offshore and in complex terrain two-bladed turbine designs are potentially more cost-effective than comparable three-bladed configurations. A disadvantage of two-bladed wind turbines is the increased fatigue loading, which is a result of asymmetrically distributed rotor forces. The innovative load reduction concept of the Skywind prototype consists of a combination of cyclic pitch control and tumbling rotor kinematics to mitigate periodic structural loading. Aerodynamic design tools must be able to model correctly the advanced dynamics of the rotor. In this paper the impact of the aerodynamic modelling approach is investigated for critical operational modes of a two-bladed wind turbine. Using a lifting line free wake vortex code (FVM) the physical limitations of the classical blade element momentum theory (BEM) can be evaluated. During regular operation vertical shear and yawed inflow are the main contributors to periodic blade load asymmetry. It is shown that the near wake interaction of the blades under such conditions is not fully captured by the correction models of BEM approach. The differing prediction of local induction causes a high fatigue load uncertainty especially for two-bladed turbines. The implementation of both cyclic pitch control and a tumbling rotor can mitigate the fatigue loading by increasing the aerodynamic and structural damping. The influence of the time and space variant vorticity distribution in the near wake is evaluated in detail for different cyclic pitch control functions and tumble dynamics respectively. It is demonstrated that dynamic inflow as well as wake blade interaction have a significant impact on the calculated blade forces and need to be accounted for by the aerodynamic modelling approach. Aeroelastic simulations are carried out using the high fidelity multi body

  17. A study for soundness of turbine blade root using ultrasonic and phased array

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gil, Doo Song; Park, Sang Ki; Cho, Yong Sang; Lee, Sang Gug; Huh, Kuang Bum

    2003-01-01

    Power plant is consisted of many component parts for the generation of the electricity and occasionally, turbine equipment may be caused in break-down because of the damage of the blade root. Phased array ultrasonic testing system has become available for power industry. This research describes the characteristics of phased array ultrasonic testing signal for various type of blade roots in thermal power plant turbines. This application of Phased array ultrasonic testing system has been promoted mainly to save inspection time and labor cost of turbine inspection. The characteristic of phased array ultrasonic testing signal for power plant component in very simple to understand but to difficult for perform the inspection. This paper is focused on the safety of the turbine equipment by the ultrasonic measurement and phased array analysis. As a result of the test through ultrasonic and phased array method, we have concluded that the main damage in these turbine blade roots parts could be generated by the concentrated stress and centrifugal force.

  18. Composite material bend-twist coupling for wind turbine blade applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walsh, Justin M.

    Current efforts in wind turbine blade design seek to employ bend-twist coupling of composite materials for passive power control by twisting blades to feather. Past efforts in this area of study have proved to be problematic, especially in formulation of the bend-twist coupling coefficient alpha. Kevlar/epoxy, carbon/epoxy and glass/epoxy specimens were manufactured to study bend-twist coupling, from which numerical and analytical models could be verified. Finite element analysis was implemented to evaluate fiber orientation and material property effects on coupling magnitude. An analytical/empirical model was then derived to describe numerical results and serve as a replacement for the commonly used coupling coefficient alpha. Through the results from numerical and analytical models, a foundation for aeroelastic design of wind turbines blades utilizing biased composite materials is provided.

  19. Wind tunnel study of helical and straight-bladed vertical-axis wind turbine wakes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bagheri, Maryam; Araya, Daniel

    2017-11-01

    It is hypothesized that blade curvature can serve as a passive means to control fluid entrainment and wake recovery in vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) arrays. We test this experimentally in a wind tunnel using two different VAWT configurations, one with straight blades and another with helical blades, keeping all other experimental parameters fixed. A small-scale, commercially available VAWT (15W max power) is used as the baseline wind tunnel model in each case. The commercial VAWT blades are replaced with either straight or helical blades that are 3D-printed extrusions of the same airfoil cross-section. Results from smoke flow visualization, three-component wake velocity measurements, and turbine power data are presented. These results give insight into the potential use of VAWTs with curved blades in utility-scale wind farms.

  20. Brazing and diffusion bonding processes as available repair techniques for gas turbine blades and nozzles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mazur, Z.

    1997-01-01

    The conventionally welding methods are not useful for repair of heavily damaged gas turbine blades and nozzles. It includes thermal fatigue and craze cracks, corrosion, erosion and foreign object damage, which extend to the large areas. Because of required extensive heat input and couponing, it can cause severe distortion of the parts and cracks in the heat affected zone, and can made the repair costs high. For these cases, the available repair methods of gas turbine blades and nozzles, include brazing and diffusion bonding techniques are presented. Detailed analysis of the brazing and diffusion bonding processes applied for gas turbine blades repair with all elements which presented. Detailed analysis of the brazing and diffusion bonding processes applied for gas turbine blades repair with all elements which have influence to get sound joint is carried out. Depend of kind of blades and nozzle damage or deterioration registered a different methods of brazing and diffusion bonding applicability is presented. (Author) 65 refs

  1. Multiscale modelling of single crystal superalloys for gas turbine blades

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tinga, T.

    2009-01-01

    Gas turbines are extensively used for power generation and for the propulsion of aircraft and vessels. Their most severely loaded parts, the turbine rotor blades, are manufactured from single crystal nickel-base superalloys. The superior high temperature behaviour of these materials is attributed to

  2. Cooling of gas turbines IX : cooling effects from use of ceramic coatings on water-cooled turbine blades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, W Byron; Livingood, John N B

    1948-01-01

    The hottest part of a turbine blade is likely to be the trailing portion. When the blades are cooled and when water is used as the coolant, the cooling passages are placed as close as possible to the trailing edge in order to cool this portion. In some cases, however, the trailing portion of the blade is so narrow, for aerodynamic reasons, that water passages cannot be located very near the trailing edge. Because ceramic coatings offer the possibility of protection for the trailing part of such narrow blades, a theoretical study has been made of the cooling effect of a ceramic coating on: (1) the blade-metal temperature when the gas temperature is unchanged, and (2) the gas temperature when the metal temperature is unchanged. Comparison is also made between the changes in the blade or gas temperatures produced by ceramic coatings and the changes produced by moving the cooling passages nearer the trailing edge. This comparison was made to provide a standard for evaluating the gains obtainable with ceramic coatings as compared to those obtainable by constructing the turbine blade in such a manner that water passages could be located very near the trailing edge.

  3. Effect of Crystal Orientation on Fatigue Failure of Single Crystal Nickel Base Turbine Blade Superalloys

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arakere, Nagaraj K.; Swanson, Gregory R.

    2000-01-01

    High Cycle Fatigue (HCF) induced failures in aircraft gas-turbine engines is a pervasive problem affecting a wide range of components and materials. HCF is currently the primary cause of component failures in gas turbine aircraft engines. Turbine blades in high performance aircraft and rocket engines are increasingly being made of single crystal nickel superalloys. Single-crystal Nickel-base superalloys were developed to provide superior creep, stress rupture, melt resistance and thermomechanical fatigue capabilities over polycrystalline alloys previously used in the production of turbine blades and vanes. Currently the most widely used single crystal turbine blade superalloys are PWA 1480/1493 and PWA 1484. These alloys play an important role in commercial, military and space propulsion systems. PWA1493, identical to PWA1480, but with tighter chemical constituent control, is used in the NASA SSME (Space Shuttle Main Engine) alternate turbopump, a liquid hydrogen fueled rocket engine. Objectives for this paper are motivated by the need for developing failure criteria and fatigue life evaluation procedures for high temperature single crystal components, using available fatigue data and finite element modeling of turbine blades. Using the FE (finite element) stress analysis results and the fatigue life relations developed, the effect of variation of primary and secondary crystal orientations on life is determined, at critical blade locations. The most advantageous crystal orientation for a given blade design is determined. Results presented demonstrates that control of secondary and primary crystallographic orientation has the potential to optimize blade design by increasing its resistance to fatigue crack growth without adding additional weight or cost.

  4. Airfoil family design for large offshore wind turbine blades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Méndez, B.; Munduate, X.; San Miguel, U.

    2014-06-01

    Wind turbine blades size has scaled-up during last years due to wind turbine platform increase especially for offshore applications. The EOLIA project 2007-2010 (Spanish Goverment funded project) was focused on the design of large offshore wind turbines for deep waters. The project was managed by ACCIONA Energia and the wind turbine technology was designed by ACCIONA Windpower. The project included the design of a wind turbine airfoil family especially conceived for large offshore wind turbine blades, in the order of 5MW machine. Large offshore wind turbines suffer high extreme loads due to their size, in addition the lack of noise restrictions allow higher tip speeds. Consequently, the airfoils presented in this work are designed for high Reynolds numbers with the main goal of reducing blade loads and mantainig power production. The new airfoil family was designed in collaboration with CENER (Spanish National Renewable Energy Centre). The airfoil family was designed using a evolutionary algorithm based optimization tool with different objectives, both aerodynamic and structural, coupled with an airfoil geometry generation tool. Force coefficients of the designed airfoil were obtained using the panel code XFOIL in which the boundary layer/inviscid flow coupling is ineracted via surface transpiration model. The desing methodology includes a novel technique to define the objective functions based on normalizing the functions using weight parameters created from data of airfoils used as reference. Four airfoils have been designed, here three of them will be presented, with relative thickness of 18%, 21%, 25%, which have been verified with the in-house CFD code, Wind Multi Block WMB, and later validated with wind tunnel experiments. Some of the objectives for the designed airfoils concern the aerodynamic behavior (high efficiency and lift, high tangential coefficient, insensitivity to rough conditions, etc.), others concern the geometry (good for structural design

  5. Airfoil family design for large offshore wind turbine blades

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Méndez, B; Munduate, X; Miguel, U San

    2014-01-01

    Wind turbine blades size has scaled-up during last years due to wind turbine platform increase especially for offshore applications. The EOLIA project 2007-2010 (Spanish Goverment funded project) was focused on the design of large offshore wind turbines for deep waters. The project was managed by ACCIONA Energia and the wind turbine technology was designed by ACCIONA Windpower. The project included the design of a wind turbine airfoil family especially conceived for large offshore wind turbine blades, in the order of 5MW machine. Large offshore wind turbines suffer high extreme loads due to their size, in addition the lack of noise restrictions allow higher tip speeds. Consequently, the airfoils presented in this work are designed for high Reynolds numbers with the main goal of reducing blade loads and mantainig power production. The new airfoil family was designed in collaboration with CENER (Spanish National Renewable Energy Centre). The airfoil family was designed using a evolutionary algorithm based optimization tool with different objectives, both aerodynamic and structural, coupled with an airfoil geometry generation tool. Force coefficients of the designed airfoil were obtained using the panel code XFOIL in which the boundary layer/inviscid flow coupling is ineracted via surface transpiration model. The desing methodology includes a novel technique to define the objective functions based on normalizing the functions using weight parameters created from data of airfoils used as reference. Four airfoils have been designed, here three of them will be presented, with relative thickness of 18%, 21%, 25%, which have been verified with the in-house CFD code, Wind Multi Block WMB, and later validated with wind tunnel experiments. Some of the objectives for the designed airfoils concern the aerodynamic behavior (high efficiency and lift, high tangential coefficient, insensitivity to rough conditions, etc.), others concern the geometry (good for structural design

  6. Modal analysis by holographic interferometry of a turbine blade for aircraft engines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caponero, Michele A.; De Angelis, Alberto; Filetti, V. R.; Gammella, S.

    1994-11-01

    Within the planning stage devoted to realize an innovative turbine for an aircraft engine, an experimental prototype has been made. Several measurements have been carried out to experimentally verify the expected structural and dynamic features of such a prototype. Expected properties were worked out by finite elements method, using the well-known Nastran software package. Natural frequencies and vibration modes of the designed prototype were computed assuming the turbine being in both `dynamic condition' (rotating turbine at running speed and temperature), and in `static condition' (still turbine at room temperature). We present the experimental modal analysis carried out by time average holographic interferometry, being the prototype in `static condition;' results show the modal behavior of the prototype. Experimental and computed modal features are compared to evaluate the reliability of the finite elements model of the turbine used for computation by the Nastran package; reliability of the finite elements model must be checked to validate results computed assuming the turbine blade is in hostile environments, such as `dynamic condition,' which could hardly be tested by experimental measurements. A piezoelectric transducer was used to excite the turbine blade by sine variable pressure. To better estimate the natural vibration modes, two holographic interferograms have been made for each identified natural frequency, being the sensitivity vector directions of the two interferograms perpendicular to each other. The first ten lower natural frequencies and vibration modes of the blade have been analyzed; experimental and computed results are compared and discussed. Experimental and computed values of natural frequencies are in good agrement between each other. Several differences are present between experimental and computed modal patterns; a possible cause of such discrepancies is identified in wrong structural constraints imposed at nodes of the finite elements

  7. Development of Self-Powered Wireless Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) for Wind Turbine Blades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lim, Dong-Won

    Wind turbine blade failure can lead to unexpected power interruptions. Monitoring wind turbine blades is important to ensure seamless electricity delivery from power generation to consumers. Structural health monitoring (SHM) enables early recognition of structural problems so that the safety and reliability of operation can be enhanced. This dissertation focuses on the development of a wireless SHM system for wind turbine blades. The sensor is comprised of a piezoelectric energy harvester (EH) and a telemetry unit. The sensor node is mounted on the blade surface. As the blade rotates, the blade flexes, and the energy harvester captures the strain energy on the blade surface. Once sufficient electricity is captured, a pulse is sent from the sensing node to a gateway. Then, a central monitoring algorithm processes a series of pulses received from all three blades. This wireless SHM, which uses commercially available components, can be retrofitted to existing turbines. The harvested energy for sensing can be estimated in terms of two factors: the available strain energy and conversion efficiency. The available strain energy was evaluated using the FAST (Fatigue, Aerodynamics, Structures, and Turbulence) simulator. The conversion efficiency was studied analytically and experimentally. An experimental set-up was designed to mimic the expected strain frequency and amplitude for rotor blades. From a series of experiments, the efficiency of a piezoelectric EH at a typical rotor speed (0.2 Hz) was approximately 0.5%. The power requirement for sending one measurement (280 muJ) can be achieved in 10 minutes. Designing a detection algorithm is challenging due to this low sampling rate. A new sensing approach-the timing of pulses from the transmitter-was introduced. This pulse timing, which is tied to the charging time, is indicative of the structural health. The SHM system exploits the inherent triple redundancy of the three blades. The timing data of the three blades are

  8. Novel casting processes for single-crystal turbine blades of superalloys

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Dexin

    2018-03-01

    This paper presents a brief review of the current casting techniques for single-crystal (SC) blades, as well as an analysis of the solidification process in complex turbine blades. A series of novel casting methods based on the Bridgman process were presented to illustrate the development in the production of SC blades from superalloys. The grain continuator and the heat conductor techniques were developed to remove geometry-related grain defects. In these techniques, the heat barrier that hinders lateral SC growth from the blade airfoil into the extremities of the platform is minimized. The parallel heating and cooling system was developed to achieve symmetric thermal conditions for SC solidification in blade clusters, thus considerably decreasing the negative shadow effect and its related defects in the current Bridgman process. The dipping and heaving technique, in which thinshell molds are utilized, was developed to enable the establishment of a high temperature gradient for SC growth and the freckle-free solidification of superalloy castings. Moreover, by applying the targeted cooling and heating technique, a novel concept for the three-dimensional and precise control of SC growth, a proper thermal arrangement may be dynamically established for the microscopic control of SC growth in the critical areas of large industrial gas turbine blades.

  9. Multidisciplinary Design Optimization for Glass-Fiber Epoxy-Matrix Composite 5 MW Horizontal-Axis Wind-Turbine Blades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grujicic, M.; Arakere, G.; Pandurangan, B.; Sellappan, V.; Vallejo, A.; Ozen, M.

    2010-11-01

    A multi-disciplinary design-optimization procedure has been introduced and used for the development of cost-effective glass-fiber reinforced epoxy-matrix composite 5 MW horizontal-axis wind-turbine (HAWT) blades. The turbine-blade cost-effectiveness has been defined using the cost of energy (CoE), i.e., a ratio of the three-blade HAWT rotor development/fabrication cost and the associated annual energy production. To assess the annual energy production as a function of the blade design and operating conditions, an aerodynamics-based computational analysis had to be employed. As far as the turbine blade cost is concerned, it is assessed for a given aerodynamic design by separately computing the blade mass and the associated blade-mass/size-dependent production cost. For each aerodynamic design analyzed, a structural finite element-based and a post-processing life-cycle assessment analyses were employed in order to determine a minimal blade mass which ensures that the functional requirements pertaining to the quasi-static strength of the blade, fatigue-controlled blade durability and blade stiffness are satisfied. To determine the turbine-blade production cost (for the currently prevailing fabrication process, the wet lay-up) available data regarding the industry manufacturing experience were combined with the attendant blade mass, surface area, and the duration of the assumed production run. The work clearly revealed the challenges associated with simultaneously satisfying the strength, durability and stiffness requirements while maintaining a high level of wind-energy capture efficiency and a lower production cost.

  10. EB-PVD process management for highly productive zirconia thermal barrier coating of turbine blades

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reinhold, E.; Botzler, P.; Deus, C.

    1999-01-01

    Zirconia thermal barrier coatings are well used in the turbine manufacturing industry because they ensure extended lifetimes of turbine blades. Compared with other techniques, EB-PVD processes are best suited for the deposition on turbine blades with regard to the layer properties. Therefore EB-PVD coaters for turbine blades are becoming increasingly interesting. The coating costs per component are mainly dependent on a highly productive solution for the deposition task. Thus the EB-PVD process management has to be optimized in order to meet the productivity requirements of the manufacturers. This includes the requirement of high deposition rates, large deposition areas, long time stable production cycles as well as a matched duration of preheating, deposition and cooling down per charge. Modern EB-PVD solutions to be introduced allow deposition rates on blades up to 7 μm/min. The consequences for the technological process management and plant design concerning long time stable coating cycles with high productivity will be discussed. (orig.)

  11. Design, fabrication, and test of a steel spar wind turbine blade

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sullivan, T. L.; Sirocky, P. J., Jr.; Viterna, L. A.

    1979-01-01

    The design and fabrication of wind turbine blades based on 60 foot steel spars are discussed. Performance and blade load information is given and compared to analytical prediction. In addition, performance is compared to that of the original MOD-O aluminum blades. Costs for building the two blades are given, and a projection is made for the cost in mass production. Design improvements to reduce weight and improve fatigue life are suggested.

  12. On Rotor-Blade Deterioration and Pressure Losses in a Gas-Turbine ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    blade deterioration and pressure losses in a gas-turbine plant. This was achieved ... Rotor-blade deterioration result in 1.2 percent drop in pressure ratio across the compressor, with a corresponding drop in isentropic efficiency from 0.83 to 0.72.

  13. Aeroelastic analysis of an offshore wind turbine: Design and Fatigue Performance of Large Utility-Scale Wind Turbine Blades

    OpenAIRE

    Fossum, Peter Kalsaas

    2012-01-01

    Aeroelastic design and fatigue analysis of large utility-scale wind turbine blades are performed. The applied fatigue model is based on established methods and is incorporated in an iterative numerical design tool for realistic wind turbine blades. All aerodynamic and structural design properties are available in literature. The software tool FAST is used for advanced aero-servo-elastic load calculations and stress-histories are calculated with elementary beam theory.According to wind energy ...

  14. Aerodynamic investigation of winglets on wind turbine blades using CFD

    OpenAIRE

    Johansen, Jeppe; Sørensen, Niels N.

    2006-01-01

    The present report describes the numerical investigation of the aerodynamics around a wind turbine blade with a winglet using Computational Fluid Dynamics, CFD. Five winglets were investigated with different twist distribution and camber. Four of themwere pointing towards the pressure side (upstream) and one was pointing towards the suction side (downstream). Additionally, a rectangular modification of the original blade tip was designed with the same planform area as the blades with winglets...

  15. Design optimization and analysis of vertical axis wind turbine blade

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jarral, A.; Ali, M.; Sahir, M.H.

    2013-01-01

    Wind energy is clean and renwable source of energy and is also the world's fastest growing energy resource. Keeping in view power shortages and growing cost of energy, the low cost wind energy has become a primary solution. It is imperative that economies and individuals begin to conserve energy and focus on the production of energy from renewable sources. Present study describes a wind turbine blade designed with enhanced aerodynamic properties. Vertical axis turbine is chosen because of its easy installment, less noisy and having environmental friendly characteristics. Vertical axis wind turbines are thought to be ideal for installations where wind conditions are not consistent. The presented turbine blade is best suitable for roadsides where the rated speed due to vehicles is most /sup -1/ often 8 ms .To get an optimal shape design symmetrical profile NACA0025 has been considered which is then analyzed for stability and aerodynamic characteristics at optimal conditions using analysis tools ANSYS and CFD tools. (author)

  16. Straight-bladed Darrieus wind turbines - A protagonist's view

    Science.gov (United States)

    Migliore, P. G.

    The technology development and market penetration of Darrieus and propeller-type wind turbines is addressed. Important characteristics of competing configurations are compared, and it is claimed that aerodynamic efficiency is not a distinguishing feature. Advantages of the Darrieus machine include omni-directionality and self-limitation, but propeller types require less rotor length per unit swept area. It is argued that the straight-bladed Darrieus is much simpler than the curved-bladed and should be capable of comparable aerodynamic efficiency. Some of the problems of structural design, as well as blade induced drag losses and support-arm counter torque, diminish rapidly as machine size is increased. Taper ratio has similar beneficial effects.

  17. Wind Turbine Load Mitigation based on Multivariable Robust Control and Blade Root Sensors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Díaz de Corcuera, A.; Pujana-Arrese, A.; Ezquerra, J. M.; Segurola, E.; Landaluze, J.

    2014-12-01

    This paper presents two H∞ multivariable robust controllers based on blade root sensors' information for individual pitch angle control. The wind turbine of 5 MW defined in the Upwind European project is the reference non-linear model used in this research work, which has been modelled in the GH Bladed 4.0 software package. The main objective of these controllers is load mitigation in different components of wind turbines during power production in the above rated control zone. The first proposed multi-input multi-output (MIMO) individual pitch H" controller mitigates the wind effect on the tower side-to-side acceleration and reduces the asymmetrical loads which appear in the rotor due to its misalignment. The second individual pitch H" multivariable controller mitigates the loads on the three blades reducing the wind effect on the bending flapwise and edgewise momentums in the blades. The designed H" controllers have been validated in GH Bladed and an exhaustive analysis has been carried out to calculate fatigue load reduction on wind turbine components, as well as to analyze load mitigation in some extreme cases.

  18. Identification and management of cracking in 410 stainless turbine blade roots

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Clark, M.A.; Lehockey, E.M.; Thompson, I.; Massey, R.

    2003-01-01

    Between April and June of 2002, cracks were discovered in the fir-tree roots of several row 10 low-pressure 410 martensitic stainless steel turbine blades from an operating CANDU station. In total, 9 blades were eventually identified by MPI to have flaw indications near the inlet face between the first and second serrations. Among the population of blades examined fractography revealed cracks propagated by two different mechanisms: fatigue and stress corrosion cracking. In 7 of the 9 blades, the fracture surface morphology confirmed crack propagation by high-cycle fatigue, as evidenced by the beachmarks and ratchet marks produced by multiple initiation sites An analysis of the beachmarks suggested that cracks propagated independently and subsequently coalesced into a unified crack front. No significant pitting or other corrosion was found to accompany these defects, which might suggest a corrosion fatigue mechanism. Likewise, no consistent spatial relationship could be established between the crack path and either prior austenite grain boundaries, MnS stringer inclusions, or other metallurgical anomalies, which indicates their role in crack nucleation was minimal. Although hardness values measured were generally consistent with OEM's specifications, some evidence for over-tempering was observed (ripening of grain boundary precipitates/carbides, etc.). However, the specific role of these factors in promoting the fatigue failure could not be conclusively identified. Spacing between beachmarks within cracks among the (7) fatigued blades appeared similar suggesting that these cracks propagated under the influence of a common stress regime. Furthermore, the bulk of crack advance appeared to have occurred primarily at operating speeds given the number of beachmarks present far exceeded that expected to evolve solely from the stress transients generated during start/stop cycles. By correlating the array of major beachmarks with operating history, it was tentatively

  19. Aerodynamics and Optimal Design of Biplane Wind Turbine Blades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiu, Phillip

    In order to improve energy capture and reduce the cost of wind energy, in the past few decades wind turbines have grown significantly larger. As their blades get longer, the design of the inboard region (near the blade root) becomes a trade-off between competing structural and aerodynamic requirements. State-of-the-art blades require thick airfoils near the root to efficiently support large loads inboard, but those thick airfoils have inherently poor aerodynamic performance. New designs are required to circumvent this design compromise. One such design is the "biplane blade", in which the thick airfoils in the inboard region are replaced with thinner airfoils in a biplane configuration. This design was shown previously to have significantly increased structural performance over conventional blades. In addition, the biplane airfoils can provide increased lift and aerodynamic efficiency compared to thick monoplane inboard airfoils, indicating a potential for increased power extraction. This work investigates the fundamental aerodynamic aspects, aerodynamic design and performance, and optimal structural design of the biplane blade. First, the two-dimensional aerodynamics of biplanes with relatively thick airfoils are investigated, showing unique phenomena which arise as a result of airfoil thickness. Next, the aerodynamic design of the full biplane blade is considered. Two biplane blades are designed for optimal aerodynamic loading, and their aerodynamic performance quantified. Considering blades with practical chord distributions and including the drag of the mid-blade joint, it is shown that biplane blades have comparable power output to conventional monoplane designs. The results of this analysis also show that the biplane blades can be designed with significantly less chord than conventional designs, a characteristic which enables larger blade designs. The aerodynamic loads on the biplane blades are shown to be increased in gust conditions and decreased under

  20. Independent Blade Pitch Controller Design for a Three-Bladed Turbine Using Disturbance Accommodating Control

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wang, Na; Wright, Alan D.; Johnson, Kathryn E.

    2016-08-01

    Two independent pitch controllers (IPCs) based on the disturbance accommodating control (DAC) algorithm are designed for the three-bladed Controls Advanced Research Turbine to regulate rotor speed and to mitigate blade root flapwise bending loads in above-rated wind speed. One of the DAC-based IPCs is designed based on a transformed symmetrical-asymmetrical (TSA) turbine model, with wind disturbances being modeled as a collective horizontal component and an asymmetrical linear shear component. Another DAC-based IPC is designed based on a multiblade coordinate (MBC) transformed turbine model, with a horizontal component and a vertical shear component being modeled as step waveform disturbance. Both of the DAC-based IPCs are found via a regulation equation solved by Kronecker product. Actuator dynamics are considered in the design processes to compensate for actuator phase delay. The simulation study shows the effectiveness of the proposed DAC-based IPCs compared to a proportional-integral (PI) collective pitch controller (CPC). Improvement on rotor speed regulation and once-per-revolution and twice-per-revolution load reductions has been observed in the proposed IPC designs.

  1. Wind turbine blade testing system using base excitation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cotrell, Jason; Thresher, Robert; Lambert, Scott; Hughes, Scott; Johnson, Jay

    2014-03-25

    An apparatus (500) for fatigue testing elongate test articles (404) including wind turbine blades through forced or resonant excitation of the base (406) of the test articles (404). The apparatus (500) includes a testing platform or foundation (402). A blade support (410) is provided for retaining or supporting a base (406) of an elongate test article (404), and the blade support (410) is pivotally mounted on the testing platform (402) with at least two degrees of freedom of motion relative to the testing platform (402). An excitation input assembly (540) is interconnected with the blade support (410) and includes first and second actuators (444, 446, 541) that act to concurrently apply forces or loads to the blade support (410). The actuator forces are cyclically applied in first and second transverse directions. The test article (404) responds to shaking of its base (406) by oscillating in two, transverse directions (505, 507).

  2. Condensation phenomena in a turbine blade passage

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Skillings, S.A.

    1989-02-01

    The mechanisms associated with the formation and growth of water droplets in the large low-pressure (LP) turbines used for electrical power generation are poorly understood and recent measurements have indicated that an unusually high loss is associated with the initial nucleation of these droplets. In order to gain an insight into the phenomena which arise in the turbine situation, some experiments were performed to investigate the behaviour of condensing steam flows in a blade passage. This study has revealed the fundamental significance of droplet nucleation in modifying the single-phase flow structure and results are presented which show the change in shock wave pattern when inlet superheat and outlet Mach number are varied. The trailing-edge shock wave structure appears considerably more robust towards variation of inlet superheat than purely one-dimensional considerations may suggest and the inadequacies of adopting a one-dimensional theory to analyse multi-dimensional condensing flows are demonstrated. Over a certain range of outlet Mach numbers an oscillating shock wave will establish in the throat region of the blade passage and this has been shown to interact strongly with droplet nucleation, resulting in a considerably increased mean droplet size. The possible implications of these results for turbine performance are also discussed. (author)

  3. Microstructural evolution and deformation features in gas turbine blades operated in-service

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sun, Fei [Key Laboratory of Liquid Structure and Heredity of Materials, Ministry of Education, Shandong University, Jinan 250061 (China); Tong, Jinyan [National Center for Materials Service Safety, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083 (China); Feng, Qiang [National Center for Materials Service Safety, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083 (China); State Key Laboratory for Advanced Metals and Materials, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083 (China); Zhang, Jianxin [Key Laboratory of Liquid Structure and Heredity of Materials, Ministry of Education, Shandong University, Jinan 250061 (China)

    2015-01-05

    Highlights: • Gas turbine blades operated in-service have been investigated. • Two primary MC decomposition reactions take place during servicing. • Deformation features during servicing have been analyzed. - Abstract: The nickel based superalloy GH4037 is employed in gas turbine blades because of its high temperature strength and oxidation resistance. Microstructural evolution and deformation features in gas turbine blades after 1600 h service have been investigated by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The microstructure of blade changes according to complex and comprehensive temperature and stress fields applied on it. Microstructural observations show that minor carbide precipitates dispersedly precipitate in the matrix. Two MC decomposition reactions occur: MC + γ → M{sub 23}C{sub 6} + γ′ and MC + γ → M{sub 23}C{sub 6} + η. Blocky, closely spaced M{sub 23}C{sub 6} particles continuously distribute along grain boundaries. The main deformation features, such as slip bands, APB-coupled dislocation pairs, stacking faults bound by partial dislocations and deformation twinning, have also been analyzed in terms of fundamental deformation mechanisms and environmental effects.

  4. Design Of Rotor Blade For Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Using Double Aerofoil

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Chougule, Prasad; Ratkovich, Nicolas Rios; Kirkegaard, Poul Henning

    Nowadays, small vertical axis wind turbines are receiving more attention compared to horizontal wind turbines due to their suitability in urban use because they generate less noise, have bird free turbines and lower cost. There is few vertical axis wind turbines design with good power curve....... However, the efficiency of power extraction has not been improved. Therefore, an attempt has been made to utilize high lift technology in practice for vertical axis wind turbines in order to improve power efficiency. High lift is obtained by double aerofoil elements mainly used in aeroplane wing design....... In this current work two aerofoils are used to design a rotor blade for a vertical axis wind turbine to improve the power efficiency on the rotor. Double aerofoil blade design consists of a main aerofoil and a slat aerofoil. The parameters related to position and orientation of the slat aerofoil with respect...

  5. Breakdown and tracking properties of rubber materials for wind turbine blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Garolera, Anna Candela; Holboell, Joachim; Henriksen, Mogens

    2012-01-01

    The use of rubber materials in wind turbine blades, for example in controllable trailing edge flaps, requires research on their behavior under heavy exposure to electric fields and electrical discharges. Since the complex construction of blades usually involves several and often inhomogeneous mat...

  6. Wind-induced response analysis of a wind turbine tower including the blade-tower coupling effect

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Xiao-bo CHEN; Jing LI; Jian-yun CHEN

    2009-01-01

    To analyze wind-induced response characteristics of a wind turbine tower more accurately, the blade-tower coupling effect was investigated. The mean wind velocity of the rotating blades and tower was simulated according to wind shear effects,and the fluctuating wind velocity time series of the wind turbine were simulated by a harmony superposition method. A dynamic finite element method (FEM) was used to calculate the wind-induced response of the blades and tower. Wind-induced responses of the tower were calculated in two cases (one included the blade-tower coupling effect, and the other only added the mass of blades and the hub at the top of the tower), and then the maximal displacements at the top of the tower of the tow cases were compared with each other. As a result of the influence of the blade-tower coupling effect and the total base shear of the blades, the maximal displacement of the first case increased nearly by 300% compared to the second case. To obtain more precise analysis, the blade-tower coupling effect and the total base shear of the blades should be considered simultaneously in the design of wind turbine towers.

  7. Wind turbines and bat mortality: Doppler shift profiles and ultrasonic bat-like pulse reflection from moving turbine blades.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Long, Chloe V; Flint, James A; Lepper, Paul A

    2010-10-01

    Bat mortality resulting from actual or near-collision with operational wind turbine rotors is a phenomenon that is widespread but not well understood. Because bats rely on information contained in high-frequency echoes to determine the nature and movement of a target, it is important to consider how ultrasonic pulses similar to those used by bats for echolocation may be interacting with operational turbine rotor blades. By assessing the characteristics of reflected ultrasonic echoes, moving turbine blades operating under low wind speed conditions (<6 m s(-1)) were found to produce distinct Doppler shift profiles at different angles to the rotor. Frequency shifts of up to ±700-800 Hz were produced, which may not be perceptible by some bat species. Monte Carlo simulation of bat-like sampling by echolocation revealed that over 50 rotor echoes could be required by species such as Pipistrellus pipistrellus for accurate interpretation of blade movement, which may not be achieved in the bat's approach time-window. In summary, it was found that echoes returned from moving blades had features which could render them attractive to bats or which might make it difficult for the bat to accurately detect and locate blades in sufficient time to avoid a collision.

  8. Complementary Aerodynamic Performance Datasets for Variable Speed Power Turbine Blade Section from Two Independent Transonic Turbine Cascades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flegel, Ashlie B.; Welch, Gerard E.; Giel, Paul W.; Ames, Forrest E.; Long, Jonathon A.

    2015-01-01

    Two independent experimental studies were conducted in linear cascades on a scaled, two-dimensional mid-span section of a representative Variable Speed Power Turbine (VSPT) blade. The purpose of these studies was to assess the aerodynamic performance of the VSPT blade over large Reynolds number and incidence angle ranges. The influence of inlet turbulence intensity was also investigated. The tests were carried out in the NASA Glenn Research Center Transonic Turbine Blade Cascade Facility and at the University of North Dakota (UND) High Speed Compressible Flow Wind Tunnel Facility. A large database was developed by acquiring total pressure and exit angle surveys and blade loading data for ten incidence angles ranging from +15.8deg to -51.0deg. Data were acquired over six flow conditions with exit isentropic Reynolds number ranging from 0.05×106 to 2.12×106 and at exit Mach numbers of 0.72 (design) and 0.35. Flow conditions were examined within the respective facility constraints. The survey data were integrated to determine average exit total-pressure and flow angle. UND also acquired blade surface heat transfer data at two flow conditions across the entire incidence angle range aimed at quantifying transitional flow behavior on the blade. Comparisons of the aerodynamic datasets were made for three "match point" conditions. The blade loading data at the match point conditions show good agreement between the facilities. This report shows comparisons of other data and highlights the unique contributions of the two facilities. The datasets are being used to advance understanding of the aerodynamic challenges associated with maintaining efficient power turbine operation over a wide shaft-speed range.

  9. Thermal stress analysis and thermo-mechanical fatigue for gas turbine blade

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hyun, J. S.; Kim, B. S.; Kang, M. S.; Ha, J. S.; Lee, Y. S.

    2002-01-01

    The numerical analysis for gas turbine blades were carried out under several conditions by compounding temperature field, velocity field, thermal conduction of blade, and cooling heat transfer. The three types of 1,100 deg. C class 1st-stage gas turbine blades were analyzed. The analysis results are applied to the study on evaluating the remaining life for thermo-mechanical fatigue life. The thermo-mechanical fatigue experiments under out-of-phase and in-phase have been performed. The physical-based life prediction models which considered the contribution of different damage mechanisms have been applied. These models were applied to the temperature and strain rate dependences of isothermal cycling fatigue lives, and the strain-temperature history effect on the thermo-mechanical fatigue lives

  10. Control of Flow Separation on a Turbine Blade by Utilizing Tail Extensions

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Murawski, C

    1999-01-01

    .... The axial chord of the blades was varied using tail extenders from 0% to 15% beyond design. The effects of Reynolds number on a low pressure turbine cascade blade with tail extensions was investigated...

  11. Local fatigue behavior in tapered areas of large offshore wind turbine blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Raeis Hosseiny, Seyed Aydin; Jakobsen, Johnny

    2016-01-01

    failure of an entire blade structure. The local strength degradation under an ultimate static loading, subsequent to several years of fatigue, is predicted for an offshore wind turbine blade. Fatigue failure indexes of different damage modes are calculated using a sub-modeling approach. Multi axial...... knock-down factors for ply-drop effects in wind turbine blades under multi-axial static and fatigue loadings can be obtained.......Thickness transitions in load carrying elements lead to improved geometries and efficient material utilization. However, these transitions may introduce localized areas with high stress concentrations and may act as crack initiators that could potentially cause delamination and further catastrophic...

  12. Crack of a first stage blade in a steam turbine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Nurbanasari

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available The failure of the first stage blade in a steam turbine of 55 MW was investigated. The blade was made of 17-4 PH stainless steel and has been used for 12 years before failure. The current work aims to find out the main cause of the first stage blade failure. The methods for investigation were metallurgical analysis, chemical composition test, and hardness measurement. The result showed that there was no evidence the blade failure was due to material. The damage found on the blade namely crack on the blade root. Two locations of the crack observed at the blade root, which was at the tang and the fillet, with different failure modes. In general, the damage of the blade was started by the corrosion occurred on the blade root. The crack at the blade root tang was due to corrosion fatigue and the crack occurred at the blade root fillet owing to stress corrosion cracking.

  13. Experimental Evaluation of Cermet Turbine Stator Blades for Use at Elevated Gas Temperatures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiarito, Patrick T.; Johnston, James R.

    1959-01-01

    The suitability of cermets for turbine stator blades of a modified turbojet engine was determined at an average turbine-inlet-gas temperature of 2000 F. Such an increase in temperature would yield a premium in thrust from a service engine. Because the cermet blades require no cooling, all the available compressor bleed air could be used to cool a turbine made from conventional ductile alloys. Cermet blades were first run in 100-hour endurance tests at normal gas temperatures in order to evaluate two methods for mounting them. The elevated gas-temperature test was then run using the method of support considered best for high-temperature operation. After 52 hours at 2000 F, one of the group of four cermet blades fractured probably because of end loads resulting from thermal distortion of the spacer band of the nozzle diaphragm. Improved design of a service engine would preclude this cause of premature failure.

  14. Development and application of a dynamic stall model for rotating wind turbine blades

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu, B F; Yuan, Y; Wang, T G

    2014-01-01

    In unsteady conditions of wind turbines, both the dynamic stall phenomenon and the three-dimensional (3D) rotational effect affect the rotor aerodynamics. The dynamic stall mechanism for rotating wind turbine blades is first investigated. Through the comparison of the aerodynamic data between the rotating blade and the two-dimensional (2D) airfoil, the normal force slope in the attached flow and the separation point expression in the separated flow are modified in the Beddoes-Leishman (B-L) dynamic stall model for rotating NREL wind turbine blades. The modified model is validated by the comparison between the calculation results and the experimental results of the lift and drag coefficients at different radial positions. Both the hysteresis loop shapes and the calculation values are closer to the experiment than the 2D dynamic stall model. The present dynamic stall model is then coupled to a free vortex wake model. The coupled model is used to calculate the unsteady blade aerodynamic loads and the low speed shaft torque of the NREL wind turbine in a yawed condition. The accuracy is greatly improved by the corrections presented in the paper

  15. Investigation of the effect of bending twisting coupling on the loads in wind turbines with superelement blade definition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gözcü, M O; Kayran, A

    2014-01-01

    Bending-twisting coupling in the composite blades is exploited for load alleviation in the whole turbine system. For the purpose of the study, inverse design of a reference blade is performed such that sectional beam properties of the 3D blade design approximately match the sectional beam properties of NREL's 5MW turbine blade. In order to appropriately account for the bending-twisting coupling effect, dynamic superelement of the blade is created and introduced into the multi-body dynamic model of the wind turbine system. Initially, a comparative study is conducted on the performance of wind turbines which have blades defined as superelements and geometrically nonlinear beams, and conclusions are inferred with regard to the appropriateness of the use of superelement blade definition in the transient analysis of the 5MW wind turbine system that is set up in the present study. Multi-body dynamic simulations of the wind turbine system are performed for the power production load case with the constant wind and the normal turbulence model as external wind loadings. For the internal loads, fatigue damage equivalent load is used as the metric to assess the effect of bending-twisting coupling on the load alleviation in the whole wind turbine system. Results show that in the overall, through the bending-twisting coupling induced with the use of off-axis plies in the main spar caps of the blade, damage equivalent loads associated with the critical load components can be reduced in the wind turbine system

  16. Analisa Bentuk Profile Dan Jumlah Blade Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Terhadap Putaran Rotor Untuk Menghasilkan Energi Listrik

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saiful Saiful Huda

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Turbin angin adalah suatu alat untuk mengkonversi energi angin menjadi energi mekanik yang kemudian dikonversi lagi menjadi energi listrik. Putaran pada poros turbin angin dihubungkan pada generator untuk menghasilkan energi listrik. Berdasarkan penelitian yang dilakukan sebelumnya, banyak jenis turbin angin yang ditemukan untuk meningkatkan effisiensi dan torsi yang dihasilkan salah satu contohnya adalah vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT. VAWT merupakan turbin angin dengan sumbu vertical atau tegak lurus terhadap tanah. Tujuan dari tugas akhir ini adalah mengetahui seberapa besar pengaruh peningkatan panjang chord, jumlah blade, sudut pitch dari blade terhadap torsi dan effisiensi yang dihasilkan oleh VAWT dengan pendekatan CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamic. Analisa yang dilakukan untuk melihat efek peningkatan panjang chord, jumlah blade dan sudt pitch dari blade. Setelah analisa berakhir kita membandingkan hasil analisa dalam grafik. Hasil dari analisa tersebut adalah torsi terbesar terdapat pada variasi panjang chord 1.5 m dengan sudut pitch 10o dan jumlah blade 4 buah dengan nilai 134.9452198   Nm.

  17. Parametric study of turbine NGV blade lean and vortex design

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhang Shaowen

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available The effects of blade lean and vortex design on the aerodynamics of a turbine entry nozzle guide vane (NGV are considered using computational fluid dynamics. The aim of the work is to address some of the uncertainties which have arisen from previous studies where conflicting results have been reported for the effect on the NGV. The configuration was initially based on the energy efficient engine turbine which also served as the validation case for the computational method. A total of 17 NGV configurations were evaluated to study the effects of lean and vortex design on row efficiency and secondary kinetic energy. The distribution of mass flow ratio is introduced as an additional factor in the assessment of blade lean effects. The results show that in the turbine entry NGV, the secondary flow strength is not a dominant factor that determines NGV losses and therefore the changes of loading distribution due to blade lean and the associated loss mechanisms should be regarded as a key factor. Radial mass flow redistribution under different NGV lean and twist is demonstrated as an addition key factor influencing row efficiency.

  18. Edgewise vibration control of wind turbine blades using roller and liquid dampers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Z L; Nielsen, S R K

    2014-01-01

    This paper deals with the passive vibration control of edgewise vibrations by means of roller dampers and tuned liquid column dampers (TLCDs). For a rotating blade, the large centrifugal acceleration makes it possible to use roller dampers or TLCDs with rather small masses for effectively suppressing edgewise vibrations. The roller dampers are more volumetrically efficient due to the higher mass density of the steel comparing with the liquid. On the other hand, TLCDs have their advantage that it is easier to specify the optimum damping of the damper by changing the opening ratio of the orifice. In this paper, 2-DOF nonlinear models are suggested for tuning a roller damper or a TLCD attached to a rotating wind turbine blade, ignoring the coupling between the blade and the tower. The decoupled optimization is verified by incorporating the optimized damper into a more sophisticated 13- DOF wind turbine model with due consideration of the coupled blade-tower-drivetrain vibrations, quasi-static aeroelasticity as well as a collective pitch controller. Performances of the dampers are compared in terms of the control efficiency and the practical applications. The results indicate that roller dampers and TLCDs at optimal tuning can effectively suppress the dynamic response of wind turbine blades

  19. An innovative medium speed wind turbine rotor blade design for low wind regime (electrical power generation)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abas Abd Wahab; Chong Wen Tong

    2001-01-01

    This paper describes the preliminary study of a small-scale wind turbine rotor blade (a low wind speed region turbine). A new wind turbine rotor blade (AE2 blade) for stand alone system has been conceptualized, designed, constructed and tested. The system is a reduced size prototype (half-scaled) to develop an efficient (adapted to Malaysian wind conditions)and cost effective wind energy conversion system (WECS) with local design and production technique. The blades were constructed from aluminium sheet with metal blending technique. The layout and design of rotor blade, its innovative features and test results are presented. Results from indoor test showed that the advantages of AE2 blade in low speed, with the potential of further improvements. The best rotor efficiency, C P attained with simple AE2 blades rotor (number of blade = 3) was 37.3% (Betz efficiency = 63%) at tip speed ratio (TSR) = 3.6. From the fabrication works and indoor testing, the AE2 blade rotor has demonstrated its structural integrity (ease of assembly and transportation), simplicity, acceptable performance and low noise level. (Author)

  20. Investigation Of Failure Mechanisms In A Wind Turbine Blade Root Sub-Structure

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bender, Jens Jakob; Hallett, S.R.; Lindgaard, Esben

    2017-01-01

    and realistic results at the fraction of the cost of a full-scale test. Therefore, this work focuses on testing of sub-structures from the root end of wind turbine blades at the transition from the thick root laminate to the thinner main laminate. Some wind turbine blade manufacturers include pre-cured tapered...... beams in the root to reduce the time required to place the large quantity of material in the mould and to decrease manufacturing defects in these elements. However, this entails the risk of introducing other manufacturing defects during the Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Moulding process such as resin...... pockets and fibre wrinkles. Through this work it is sought to determine the effect that these manufacturing defects can have on the strength properties of the sub-structure. The sub-structures used in this work are cut out from actual wind turbine blades, meaning that the manufacturing defects...

  1. On damage diagnosis for a wind turbine blade using pattern recognition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dervilis, N.; Choi, M.; Taylor, S. G.; Barthorpe, R. J.; Park, G.; Farrar, C. R.; Worden, K.

    2014-03-01

    With the increased interest in implementation of wind turbine power plants in remote areas, structural health monitoring (SHM) will be one of the key cards in the efficient establishment of wind turbines in the energy arena. Detection of blade damage at an early stage is a critical problem, as blade failure can lead to a catastrophic outcome for the entire wind turbine system. Experimental measurements from vibration analysis were extracted from a 9 m CX-100 blade by researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) throughout a full-scale fatigue test conducted at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and National Wind Technology Center (NWTC). The blade was harmonically excited at its first natural frequency using a Universal Resonant EXcitation (UREX) system. In the current study, machine learning algorithms based on Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), including an Auto-Associative Neural Network (AANN) based on a standard ANN form and a novel approach to auto-association with Radial Basis Functions (RBFs) networks are used, which are optimised for fast and efficient runs. This paper introduces such pattern recognition methods into the wind energy field and attempts to address the effectiveness of such methods by combining vibration response data with novelty detection techniques.

  2. Iterative tuning of feedforward IPC for two-bladed wind turbines

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mulders, S.P.; van Solingen, E.; van Wingerden, J.W.; Beerens, J; Bossanyi, E.; Chaviaropoulos, T.; Cheng, P.W.

    2016-01-01

    At present, the cost of offshore wind energy does not meet the level of onshore wind and fossil-based energy sources. One way to extend the turbine lifetime, and thus reduce cost, is by reduction of the fatigue loads of blades and other turbine parts using Individual Pitch Control (IPC). This type

  3. A New Energy-Critical Plane Damage Parameter for Multiaxial Fatigue Life Prediction of Turbine Blades

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zheng-Yong Yu

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available As one of fracture critical components of an aircraft engine, accurate life prediction of a turbine blade to disk attachment is significant for ensuring the engine structural integrity and reliability. Fatigue failure of a turbine blade is often caused under multiaxial cyclic loadings at high temperatures. In this paper, considering different failure types, a new energy-critical plane damage parameter is proposed for multiaxial fatigue life prediction, and no extra fitted material constants will be needed for practical applications. Moreover, three multiaxial models with maximum damage parameters on the critical plane are evaluated under tension-compression and tension-torsion loadings. Experimental data of GH4169 under proportional and non-proportional fatigue loadings and a case study of a turbine disk-blade contact system are introduced for model validation. Results show that model predictions by Wang-Brown (WB and Fatemi-Socie (FS models with maximum damage parameters are conservative and acceptable. For the turbine disk-blade contact system, both of the proposed damage parameters and Smith-Watson-Topper (SWT model show reasonably acceptable correlations with its field number of flight cycles. However, life estimations of the turbine blade reveal that the definition of the maximum damage parameter is not reasonable for the WB model but effective for both the FS and SWT models.

  4. Leading edge erosion of coated wind turbine blades: Review of coating life models

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Slot, H.M.; Gelinck, E.R.M.; Rentrop, A.; van der Heide, Emile

    2015-01-01

    Erosion of the leading edge of wind turbine blades by droplet impingement wear, reduces blade aerodynamic efficiency and power output. Eventually, it compromises the integrity of blade surfaces. Elastomeric coatings are currently used for erosion resistance, yet the life of such coatings cannot be

  5. Study on performance and flow field of an undershot cross-flow water turbine comprising different number of blades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nishi, Yasuyuki; Hatano, Kentaro; Inagaki, Terumi

    2017-10-01

    Recently, small hydroelectric generators have gained attention as a further development in water turbine technology for ultra low head drops in open channels. The authors have evaluated the application of cross-flow water turbines in open channels as an undershot type after removing the casings and guide vanes to substantially simplify these water turbines. However, because undershot cross-flow water turbines are designed on the basis of cross-flow water turbine runners used in typical pipelines, it remains unclear whether the number of blades has an effect on the performance or flow fields. Thus, in this research, experiments and numerical analyses are employed to study the performance and flow fields of undershot cross-flow water turbines with varying number of blades. The findings show that the turbine output and torque are lower, the fluctuation is significantly higher, and the turbine efficiency is higher for runners with 8 blades as opposed to those with 24 blades.

  6. Resonant vibration control of three-bladed wind turbine rotors

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Krenk, Steen; Svendsen, Martin Nymann; Høgsberg, Jan Becker

    2012-01-01

    Rotors with blades, as in wind turbines, are prone to vibrations due to the flexibility of the blades and the support. In the present paper a theory is developed for active control of a combined set of vibration modes in three-bladed rotors. The control system consists of identical collocated...... to influence of other nonresonant modes. The efficiency of the method isdemonstrated byapplication to a rotor with 42 m blades, where the sensor/actuator system is implemented in the form of an axial extensible strut near the root of each blade. The load is provided by a simple but fully threedimensional...... correlated wind velocity field. It is shown by numerical simulations that the active damping system can provide a significant reduction in the response amplitude of the targeted modes, while applying control moments to the blades that are about 1 order of magnitude smaller than the moments from the external...

  7. Design of horizontal-axis wind turbine using blade element momentum method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bobonea, Andreea; Pricop, Mihai Victor

    2013-10-01

    The study of mathematical models applied to wind turbine design in recent years, principally in electrical energy generation, has become significant due to the increasing use of renewable energy sources with low environmental impact. Thus, this paper shows an alternative mathematical scheme for the wind turbine design, based on the Blade Element Momentum (BEM) Theory. The results from the BEM method are greatly dependent on the precision of the lift and drag coefficients. The basic of BEM method assumes the blade can be analyzed as a number of independent element in spanwise direction. The induced velocity at each element is determined by performing the momentum balance for a control volume containing the blade element. The aerodynamic forces on the element are calculated using the lift and drag coefficient from the empirical two-dimensional wind tunnel test data at the geometric angle of attack (AOA) of the blade element relative to the local flow velocity.

  8. Evaluation of fatigue damage for wind turbine blades using acoustic emission

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jee, Hyun Sup; Ju, No Hoe [Korea Institute of Materials Science, Changwon (Korea, Republic of); So, Cheal Ho [Dongshin University, Naju (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Jong Kyu [Dept. of Physics, Pukyung National University, Busan (Korea, Republic of)

    2015-06-15

    In this study, the flap fatigue test of a 48 m long wind turbine blade was performed for 1 million cycles to evaluate the characteristics of acoustic emission signals generated from fatigue damage of the wind blades. As the number of hits and total energy continued to increase during the first 0.6 million cycles, blade damage was constant. The rise-time result showed that the major aspects of damage were initiation and propagation of matrix cracks. In addition, the signal analysis of each channel showed that the most seriously damaged sections were the joint between the skin and spar, 20 m from the connection, and the spot of actual damage was observable by visual inspection. It turned out that the event source location was related to the change in each channel{sup s} total energy. It is expected that these findings will be useful for the optimal design of wind turbine blades.

  9. Multi-dimensional optimization of small wind turbine blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sessarego, Matias; Wood, David

    2015-01-01

    used to reduce the rotor inertia to help minimize starting time. Two airfoils are considered: the 10% thick SG6043 which has excellent lift:drag performance at low Reynolds number and the SD7062 whose extra thickness (14%) has some structural advantages, particularly for the weaker material (c). All......This paper describes a computer method to allow the design of small wind turbine blades for the multiple objectives of rapid starting, efficient power extraction, low noise, and minimal mass. For the sake of brevity, only the first two and the last objectives are considered in this paper....... The optimization aimed to study a range of blade materials, from traditional fibreglass through sustainable alternatives to rapid prototyping plastic. Because starting performance depends on blade inertia, there is a complex interaction between the material properties and the aerodynamics. Example blades of 1.1 m...

  10. Ambient air cooling arrangement having a pre-swirler for gas turbine engine blade cooling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Ching-Pang; Tham, Kok-Mun; Schroeder, Eric; Meeroff, Jamie; Miller, Jr., Samuel R; Marra, John J

    2015-01-06

    A gas turbine engine including: an ambient-air cooling circuit (10) having a cooling channel (26) disposed in a turbine blade (22) and in fluid communication with a source (12) of ambient air: and an pre-swirler (18), the pre-swirler having: an inner shroud (38); an outer shroud (56); and a plurality of guide vanes (42), each spanning from the inner shroud to the outer shroud. Circumferentially adjacent guide vanes (46, 48) define respective nozzles (44) there between. Forces created by a rotation of the turbine blade motivate ambient air through the cooling circuit. The pre-swirler is configured to impart swirl to ambient air drawn through the nozzles and to direct the swirled ambient air toward a base of the turbine blade. The end walls (50, 54) of the pre-swirler may be contoured.

  11. Aeroelastically coupled blades for vertical axis wind turbines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paquette, Joshua; Barone, Matthew F.

    2016-02-23

    Various technologies described herein pertain to a vertical axis wind turbine blade configured to rotate about a rotation axis. The vertical axis wind turbine blade includes at least an attachment segment, a rear swept segment, and optionally, a forward swept segment. The attachment segment is contiguous with the forward swept segment, and the forward swept segment is contiguous with the rear swept segment. The attachment segment includes a first portion of a centroid axis, the forward swept segment includes a second portion of the centroid axis, and the rear swept segment includes a third portion of the centroid axis. The second portion of the centroid axis is angularly displaced ahead of the first portion of the centroid axis and the third portion of the centroid axis is angularly displaced behind the first portion of the centroid axis in the direction of rotation about the rotation axis.

  12. Wind Turbine Load Mitigation based on Multivariable Robust Control and Blade Root Sensors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Corcuera, A Díaz de; Pujana-Arrese, A; Ezquerra, J M; Segurola, E; Landaluze, J

    2014-01-01

    This paper presents two H ∞ multivariable robust controllers based on blade root sensors' information for individual pitch angle control. The wind turbine of 5 MW defined in the Upwind European project is the reference non-linear model used in this research work, which has been modelled in the GH Bladed 4.0 software package. The main objective of these controllers is load mitigation in different components of wind turbines during power production in the above rated control zone. The first proposed multi-input multi-output (MIMO) individual pitch H'' controller mitigates the wind effect on the tower side-to-side acceleration and reduces the asymmetrical loads which appear in the rotor due to its misalignment. The second individual pitch H'' multivariable controller mitigates the loads on the three blades reducing the wind effect on the bending flapwise and edgewise momentums in the blades. The designed H'' controllers have been validated in GH Bladed and an exhaustive analysis has been carried out to calculate fatigue load reduction on wind turbine components, as well as to analyze load mitigation in some extreme cases

  13. Development of an anisotropic beam finite element for composite wind turbine blades in multibody system

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kim, Taeseong; Hansen, Anders Melchior; Branner, Kim

    2013-01-01

    In this paper a new anisotropic beam finite element for composite wind turbine blades is developed and implemented into the aeroelastic nonlinear multibody code, HAWC2, intended to be used to investigate if use of anisotropic material layups in wind turbine blades can be tailored for improved...

  14. Study of a wave power generator system using an air turbine having improved J-shaped blades; Kairyo J gatayoku kuki turbine wo mochiita haryoku hatsuden sochi no kenkyu

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Honma, T; Omata, K; Kojima, N [Meiji University, Tokyo (Japan)

    1997-11-25

    An improved J-shaped blade, in which a J-shaped blade is combined with a small-size Savonius blade, has been developed, to further improve efficiency of an air turbine for wave power generator systems. A prototype model of stationary wave power generator has been developed using the improved blade, to confirm its power generation characteristics by tests in a water tank and small-scale ocean tests. The results are compared with the characteristics of the units with conventional blades. The air turbine unit with the improved blade shows an efficiency of 13 to 35%, which is higher by 10 to 20% than that of the turbine with a J-shaped blade and by 20 to 70% than that of the one with a Savonius blade, more noted at low speed of rotation. It is therefore considered that the turbine with the improved blade is suited for sea areas having a relatively low wave height. It is also considered that efficiency can be further enhanced, when one or more guide vanes are provided around the blade. 2 refs., 12 figs.

  15. Study on torsion arc blade type horizontal axis wind turbine; Nejire enko yokugata suihei jiku fusha ni kansuru kenkyu

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kojima, N; Kishimura, K [Meiji University, Tokyo (Japan)

    1996-10-27

    Discussing the rotor blades of the torsion arc blade type (TABT) wind turbine, difference in windmilling characteristics was determined between elliptic blades and rectangular blades by theoretical analysis and model experiment. Experimental generation of power was carried out using a test wind turbine in the natural wind. First, elliptic blades were bent into arcs and fixed to shaft. The action force was determined calculating the blade area and the wind velocity vertical thereto. Furthermore, the force in the direction to turn the rotor was determined with the effect of the part behind the blade taken into account. The rotation-curbing air resistance in the flank direction that a rotor experiences was subtracted to determine the torque generated. A formula was derived for the elliptic blade. Second, a formula was derived in the same way for the case of rectangular blades. In conclusion, in the case of 6-blade wind turbine, the rate of responsibility for wind turbine rotation of the part behind the blade was approximately 50% of the part in front of the blade. Shape coefficients were introduced into the theory, which resulted in values agreeing well with values obtained from experiments. Elliptic blades yielded more power than rectangular blades at the same wind velocity. High in durability, the TABT wind turbine is expected to be put into practical use as a compact auxiliary power generating device. 2 refs., 14 figs.

  16. A smart segmented blade system for reducing weight of the wind turbine rotor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lu, Hongya; Zeng, Pan; Lei, Liping; Yang, Yabin; Xu, Yuejie; Qian, Lingyun

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • A segmented blade system to light the wind turbine rotor is proposed. • The experiments in the wind tunnel and the numerical calculation are combined to validate the effectiveness of the design. • The moment of the blade below the hinged location are alleviated. • The mounting locations of the hinged rods significantly affect the moment distribution on the blade. • The gross weight of the blade can be reduced by 35.4%. - Abstract: The paper proposes a novel design concept for the wind turbine rotors. The design is composed of the segmented blades and a hinged-rods support structure (SBHR) as a means of reducing weight through alleviating the moment on the blade. A prototype of the design is manufactured. Focusing on the hinged-rods support structure (HRSS), a method combining the experiments and numerical calculation is developed to analyze its feasibility. The experiments in the wind tunnel platform were conducted to measure the loads at the root of the isolated blade and in the rods. A numerical model was developed to describe the designed wind turbine rotor using the measured loads in experiments. In the model, the mounting locations of the hinged rods significantly affected the moment distribution on the blade. Thus, two dimensionless indexes were determined to analyze its influences. The model perfectly explain the characteristics of the novel structure under different configurations. The results demonstrated that the moment of the blade below the hinged location were alleviated, which reduced the requirements for the material. A 43.1% reduction of the maximum moment can be achieved in the design. In addition, the gross reduced weight of the blade was estimated to be 35.4% based on the blade mass distribution along the span

  17. The effect of delaminations on local buckling in wind turbine blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Haselbach, Philipp Ulrich; Bitsche, Robert; Branner, Kim

    2015-01-01

    In this article the effect of delaminations on the load carrying capacity of a large wind turbine blade is studied numerically. For this purpose an 8.65 m long blade section with different initial delaminations in the main spar was subjected to a flapwise dominated bending moment. The model...

  18. Wind Turbine Blade Life-Time Assessment Model for Preventive Planning of Operation and Maintenance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mihai Florian

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Out of the total wind turbine failure events, blade damage accounts for a substantial part, with some studies estimating it at around 23%. Current operation and maintenance (O&M practices typically make use of corrective type maintenance as the basic approach, implying high costs for repair and replacement activities as well as large revenue losses, mainly in the case of offshore wind farms. The recent development and evolution of condition monitoring techniques, as well as the fact that an increasing number of installed turbines are equipped with online monitoring systems, offers a large amount of information on the blades structural health to the decision maker. Further, inspections of the blades are often performed in connection with service. In light of the obtained information, a preventive type of maintenance becomes feasible, with the potential of predicting the blades remaining life to support O&M decisions for avoiding major failure events. The present paper presents a fracture mechanics based model for estimating the remaining life of a wind turbine blade, focusing on the crack propagation in the blades adhesive joints. A generic crack propagation model is built in Matlab based on a Paris law approach. The model is used within a risk-based maintenance decision framework to optimize maintenance planning for the blades lifetime.

  19. Effect of steady deflections on the aeroelastic stability of a turbine blade

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kallesøe, Bjarne Skovmose

    2011-01-01

    This paper deals with effects of geometric non-linearities on the aeroelastic stability of a steady-state defl ected blade. Today, wind turbine blades are long and slender structures that can have a considerable steady-state defl ection which affects the dynamic behaviour of the blade. The fl...... apwise blade defl ection causes the edgewise blade motion to couple to torsional blade motion and thereby to the aerodynamics through the angle of attack. The analysis shows that in the worst case for this particular blade, the edgewise damping can be decreased by half. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons......, Ltd....

  20. Evaluation of urethane for feasibility of use in wind turbine blade design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lieblein, S.; Ross, R. S.; Fertis, D. G.

    1979-01-01

    A preliminary evaluation was conducted of the use of cast urethane as a possible material for low-cost blades for wind turbines. Specimen test data are presented for ultimate tensile strength, elastic modulus, flexural strain, creep, and fatigue properties of a number of urethane formulations. Data are also included for a large-scale urethane blade section composed of cast symmetrical half-profiles tested as a cantilever beam. Based on these results, an analysis was conducted of a full-scale blade design of cast urethane that meets the design specifications of the rotor blades for the NASA/DOE experimental 100-kW MOD-0 wind turbine. Because of the low value of elastic modulus for urethane (around 457 000 psi), the design loads would have to be carried by metal reinforcement. Considerations for further evaluation are noted.

  1. Redesign of steam turbine rotor blades and rotor packages – Environmental analysis within systematic eco-design approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baran, Jolanta

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • Systematic approach to eco-design of steam turbine rotor blades was applied. • Eco-innovative solutions are based on structural and technological change. • At the stage of detailed design the variants were analyzed using LCA. • Main achieved benefits: energy and material savings, lower environmental impact. • Benefits related to the possible scale of the solution practical application. - Abstract: Eco-design of steam turbine blades could be one of the possibilities of decreasing the environmental impact of energy systems based on turbines. The paper investigates the eco-design approach to elaboration of the rotor blades and packages. The purpose is to present the course of eco-design of the rotor blades and the rotor packages taking account of eco-design assumptions, solutions and the concept itself. The following eco-design variants of the rotor blades and the rotor packages are considered: elements of the rotor blades made separately (baseline variant of the rotor blades); elements of the rotor blades made of one piece of material; blades in packages made separately and welded (baseline variant of the rotor packages); packages milled as integral elements. At the stage of detailed design, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is performed in relation to a functional unit – the rotor blades and packages ready for installation in a steam turbine, which is the stage of the turbine. The obtained results indicate that eco-innovative solutions for the turbine blades and packages could be achieved through structural and technological changes. Applying new solutions of the rotor blades may produce the following main benefits: 3.3% lower use of materials, 29.4% decrease in energy consumption at the manufacturing stage, 7.7% decrease in the environmental impact in the life cycle. In relation to the rotor packages, the following main benefits may be achieved: 20.5% lower use of materials, 25.0% decrease in energy consumption at the production stage, 16

  2. Turbine-blade tip clearance and tip timing measurements using an optical fiber bundle sensor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia, Iker; Beloki, Josu; Zubia, Joseba; Durana, Gaizka; Aldabaldetreku, Gotzon

    2013-04-01

    Traditional limitations of capacitive, inductive or discharging probe sensor for tip timing and tip clearance measurements are overcome by reflective intensity modulated optical fiber sensors. This paper presents the signals and results corresponding to a one stage turbine rig which rotor has 146 blades, obtained from a transonic wind-tunnel test. The probe is based on a trifurcated bundle of optical fibers that is mounted on turbine casing. It is composed of a central illuminating fiber that guides the light from a laser to the turbine blade, and two concentric rings of receiving fibers that collect the reflected light. Two photodetectors turn this reflected light signal from the receiving rings into voltage. The electrical signals are acquired and saved by a high-sample-rate oscilloscope. In tip clearance calculations the ratio of the signals provided by each ring of receiving fibers is evaluated and translated into distance. In the case of tip timing measurements, only one of the signals is considered to get the arrival time of the blade. The differences between the real and theoretical arrival times of the blades are used to obtain the deflections amplitude. The system provides the travelling wave spectrum, which presents the average vibration amplitude of the blades at a certain nodal diameter. The reliability of the results in the turbine rig testing facilities suggests the possibility of performing these measurements in real turbines under real working conditions.

  3. Reducing uncertainty in wind turbine blade health inspection with image processing techniques

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Huiyi

    Structural health inspection has been widely applied in the operation of wind farms to find early cracks in wind turbine blades (WTBs). Increased numbers of turbines and expanded rotor diameters are driving up the workloads and safety risks for site employees. Therefore, it is important to automate the inspection process as well as minimize the uncertainties involved in routine blade health inspection. In addition, crack documentation and trending is vital to assess rotor blade and turbine reliability in the 20 year designed life span. A new crack recognition and classification algorithm is described that can support automated structural health inspection of the surface of large composite WTBs. The first part of the study investigated the feasibility of digital image processing in WTB health inspection and defined the capability of numerically detecting cracks as small as hairline thickness. The second part of the study identified and analyzed the uncertainty of the digital image processing method. A self-learning algorithm was proposed to recognize and classify cracks without comparing a blade image to a library of crack images. The last part of the research quantified the uncertainty in the field conditions and the image processing methods.

  4. Experimental tests of the effect of rotor diameter ratio and blade number to the cross-flow wind turbine performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Susanto, Sandi; Tjahjana, Dominicus Danardono Dwi Prija; Santoso, Budi

    2018-02-01

    Cross-flow wind turbine is one of the alternative energy harvester for low wind speeds area. Several factors that influence the power coefficient of cross-flow wind turbine are the diameter ratio of blades and the number of blades. The aim of this study is to find out the influence of the number of blades and the diameter ratio on the performance of cross-flow wind turbine and to find out the best configuration between number of blades and diameter ratio of the turbine. The experimental test were conducted under several variation including diameter ratio between outer and inner diameter of the turbine and number of blades. The variation of turbine diameter ratio between inner and outer diameter consisted of 0.58, 0.63, 0.68 and 0.73 while the variations of the number of blades used was 16, 20 and 24. The experimental test were conducted under certain wind speed which are 3m/s until 4 m/s. The result showed that the configurations between 0.68 diameter ratio and 20 blade numbers is the best configurations that has power coefficient of 0.049 and moment coefficient of 0.185.

  5. Multiple piece turbine rotor blade

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Russell B; Fedock, John A

    2013-05-21

    A multiple piece turbine rotor blade with a shell having an airfoil shape and secured between a spar and a platform with the spar including a tip end piece. a snap ring fits around the spar and abuts against the spar tip end piece on a top side and abuts against a shell on the bottom side so that the centrifugal loads from the shell is passed through the snap ring and into the spar and not through a tip cap dovetail slot and projection structure.

  6. Damping of edgewise vibration in wind turbine blades by means of circular liquid dampers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Basu, Biswajit; Zhang, Zili; Nielsen, Søren R.K.

    2016-01-01

    centrifugal acceleration. This centrifugal acceleration makes the use of this kind of oscillatory liquid damper feasible with a small mass ratio to effectively suppress edgewise vibrations. A reduced 2-DOF non-linear model is used for tuning the CLCD attached to a rotating wind turbine blade, ignoring......This paper proposes a new type of passive vibration control damper for controlling edgewise vibrations of wind turbine blades. The damper is a variant of the liquid column damper and is termed as a circular liquid column damper (CLCD). Rotating wind turbine blades generally experience a large...... the coupling between the blade and the tower. The performance of the damper is evaluated under various rotational speeds of the rotor. A special case in which the rotational speed is so small that the gravity dominates the motion of the liquid is also investigated. Further, the legitimacy of the decoupled...

  7. Independent Blade Pitch Controller Design for a Three-Bladed Turbine Using Disturbance Accommodating Control: Preprint

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wang, Na; Wright, Alan D.; Johnson, Kathryn E.

    2016-07-29

    Two independent pitch controllers (IPCs) based on the disturbance accommodating control (DAC) algorithm are designed for the three-bladed Controls Advanced Research Turbine to regulate rotor speed and to mitigate blade root flapwise bending loads in above-rated wind speed. One of the DAC-based IPCs is designed based on a transformed symmetrical-asymmetrical (TSA) turbine model, with wind disturbances being modeled as a collective horizontal component and an asymmetrical linear shear component. Another DAC-based IPC is designed based on a multiblade coordinate (MBC) transformed turbine model, with a horizontal component and a vertical shear component being modeled as step waveform disturbance. Both of the DAC-based IPCs are found via a regulation equation solved by Kronecker product. Actuator dynamics are considered in the design processes to compensate for actuator phase delay. The simulation study shows the effectiveness of the proposed DAC-based IPCs compared to a proportional-integral (PI) collective pitch controller (CPC). Improvement on rotor speed regulation and once-per-revolution and twice-per-revolution load reductions has been observed in the proposed IPC designs.

  8. The use of wood for wind turbine blade construction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gougeon, M.; Zuteck, M.

    1979-01-01

    The interrelationships between moisture and wood, conditions for dry rot spore activity, the protection of wood fibers from moisture, wood resin composites, wood laminating, quality control, and the mechanical properties of wood are discussed. The laminated veneer and the bonded sawn stock fabrication techniques, used in the construction of a turbine blade with a monocoque 'D' section forming the leading edge and a built up trailing edge section, are described. A 20 foot root end sample complete with 24 bonded-in studs was successfully subjected to large onetime loads in both the flatwise and edgewise directions, and to fatigue tests. Results indicate that wood is both a viable and advantageous material for use in wind turbine blades. The basic material is reasonably priced, domestically available, ecologically sound, and easily fabricated with low energy consumption.

  9. Design and fabrication of a composite wind turbine blade

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, R. A.; Haley, R. G.

    1980-01-01

    The design considerations are described which led to the combination of materials used for the MOD-I wind turbine generator rotor and to the fabrication processes which were required to accomplish it. It is noted that the design problem was to create a rotor for a 2500 kW wind turbine generator. The rotor was to consist of two blades, each with a length of 97.5 feet and a weight of less than 21,000 pounds. The spanwise frequency is 1.17-1.45 Hz, and the chordwise frequency 2.80-2.98 Hz. The design life of the blade is 30 years, or 4.35 x 10 to the 8th cycles. The structures of the spars and trailing edges are described, and the adhesive bonding system is discussed.

  10. Prospects for the domestic production of large-sized cast blades and vanes for industrial gas turbines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kazanskiy, D. A.; Grin, E. A.; Klimov, A. N.; Berestevich, A. I.

    2017-10-01

    Russian experience in the production of large-sized cast blades and vanes for industrial gas turbines is analyzed for the past decades. It is noted that the production of small- and medium-sized blades and vanes made of Russian alloys using technologies for aviation, marine, and gas-pumping turbines cannot be scaled for industrial gas turbines. It is shown that, in order to provide manufacturability under large-scale casting from domestic nickel alloys, it is necessary to solve complex problems in changing their chemical composition, to develop new casting technologies and to optimize the heat treatment modes. An experience of PAO NPO Saturn in manufacturing the blades and vanes made of ChS88U-VI and IN738-LC foundry nickel alloys for the turbines of the GTE-110 gas turbine unit is considered in detail. Potentialities for achieving adopted target parameters for the mechanical properties of working blades cast from ChS88UM-VI modified alloy are established. For the blades made of IN738-LC alloy manufactured using the existing foundry technology, a complete compliance with the requirements of normative and technical documentation has been established. Currently, in Russia, the basis of the fleet of gas turbine plants is composed by foreign turbines, and, for the implementation of the import substitution program, one can use the positive experience of PAO NPO Saturn in casting blades from IN738-LC alloy based on a reverse engineering technique. A preliminary complex of studies of the original manufacturer's blades should be carried out, involving, first of all, the determination of geometric size using modern measurement methods as well as the studies on the chemical compositions of the used materials (base metal and protective coatings). Further, verifying the constructed calculation models based on the obtained data, one could choose available domestic materials that would meet the operating conditions of the blades according to their heat resistance and corrosion

  11. Near net shape forging of titanium alloy turbine blade

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Morita, Akiyasu; Hattori, Shigeo; Tani, Kazuhito; Takemura, Atsushi; Ashida, Yoshio

    1991-01-01

    The isothermal forging process has been developed to produce turbine blades made of near β Ti-alloy Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al. It is important to set the preform at the optimum position of the die in order to get a high precision product. The deformation analysis by using FEM is effective to determine the optimum position. And also it is necessary to avoid buckling induced by the restriction of axial elongation of the material. As a result, Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al blades could be formed precisely by using only one stage of forging, and machining was needed only at the root. The thickness of the oxide layer induced on the surface of the forged blade was only 70μm. The mechanical properties of Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al blades after forging and annealing were superior to those of Ti-6Al-4V blades and were nearly uniform across the length of the blades. (author)

  12. The Effect of Mounting Vortex Generators on the DTU 10MW Reference Wind Turbine Blade

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skrzypinski, Witold Robert; Gaunaa, Mac; Bak, Christian

    2014-01-01

    The aim of the current work is to analyze possible advantages of mounting Vortex Generators (VG's) on a wind turbine blade. Specifically, the project aims at investigating at which radial sections of the DTU 10 MW Reference Wind Turbine blade it is most beneficial to mount the VG's in order...

  13. Developments in blade shape design for a Darrieus vertical axis wind turbine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ashwill, T. D.; Leonard, T. M.

    1986-09-01

    A new computer program package has been developed that determines the troposkein shape for a Darrieus Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Blade with any geometrical configuration or rotation rate. This package allows users to interact and develop a buildable blade whose shape closely approximates the troposkein. Use of this package can significantly reduce flatwise mean bending stresses in the blade and increase fatigue life.

  14. Wear Resistance Performance of Conventional and Non-Conventional Wind Turbine Blades with TiN Nano-Coating

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muhammad Hasibul Hasan

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Efficiency and durability are critical issues that affect widely-adopted aerofoil-power generator as a sustainable source of electrical power. Even though high wind power density can be achieved; installing wind turbines in desert condition has difficulties including thermal variation, high turbulence and sand storms. Sand blasting on turbine blade surface at high velocities causes erosion resulting turbine efficiency drop. Damage-induced erosion phenomena and aeroelastic performance of the blades needed to be investigated. Suitable coating may prevent erosion to a great extent. A numerical investigation of erosion on NACA 4412 wind turbine blade has been performed using commercial computational fluid dynamics software ANSYS FLUENT 14.5 release. Discrete phase model (DPM has been used for modelling multi-phase flow of air and sand particles over the turbine blade. Governing equations have been solved by finite volume method (FVM. Conventional 30-70% glass fibre resin and non-conventional jute fibre composite have been used as turbine blade material. Sand particles of  diameter have been injected from 20, 30, 45, 60 and 90 degree angles at 500C temperature. Erosion rate, wall shear stress and strain rate have been calculated for different wind velocities and impingement angles. Simulation results for higher velocities deviate from the results observed at lower wind velocities. In simulation, erosion rate is highest for impingement angle at low wind velocities, which has been validated by experiment with a mean absolute error (MAE of 5.56%. Erosion rate and wall shear stress are higher on jute composite fibre than glass fibre resin. Developed shear stress on wind turbine blade surface is highest for  impingement angle at all velocities. On the other hand, exerted pressure on turbine blade surface is found highest for 9  angle of attack. Experimental results, with or without Titanium nitride(TiN nano-coating, also revealed that surface roughness

  15. Extreme Design Loads Calibration of Offshore Wind Turbine Blades through Real Time Measurements

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Natarajan, Anand; Vesth, Allan; Lamata, Rebeca Rivera

    2014-01-01

    Blade Root flap and Edge moments are measured on the blades of a 3.6MW offshore wind turbine in normal operation. Ten minute maxima of the measurements are sampled to determine the extreme blade root flap moment, edge moment and resultant moment over six month duration. A random subset of the mea......Blade Root flap and Edge moments are measured on the blades of a 3.6MW offshore wind turbine in normal operation. Ten minute maxima of the measurements are sampled to determine the extreme blade root flap moment, edge moment and resultant moment over six month duration. A random subset...... of the measurements over a week is taken as input to stochastic load extrapolation whereby the one year extrapolated design extreme is obtained, which are then compared with the maximum extremes obtained from direct measurements over a six month period to validate the magnification in the load levels for the blade...... root flap moment, edge moment obtained by extrapolation. The validation yields valuable information on prescribing the slope of the local extrapolation curve at each mean wind speed. As an alternative to determining the contemporaneous loads for each primary extrapolated load, the blade root resultant...

  16. Calculation and characteristics analysis of blade pitch loads for large scale wind turbines

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2010-01-01

    Based on the electric pitch system of large scale horizontal-axis wind turbines,the blade pitch loads coming mainly from centrifugal force,aerodynamic force and gravity are analyzed,and the calculation models for them are established in this paper.For illustration,a 1.2 MW wind turbine is introduced as a practical sample,and its blade pitch loads from centrifugal force,aerodynamic force and gravity are calculated and analyzed separately and synthetically.The research results showed that in the process of rotor rotating 360o,the fluctuation of blade pitch loads is similar to cosine curve when the rotor rotational speed,in-flow wind speed and pitch angle are constant.Furthermore,the amplitude of blade pitch load presents quite a difference at a different pitch angle.The ways of calculation for blade pitch loads are of the universality,and are helpful for further research of the individual pitch control system.

  17. A zero torsional stiffness twist morphing blade as a wind turbine load alleviation device

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lachenal, X.; Daynes, S.; Weaver, P. M.

    2013-06-01

    This paper presents the design, analysis and realization of a zero stiffness twist morphing wind turbine blade. The morphing blade is designed to actively twist as a means of alleviating the gust loads which reduce the fatigue life of wind turbine blades. The morphing structure exploits an elastic strain energy balance within the blade to enable large twisting deformations with modest actuation requirements. While twist is introduced using the warping of the blade skin, internal pre-stressed members ensure that a constant strain energy balance is achieved throughout the deformation, resulting in a zero torsional stiffness structure. The torsional stability of the morphing blade is characterized by analysing the elastic strain energy in the device. Analytical models of the skin, the pre-stressed components and the complete blade are compared to their respective finite element models as well as experimental results. The load alleviation potential of the adaptive structure is quantified using a two-dimensional steady flow aerodynamic model which is experimentally validated with wind tunnel measurements.

  18. Wind turbine rotor blade monitoring using digital image correlation: a comparison to aeroelastic simulations of a multi-megawatt wind turbine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Winstroth, J; Ernst, B; Seume, J R; Schoen, L

    2014-01-01

    Optical full-field measurement methods such as Digital Image Correlation (DIC) provide a new opportunity for measuring deformations and vibrations with high spatial and temporal resolution. However, application to full-scale wind turbines is not trivial. Elaborate preparation of the experiment is vital and sophisticated post processing of the DIC results essential. In the present study, a rotor blade of a 3.2 MW wind turbine is equipped with a random black-and-white dot pattern at four different radial positions. Two cameras are located in front of the wind turbine and the response of the rotor blade is monitored using DIC for different turbine operations. In addition, a Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) system is used in order to measure the wind conditions. Wind fields are created based on the LiDAR measurements and used to perform aeroelastic simulations of the wind turbine by means of advanced multibody codes. The results from the optical DIC system appear plausible when checked against common and expected results. In addition, the comparison of relative out-ofplane blade deflections shows good agreement between DIC results and aeroelastic simulations

  19. Wind turbine rotor blade monitoring using digital image correlation: a comparison to aeroelastic simulations of a multi-megawatt wind turbine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winstroth, J.; Schoen, L.; Ernst, B.; Seume, J. R.

    2014-06-01

    Optical full-field measurement methods such as Digital Image Correlation (DIC) provide a new opportunity for measuring deformations and vibrations with high spatial and temporal resolution. However, application to full-scale wind turbines is not trivial. Elaborate preparation of the experiment is vital and sophisticated post processing of the DIC results essential. In the present study, a rotor blade of a 3.2 MW wind turbine is equipped with a random black-and-white dot pattern at four different radial positions. Two cameras are located in front of the wind turbine and the response of the rotor blade is monitored using DIC for different turbine operations. In addition, a Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) system is used in order to measure the wind conditions. Wind fields are created based on the LiDAR measurements and used to perform aeroelastic simulations of the wind turbine by means of advanced multibody codes. The results from the optical DIC system appear plausible when checked against common and expected results. In addition, the comparison of relative out-ofplane blade deflections shows good agreement between DIC results and aeroelastic simulations.

  20. Fundamentals for remote structural health monitoring of wind turbine blades - a preproject. Annex E. Full-scale test of wind turbine blade, using sensors and NDT

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kristensen, O.J.D.; McGugan, Malcolm; Sendrup, P.

    2002-01-01

    A 19.1 metre wind turbine blade was subjected to static tests. The purpose of the test series was to verify the abilities of different types of sensors to detect damage in wind turbine blades. Prior to each of the static test-series an artificial damagewas made on the blade. The damage made...... for each test-series was surveyed during each series by acoustic emission, fiber optic micro bend displacement transducers and strain gauges. The propagation of the damage was determined by use of ultra sonic andX-ray surveillance during stops in the test-series. By use of acoustic emission it was possible...... to measure damage propagation before the propagation was of visible size. By use of fiber optic micro bend displacement transducers and strain gauges it waspossible to measure minor damage propagation. By use of both ultra sonic, and X-ray NDT-equipment it were possible to determine the size of propagated...

  1. Blade design and operating experience on the MOD-OA 200 kW wind turbine at Clayton, New Mexico

    Science.gov (United States)

    Linscott, B. S.; Shaltens, R. K.

    1979-01-01

    Two 60 foot long aluminum wind turbine blades were operated for over 3000 hours on the MOD-OA wind turbine. The first signs of blade structural damage were observed after 400 hours of operation. Details of the blade design, loads, cost, structural damage, and repair are discussed.

  2. Anisotropic beam model for analysis and design of passive controlled wind turbine blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Branner, Kim; Blasques, José Pedro Albergaria Amaral; Kim, Taeseong

    . The developed fully coupled beam element and cross section analysis tool has been validated against both numerical calculations and experimental measurements. Numerical validation has been performed against beam type calculations including Variational Asymptotical Beam Section Analysis (VABS) and detailed shell...... and solid finite element analyses. Experimental validation included specially designed beams with built-in couplings, a full-scale blade section originally without couplings, which subsequently was modified with extra composite layers in order to obtain measurable couplings. Both static testing and dynamic...... modal analysis tests have been performed. The results from the project now make it possible to use structural couplings in an intelligent manner for the design of future wind turbine blades. The developed beam element is especially developed for wind turbine blades and can be used for modeling blades...

  3. Multidisciplinary design optimization of film-cooled gas turbine blades

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Talya Shashishekara S.

    1999-01-01

    Full Text Available Design optimization of a gas turbine blade geometry for effective film cooling toreduce the blade temperature has been done using a multiobjective optimization formulation. Three optimization formulations have been used. In the first, the average blade temperature is chosen as the objective function to be minimized. An upper bound constraint has been imposed on the maximum blade temperature. In the second, the maximum blade temperature is chosen as the objective function to be minimized with an upper bound constraint on the average blade temperature. In the third formulation, the blade average and maximum temperatures are chosen as objective functions. Shape optimization is performed using geometric parameters associated with film cooling and blade external shape. A quasi-three-dimensional Navier–Stokes solver for turbomachinery flows is used to solve for the flow field external to the blade with appropriate modifications to incorporate the effect of film cooling. The heat transfer analysis for temperature distribution within the blade is performed by solving the heat diffusion equation using the finite element method. The multiobjective Kreisselmeier–Steinhauser function approach has been used in conjunction with an approximate analysis technique for optimization. The results obtained using both formulations are compared with reference geometry. All three formulations yield significant reductions in blade temperature with the multiobjective formulation yielding largest reduction in blade temperature.

  4. Diagnostics of erosive phenomena in the blades of a turbine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    De Massimi, A.; Imperiali, F.

    1986-01-01

    The factors examined are those considered to be of interest with regard to the possibility applying the technique of thin layer activation for the survey and on-line monitoring of erosive phenomena in the blades of a power turbine. The technique is described with its characteristics, the typical fields in which it is used and its developments; in particular, the main parameters that characterize it and the connections that exist between these and the kind of applications to be carried out are shown. The general characteristics of the turbine are presented; the study is aimed mainly at gathering the special data necessary to apply the technique. In particular, to verify the applicability of the method of analysis in turbines, the following objectives are considered: 1) Identification of suitable radioisotopes and of their level of activity; 2) Dimensioning of the area to activate and its location on the blades; 3) Necessary instrumentation; 4) Protectionist problems

  5. Wind turbine blade life-time assessment model for preventive planning of operation and maintenance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Florian, Mihai; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

    2014-01-01

    Out of the total wind turbine failure events, blade damage accounts for a substantial part, with some studies estimating it at around 23%. Current operation and maintenance (O&M) practices typically make use of corrective type maintenance as the basic approach, implying high costs for repair...... of information on the blades structural health to the decision maker. Further, inspections of the blades are often performed in connection with service. In light of the obtained information, a preventive type of maintenance becomes feasible, with the potential of predicting the blades remaining life to support O......&M decisions for avoiding major failure events. The present paper presents a fracture mechanics based model for estimating the remaining life of a wind turbine blade, focusing on the crack propagation in the blades adhesive joints. A generic crack propagation model is built in Matlab based on a Paris law...

  6. Wind Turbine Blade Life-Time Assessment Model for Preventive Planning of Operation and Maintenance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Florian, Mihai; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

    2015-01-01

    Out of the total wind turbine failure events, blade damage accounts for a substantial part, with some studies estimating it at around 23%. Current operation and maintenance (O&M) practices typically make use of corrective type maintenance as the basic approach, implying high costs for repair...... of information on the blades structural health to the decision maker. Further, inspections of the blades are often performed in connection with service. In light of the obtained information, a preventive type of maintenance becomes feasible, with the potential of predicting the blades remaining life to support O......&M decisions for avoiding major failure events. The present paper presents a fracture mechanics based model for estimating the remaining life of a wind turbine blade, focusing on the crack propagation in the blades adhesive joints. A generic crack propagation model is built in Matlab based on a Paris law...

  7. Damage detection of rotating wind turbine blades using local flexibility method and long-gauge fiber Bragg grating sensors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hsu, Ting-Yu; Shiao, Shen-Yuan; Liao, Wen-I.

    2018-01-01

    Wind turbines are a cost-effective alternative energy source; however, their blades are susceptible to damage. Therefore, damage detection of wind turbine blades is of great importance for condition monitoring of wind turbines. Many vibration-based structural damage detection techniques have been proposed in the last two decades. The local flexibility method, which can determine local stiffness variations of beam-like structures by using measured modal parameters, is one of the most promising vibration-based approaches. The local flexibility method does not require a finite element model of the structure. A few structural modal parameters identified from the ambient vibration signals both before and after damage are required for this method. In this study, we propose a damage detection approach for rotating wind turbine blades using the local flexibility method based on the dynamic macro-strain signals measured by long-gauge fiber Bragg grating (FBG)-based sensors. A small wind turbine structure was constructed and excited using a shaking table to generate vibration signals. The structure was designed to have natural frequencies as close as possible to those of a typical 1.5 MW wind turbine in real scale. The optical fiber signal of the rotating blades was transmitted to the data acquisition system through a rotary joint fixed inside the hollow shaft of the wind turbine. Reversible damage was simulated by aluminum plates attached to some sections of the wind turbine blades. The damaged locations of the rotating blades were successfully detected using the proposed approach, with the extent of damage somewhat over-estimated. Nevertheless, although the specimen of wind turbine blades cannot represent a real one, the results still manifest that FBG-based macro-strain measurement has potential to be employed to obtain the modal parameters of the rotating wind turbines and then locations of wind turbine segments with a change of rigidity can be estimated effectively by

  8. Experimental and Numerical Study on Performance of Ducted Hydrokinetic Turbines with Pre-Swirl Stator Blades.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gish, Andrew

    2015-11-01

    Ducts (also called shrouds) have been shown to improve performance of hydrokinetic turbines in some situations, bringing the power coefficient (Cp) closer to the Betz limit. Here we investigate optimization of the duct design as well as the addition of stator blades upstream of the turbine rotor to introduce pre-swirl in the flow. A small scale three-bladed turbine was tested in a towing tank. Three cases (bare turbine, with duct, and with duct and stators) were tested over a range of flow speeds. Important parameters include duct cross-sectional shape, blade-duct gap, stator cross-sectional shape, and stator angle. For each test, Cp was evaluated as a function of tip speed ratio (TSR). Experimental results were compared with numerical simulations. Results indicate that ducts and stators can improve performance at slower flow speeds and lower the stall speed compared to a bare turbine, but may degrade performance at higher speeds. Ongoing efforts to optimize duct and stator configurations will be discussed.

  9. Design and Analysis of Wind Turbine Blade Hub using Aluminium Alloy AA 6061-T6

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ravikumar, S.; Jaswanthvenkatram, V.; Sai kumar, Y. J. N. V.; Sohaib, S. Md.

    2017-05-01

    This work presents the design and analysis of horizontal axis wind turbine blade hub using different material. The hub is very crucial part of the wind turbine, which experience the loads from the blades and the loads were transmitted to the main shaft. At present wind turbine is more expensive and weights more than a million pounds, with the nacelle, rotor hub and blades accounting for most of the weight. In this work Spheroidal graphite cast iron GGG 40.3 is replaced by aluminium alloy 6061-T6 to enhance the casting properties and also to improve the strength-weight ratio. This transition of material leads to reduction in weight of the wind turbine. All the loads caused by wind and extreme loads on the blades are transferred to the hub. Considering the IEC 61400-1 standard for defining extreme loads on the hub the stress and deflection were calculated on the hub by using Finite element Analysis. Result obtained from ANSYS is compared and discussed with the existing design.

  10. Structural Design of a Horizontal-Axis Tidal Current Turbine Composite Blade

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bir, G. S.; Lawson, M. J.; Li, Y.

    2011-10-01

    This paper describes the structural design of a tidal composite blade. The structural design is preceded by two steps: hydrodynamic design and determination of extreme loads. The hydrodynamic design provides the chord and twist distributions along the blade length that result in optimal performance of the tidal turbine over its lifetime. The extreme loads, i.e. the extreme flap and edgewise loads that the blade would likely encounter over its lifetime, are associated with extreme tidal flow conditions and are obtained using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software. Given the blade external shape and the extreme loads, we use a laminate-theory-based structural design to determine the optimal layout of composite laminas such that the ultimate-strength and buckling-resistance criteria are satisfied at all points in the blade. The structural design approach allows for arbitrary specification of the chord, twist, and airfoil geometry along the blade and an arbitrary number of shear webs. In addition, certain fabrication criteria are imposed, for example, each composite laminate must be an integral multiple of its constituent ply thickness. In the present effort, the structural design uses only static extreme loads; dynamic-loads-based fatigue design will be addressed in the future. Following the blade design, we compute the distributed structural properties, i.e. flap stiffness, edgewise stiffness, torsion stiffness, mass, moments of inertia, elastic-axis offset, and center-of-mass offset along the blade. Such properties are required by hydro-elastic codes to model the tidal current turbine and to perform modal, stability, loads, and response analyses.

  11. Demonstration of partial pitch 2-bladed wind turbine

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kim, Taeseong; Zahle, Frederik; Troldborg, Niels

    -sections on the blade as well as fully resolved rotor simulations, and finally simulations coupling HAWC2 with EllipSys3D, investigating the behaviors of the rotor at standstill, has been performed. For the WP3, the state-of-the art aeroelastic analysis tool, HAWC2, has been updated in order to consider the partial......This is the final report for the EUDP project performed from January 2012 to December 2015. The main objective for the project was to demonstrate the potential of the partial pitch two-bladed (PP-2B) technology. DTU Wind Energy took a responsibility for three workpackages (WPs) among 6 WPs which...... were aerodynamic evaluation of partial pitch technology (WP2), aeroelastic analysis of two-bladed turbine (WP3) and On-site testing (WP4). For the WP2, a comprehensive set of 3D CFD simulations including the gap between inner and outer part of the blade and vortex generators (VGs) of both cross...

  12. Design of low noise wind turbine blades using Betz and Joukowski concepts

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Shen, Wen Zhong; Hrgovan, Iva; Okulov, Valery

    2014-01-01

    This paper presents the aerodynamic design of low noise wind turbine blades using Betz and Joukowski concepts. The aerodynamic model is based on Blade Element Momentum theory whereas the aeroacoustic prediction model is based on the BPM model. The investigation is started with a 3MW baseline...

  13. Ultimate strength of a large wind turbine blade

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Find Mølholt

    2009-01-01

    reinforcements helping to prevent undesired structural elastic mechanisms are presented. The functionality of two of the suggested structural reinforcements was demonstrated in full-scale tests and the rest trough FE-studies. The blade design under investigation consisted of an aerodynamic airfoil and a load...... carrying box girder. In total, five full-scale tests have been performed involving one complete blade and two shortened box girders. The second box girder was submitted to three independent tests covering different structural reinforcement alternatives. The advantages and disadvantages of testing......The present PhD project contains a study of the structural static strength of wind turbine blades loaded in flap-wise direction. A combination of experimental and numerical work has been used to address the most critical failure mechanisms and to get an understanding of the complex structural...

  14. Hydrodynamics automatic optimization of runner blades for reaction hydraulic turbines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balint, D.; Câmpian, V.; Nedelcu, D.; Megheles, O.

    2012-11-01

    The aim of this paper is to optimize the hydrodynamics of the runner blades of hydraulic turbines. The runner presented is an axial Kaplan one, but the methodology is common also to Francis runners. The whole methodology is implemented in the in-house software QTurbo3D. The effect of the runner blades geometry modification upon its hydrodynamics is shown both from energetic and cavitation points of view.

  15. Hydrodynamics automatic optimization of runner blades for reaction hydraulic turbines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Balint, D; Câmpian, V; Nedelcu, D; Megheles, O

    2012-01-01

    The aim of this paper is to optimize the hydrodynamics of the runner blades of hydraulic turbines. The runner presented is an axial Kaplan one, but the methodology is common also to Francis runners. The whole methodology is implemented in the in-house software QTurbo3D. The effect of the runner blades geometry modification upon its hydrodynamics is shown both from energetic and cavitation points of view.

  16. Methodology for Structural Integrity Analysis of Gas Turbine Blades

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tiago de Oliveira Vale

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available One of the major sources of stress arising in turbomachinery blades are the centrifugal loads acting at any section of the airfoil. Accounting for this phenomenon stress evaluation of the blade attachment region in the disc has to be performed in order to avoid blade failure. Turbomachinery blades are generally twisted, and the cross section area varies from the root of the blade to the tip. The blade root shape at the attachment region is of great concern. Stress concentrations are predictable at this contact region. In this paper, a finite element model has been created for the purpose of assessing stress at the joint region connecting the blade to the disc slot. Particular attention was paid to the geometric modeling of the "fir-tree" fixing, which is now used in the majority of gas turbine engines. This study has been performed using the commercial software ANSYS 13.0. The disc and blade assembly are forced to move with a certain rotational velocity. Contact connections are predicted on the common faces of the blade and on the disc at the root. Solutions can be obtained to allow the evaluation of stresses. Results can be compared with the mechanical properties of the adopted material.

  17. Effects of geometric non-linearity on energy release rates in a realistic wind turbine blade cross section

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eder, Martin Alexander; Bitsche, Robert; Belloni, Federico

    2015-01-01

    Most wind turbine rotor blades comprise several adhesively connected sub-components typically made from glass fibre reinforced polymer composite materials. It is a well-known fact that wind turbine blades are prone to fail in their adhesive joints. However, owing to the complexity...... of their structural behaviour, little is known about the root causes of adhesive joint failure. This paper investigates the effects of geometrical non-linearity on energy release rates (ERRs) of transversely oriented cracks present in the adhesive joints of a wind turbine rotor blade. Utilising a computationally...

  18. Structural investigation of composite wind turbine blade considering various load cases and fatigue life

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kong, C.; Bang, J.; Sugiyama, Y.

    2005-01-01

    This study proposes a structural design for developing a medium scale composite wind turbine blade made of E-glass/epoxy for a 750 kW class horizontal axis wind turbine system. The design loads were determined from various load cases specified at the IEC61400-1 international specification and GL regulations for the wind energy conversion system. A specific composite structure configuration, which can effectively endure various loads such as aerodynamic loads and loads due to accumulation of ice, hygro-thermal and mechanical loads, was proposed. To evaluate the proposed composite wind turbine blade, structural analysis was performed by using the finite element method. Parametric studies were carried out to determine an acceptable blade structural design, and the most dominant design parameters were confirmed. In this study, the proposed blade structure was confirmed to be safe and stable under various load conditions, including the extreme load conditions. Moreover, the blade adapted a new blade root joint with insert bolts, and its safety was verified at design loads including fatigue loads. The fatigue life of a blade that has to endure for more than 20 years was estimated by using the well-known S-N linear damage theory, the service load spectrum, and the Spera's empirical equations. With the results obtained from all the structural design and analysis, prototype composite blades were manufactured. A specific construction process including the lay-up molding method was applied to manufacturing blades. Full-scale static structural test was performed with the simulated aerodynamic loads. From the experimental results, it was found that the designed blade had structural integrity. In addition, the measured results of deflections, strains, mass, and radial center of gravity agreed well with the analytical results. The prototype blade was successfully certified by an international certification institute, GL (Germanisher Lloyd) in Germany

  19. Determination of blade-to-coolant heat-transfer coefficients on a forced-convection, water-cooled, single-stage turbine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freche, John C; Schum, Eugene F

    1951-01-01

    Blade-to-coolant convective heat-transfer coefficients were obtained on a forced-convection water-cooled single-stage turbine over a large laminar flow range and over a portion of the transition range between laminar and turbulent flow. The convective coefficients were correlated by the general relation for forced-convection heat transfer with laminar flow. Natural-convection heat transfer was negligible for this turbine over the Grashof number range investigated. Comparison of turbine data with stationary tube data for the laminar flow of heated liquids showed good agreement. Calculated average midspan blade temperatures using theoretical gas-to-blade coefficients and blade-to-coolant coefficients from stationary-tube data resulted in close agreement with experimental data.

  20. Fundamentals for remote structural health monitoring of wind turbine blades - a pre-project. Annex D - Full-scale test of wind turbine blade, using sensors and NDT

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kristensen, O.J.D.; McGugan, M.; Sendrup, P.; Rheinlaender, J.; Rusborg, J.; Hansen, A.M.; Debel, C.P.; Soerensen, B.F.

    2002-05-01

    A 19.1 metre wind turbine blade was subjected to static tests. The purpose of the test series was to verify the abilities of different types of sensors to detect damage in wind turbine blades. Prior to each of the static test-series an artificial damage was made on the blade. The damage made for each test-series was surveyed during each series by acoustic emission, fiber optic micro bend displacement transducers and strain gauges. The propagation of the damage was determined by use of ultra sonic and X-ray surveillance during stops in the test series. By use of acoustic emission it was possible to measure damage propagation before the propagation was of visible size. By use of fiber optic micro bend displacement transducers and strain gauges it was possible to measure minor damage propagation. By use of both ultra sonic, and X-ray NDT-equipment it were possible to determine the size of propagated damage. (au)

  1. Design and initial testing of a one-bladed 30-meter-diameter rotor on the NASA/DOE mod-O wind turbine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corrigan, R. D.; Ensworth, C. B. F.

    1986-01-01

    The concept of a one-bladed horizontal-axis wind turbine has been of interest to wind turbine designers for many years. Many designs and economic analyses of one-bladed wind turbines have been undertaken by both United States and European wind energy groups. The analyses indicate significant economic advantages but at the same time, significant dynamic response concerns. In an effort to develop a broad data base on wind turbine design and operations, the NASA Wind Energy Project Office has tested a one-bladed rotor at the NASA/DOE Mod-O Wind Turbine Facility. This is the only known test on an intermediate-sized one-bladed rotor in the United States. The 15.2-meter-radius rotor consists of a tip-controlled blade and a counterweight assembly. A rigorous test series was conducted in the Fall of 1985 to collect data on rotor performance, drive train/generator dynamics, structural dynamics, and structural loads. This report includes background information on one-bladed rotor concepts, and Mod-O one-bladed rotor test configuration, supporting design analysis, the Mod-O one-blade rotor test plan, and preliminary test results.

  2. Design, fabrication, and test of a composite material wind turbine rotor blade

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griffee, D. G., Jr.; Gustafson, R. E.; More, E. R.

    1977-01-01

    The aerodynamic design, structural design, fabrication, and structural testing is described for a 60 foot long filament wound, fiberglass/epoxy resin matrix wind turbine rotor blade for a 125 foot diameter, 100 kW wind energy conversion system. One blade was fabricated which met all aerodynamic shape requirements and was structurally capable of operating under all specified design conditions. The feasibility of filament winding large rotor blades was demonstrated.

  3. Optimal blade shape of a modified Savonius turbine using an obstacle shielding the returning blade

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mohamed, M.H.; Janiga, G.; Pap, E.; Thevenin, D. [Lab. of Fluid Dynamics and Technical Flows, University of Magdeburg ' ' Otto von Guericke' ' (Germany)

    2011-01-15

    Due to the worldwide energy crisis, research and development activities in the field of renewable energy have been considerably increased in many countries. Wind energy is becoming particularly important. Although considerable progress have already been achieved, the available technical design is not yet adequate to develop reliable wind energy converters for conditions corresponding to low wind speeds and urban areas. The Savonius turbine appears to be particularly promising for such conditions, but suffers from a poor efficiency. The present study considers a considerably improved design in order to increase the output power of a classical Savonius turbine. In previous works, the efficiency of the classical Savonius turbine has been increased by placing in an optimal manner an obstacle plate shielding the returning blade. The present study now aims at improving further the output power of the Savonius turbine as well as the static torque, which measures the self-starting capability of the turbine. In order to achieve both objectives, the geometry of the blade shape (skeleton line) is now optimized in presence of the obstacle plate. Six free parameters are considered in this optimization process, realized by coupling an in-house optimization library (OPAL, relying in the present case on Evolutionary Algorithms) with an industrial flow simulation code (ANSYS-Fluent). The target function is the output power coefficient. Compared to a standard Savonius turbine, a relative increase of the power output coefficient by almost 40% is finally obtained at {lambda} = 0.7. The performance increase exceeds 30% throughout the useful operating range. Finally, the static torque is investigated and found to be positive at any angle, high enough to obtain self-starting conditions. (author)

  4. Structural fatigue test results for large wind turbine blade sections

    Science.gov (United States)

    Faddoul, J. R.; Sullivan, T. L.

    1982-01-01

    In order to provide quantitative information on the operating life capabilities of wind turbine rotor blade concepts for root-end load transfer, a series of cantilever beam fatigue tests was conducted. Fatigue tests were conducted on a laminated wood blade with bonded steel studs, a low cost steel spar (utility pole) with a welded flange, a utility pole with additional root-end thickness provided by a swaged collar, fiberglass spars with both bonded and nonbonded fittings, and, finally, an aluminum blade with a bolted steel fitting (Lockheed Mod-0 blade). Photographs, data, and conclusions for each of these tests are presented. In addition, the aluminum blade test results are compared to field failure information; these results provide evidence that the cantilever beam type of fatigue test is a satisfactory method for obtaining qualitative data on blade life expectancy and for identifying structurally underdesigned areas (hot spots).

  5. Defining the Field of Existence of Shrouded Blades in High-Speed Gas Turbines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Belousov, Anatoliy I.; Nazdrachev, Sergeiy V.

    2018-01-01

    This work provides a method for determining the region of existence of banded blades of gas turbines for aircraft engines based on the analytical evaluation of tensile stresses in specific characteristic sections of the blade. This region is determined by the set of values of the parameter, which forms the law of distribution of the cross-sectional area of the cross-sections along the height of the airfoil. When seven independent parameters (gas-dynamic, structural and strength) are changed, the choice of the best option is proposed at the early design stage. As an example, the influence of the dimension of a turbine on the domain of the existence of banded blades is shown.

  6. A fracture- mechanics calculation of crack growth rate for a gas turbine blade

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mirzaei, M.; Karimi, R.

    2002-01-01

    The existence of thermo-mechanical stresses, due to the frequent start-ups and shutdowns of gas turbines. Combined with high working temperatures may cause creep and fatigue failure of the blades. This paper describes a fracture-mechanics life assessment of a gas turbine blade. Initially, the distributions of thermal and mechanical stresses were obtained by using the finite element method. Accordingly; the crack modeling was performed in a high stress region at the suction side surface of the blade. Several crack growth increments were observed and the related crack tip parameters were calculated. Finally; the creep-fatigue crack growth in each cycle was calculated and the total number of start-stop cycles was determined

  7. Combining Unsteady Blade Pressure Measurements and a Free-Wake Vortex Model to Investigate the Cycle-to-Cycle Variations in Wind Turbine Aerodynamic Blade Loads in Yaw

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Moutaz Elgammi

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Prediction of the unsteady aerodynamic flow phenomenon on wind turbines is challenging and still subject to considerable uncertainty. Under yawed rotor conditions, the wind turbine blades are subjected to unsteady flow conditions as a result of the blade advancing and retreating effect and the development of a skewed vortical wake created downstream of the rotor plane. Blade surface pressure measurements conducted on the NREL Phase VI rotor in yawed conditions have shown that dynamic stall causes the wind turbine blades to experience significant cycle-to-cycle variations in aerodynamic loading. These effects were observed even though the rotor was subjected to a fixed speed and a uniform and steady wind flow. This phenomenon is not normally predicted by existing dynamic stall models integrated in wind turbine design codes. This paper couples blade pressure measurements from the NREL Phase VI rotor to a free-wake vortex model to derive the angle of attack time series at the different blade sections over multiple rotor rotations and three different yaw angles. Through the adopted approach it was possible to investigate how the rotor self-induced aerodynamic load fluctuations influence the unsteady variations in the blade angles of attack and induced velocities. The hysteresis loops for the normal and tangential load coefficients plotted against the angle of attack were plotted over multiple rotor revolutions. Although cycle-to-cycle variations in the angles of attack at the different blade radial locations and azimuth positions are found to be relatively small, the corresponding variations in the normal and tangential load coefficients may be significant. Following a statistical analysis, it was concluded that the load coefficients follow a normal distribution at the majority of blade azimuth angles and radial locations. The results of this study provide further insight on how existing engineering models for dynamic stall may be improved through

  8. A zero torsional stiffness twist morphing blade as a wind turbine load alleviation device

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lachenal, X; Daynes, S; Weaver, P M

    2013-01-01

    This paper presents the design, analysis and realization of a zero stiffness twist morphing wind turbine blade. The morphing blade is designed to actively twist as a means of alleviating the gust loads which reduce the fatigue life of wind turbine blades. The morphing structure exploits an elastic strain energy balance within the blade to enable large twisting deformations with modest actuation requirements. While twist is introduced using the warping of the blade skin, internal pre-stressed members ensure that a constant strain energy balance is achieved throughout the deformation, resulting in a zero torsional stiffness structure. The torsional stability of the morphing blade is characterized by analysing the elastic strain energy in the device. Analytical models of the skin, the pre-stressed components and the complete blade are compared to their respective finite element models as well as experimental results. The load alleviation potential of the adaptive structure is quantified using a two-dimensional steady flow aerodynamic model which is experimentally validated with wind tunnel measurements. (paper)

  9. Thermoplastic Composite Wind Turbine Blades : An Integrated Design Approach

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Joncas, S.

    2010-01-01

    This thesis proposes a new structural design concept for future large wind turbine blades based on fully recyclable thermoplastic composites (TPC). With respect to material properties, cost and processing, reactively processed anionic polyamide-6 (APA-6) has been identified as the most promising

  10. A method to combine hydrodynamics and constructive design in the optimization of the runner blades of Kaplan turbines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miclosina, C O; Balint, D I; Campian, C V; Frunzaverde, D; Ion, I

    2012-01-01

    This paper deals with the optimization of the axial hydraulic turbines of Kaplan type. The optimization of the runner blade is presented systematically from two points of view: hydrodynamic and constructive. Combining these aspects in order to gain a safer operation when unsteady effects occur in the runner of the turbine is attempted. The design and optimization of the runner blade is performed with QTurbo3D software developed at the Center for Research in Hydraulics, Automation and Thermal Processes (CCHAPT) from 'Eftimie Murgu' University of Resita, Romania. QTurbo3D software offers possibilities to design the meridian channel of hydraulic turbines design the blades and optimize the runner blade. 3D modeling and motion analysis of the runner blade operating mechanism are accomplished using SolidWorks software. The purpose of motion study is to obtain forces, torques or stresses in the runner blade operating mechanism, necessary to estimate its lifetime. This paper clearly states the importance of combining the hydrodynamics with the structural design in the optimization procedure of the runner of hydraulic turbines.

  11. A method to combine hydrodynamics and constructive design in the optimization of the runner blades of Kaplan turbines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miclosina, C. O.; Balint, D. I.; Campian, C. V.; Frunzaverde, D.; Ion, I.

    2012-11-01

    This paper deals with the optimization of the axial hydraulic turbines of Kaplan type. The optimization of the runner blade is presented systematically from two points of view: hydrodynamic and constructive. Combining these aspects in order to gain a safer operation when unsteady effects occur in the runner of the turbine is attempted. The design and optimization of the runner blade is performed with QTurbo3D software developed at the Center for Research in Hydraulics, Automation and Thermal Processes (CCHAPT) from "Eftimie Murgu" University of Resita, Romania. QTurbo3D software offers possibilities to design the meridian channel of hydraulic turbines design the blades and optimize the runner blade. 3D modeling and motion analysis of the runner blade operating mechanism are accomplished using SolidWorks software. The purpose of motion study is to obtain forces, torques or stresses in the runner blade operating mechanism, necessary to estimate its lifetime. This paper clearly states the importance of combining the hydrodynamics with the structural design in the optimization procedure of the runner of hydraulic turbines.

  12. The impact of inertial forces on morphing wind turbine blade in vertical axis configuration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Butbul, Jonathan; MacPhee, David; Beyene, Asfaw

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • A novel flexible VAWT has been experimentally tested alongside numerically simulations. • Using FEA and CFD, direction of blade bending was predicted from inertial and aerodynamic forces. • High-speed camera footage has been used to validate the model. • The flexible VAWT was found to self-start in the majority of tests, while the rigid one did not. • It is suggested that flexible VAWTs can have improved performance in part-load applications. - Abstract: A novel flexible blade concept with the ability to morph and geometrically adapt to changing flow conditions has been proposed to improve part-load performance of horizontal-axis wind turbines. The extension of these benefits to a vertical axis wind turbine would make wind technology a more competitive player in the energy market. Both flexible and rigid wind turbine rotor blades for vertical axis application were modeled, designed, manufactured and tested. Their performances were tested in a low speed wind tunnel. The predicted magnitude and direction of blade morph was validated using a high speed camera as well as finite element analysis. The comparative results of straight rigid and straight morphing blades show that the coefficient of performance greatly depends on the tip speed ratio. Overall, the morphing blade has better performance at low RPMs, but the rigid blade performed better at high RPMs. It was observed that the flexible blade self-started in the majority of the experiments. At high RPM, the centrifugal force overwhelmed the lift force, bending the flexible blade out of phase in an undesired direction increasing drag and therefore reducing the coefficient of performance

  13. Two LQRI based Blade Pitch Controls for Wind Turbines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yoonsu Nam

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available As the wind turbine size has been increasing and their mechanical components are built lighter, the reduction of the structural loads becomes a very important task of wind turbine control in addition to maximum wind power capture. In this paper, we present a separate set of collective and individual pitch control algorithms. Both pitch control algorithms use the LQR control technique with integral action (LQRI, and utilize Kalman filters to estimate system states and wind speed. Compared to previous works in this area, our pitch control algorithms can control rotor speed and blade bending moments at the same time to improve the trade-off between rotor speed regulation and load reduction, while both collective and individual pitch controls can be designed separately. Simulation results show that the proposed collective and individual pitch controllers achieve very good rotor speed regulation and significant reduction of blade bending moments.

  14. CFD ANALYSIS OF THE AIR FLOW AROUND THE BLADES OF THE VERTICAL AXIS WIND TURBINE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muhammed Musab Gavgali

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents the results of calculations of flow around the vertical axis wind turbine. Three-dimensional calculations were performed using ANSYS Fluent. They were made at steady-state conditions for a wind speed of 3 m/s for 4 angular settings of the three-bladed rotor. The purpose of the calculations was to determine the values of the aerodynamic forces acting on the individual blades and to present the pressure contours on the surface of turbine rotor blades. The calculations were made for 4 rotor angular settings.

  15. Damage and Performance Assessment of Protective Coatings on Turbine Blades

    OpenAIRE

    Pokluda, Jaroslav; Kianicová, Marta

    2010-01-01

    Protective coatings on blades serve as physical barriers between the underlying substrate and the outer environment. This article presents an overview of damage mechanisms leading to failure of all basic types of coatings (diffusion, overlay and thermal barrier) on turbine blades of aircraft engines during service. Although a special emphasize is devoted to destructive effects of thermo-mechanical fatigue and overheating, the severe effects of hot corrosion, oxidation and erosion effects are ...

  16. Simulation analysis of turbine blade in 3D printing aquarium

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chen Dyi-Cheng

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available 3D printing of the flexibility is the most admirable place, no matter when or where, as long as the machine can make the abstract design of finished products or difficult to process the finished product printed out as a sample. And in the product design, through the 3D print out the entity, to more specific observation of the advantages and disadvantages of finished products, which shorten the time of many creative research and development, but also relatively reduce the defective factors. As in recent years, 3D printing technology is progressing, material adhesion, precision and parts of the degree of cooperation has increased, coupled with many parts taking into account the cost, production and other issues, and then let a lot of light load small parts or special parts choose to use 3D to print the finished product to replace. This study focuses on the plastic turbine blades that drive water in the aquarium, but the 3D printing is done by stacking. However, the general stress analysis software can set the material to analyze the deformation results of the force, nor the 3D to analyze the software. Therefore, this study first analyzes the deformation of turbine blade by software, and then verifies the situation of 3D printing turbine blade, and then compares the actual results of software analysis and 3D printing. The results can provide the future of 3D product consider the strength factor. The study found that the spiral blade design allows the force points to be dispersed to avoid hard focus.

  17. Microstructure Based Material-Sand Particulate Interactions and Assessment of Coatings for High Temperature Turbine Blades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murugan, Muthuvel; Ghoshal, Anindya; Walock, Michael; Nieto, Andy; Bravo, Luis; Barnett, Blake; Pepi, Marc; Swab, Jeffrey; Pegg, Robert Tyler; Rowe, Chris; hide

    2017-01-01

    Gas turbine engines for military/commercial fixed-wing and rotary wing aircraft use thermal barrier coatings in the high-temperature sections of the engine for improved efficiency and power. The desire to further make improvements in gas turbine engine efficiency and high power-density is driving the research and development of thermal barrier coatings and the effort of improving their tolerance to fine foreign particulates that may be contained in the intake air. Both commercial and military aircraft engines often are required to operate over sandy regions such as in the Middle-East nations, as well as over volcanic zones. For rotorcraft gas turbine engines, the sand ingestion is adverse during take-off, hovering near ground, and landing conditions. Although, most of the rotorcraft gas turbine engines are fitted with inlet particle separators, they are not 100 percent efficient in filtering fine sand particles of size 75 microns or below. The presence of these fine solid particles in the working fluid medium has an adverse effect on the durability of turbine blade thermal barrier coatings and overall performance of the engine. Typical turbine blade damages include blade coating wear, sand glazing, Calcia-Magnesia-Alumina-Silicate (CMAS) attack, oxidation, plugged cooling holes, all of which can cause rapid performance deterioration including loss of aircraft. The objective of this research is to understand the fine particle interactions with typical ceramic coatings of turbine blades at the microstructure level. A finite-element based microstructure modeling and analysis has been performed to investigate particle-surface interactions, and restitution characteristics. Experimentally, a set of tailored thermal barrier coatings and surface treatments were down-selected through hot burner rig tests and then applied to first stage nozzle vanes of the Gas Generator Turbine of a typical rotorcraft gas turbine engine. Laser Doppler velocity measurements were performed

  18. Part 1 - Experimental study of the pressure fluctuations on propeller turbine runner blades during steady-state operation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Houde, S.; Fraser, R.; Ciocan, G. D.; Deschênes, C.

    2012-11-01

    A good evaluation of the unsteady pressure field on hydraulic turbine blades is critical in evaluating the turbine lifespan and its maintenance schedule. Low-head turbines such as Kaplan and Propeller, using a relatively low number of blades supported only at the hub, may also undergo significant deflections at the blade tips which will lead to higher amplitude vibration compared to Francis turbines. Furthermore, the precise evaluation of the unsteady pressure distribution on low-head turbines is still a challenge for computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Within the framework of an international research consortium on low-head turbines, a research project was instigated at the Hydraulic Machines Laboratory in Laval University (LAMH) to perform experimental measurements of the unsteady pressure field on propeller turbine model runner blades. The main objective of the project was to measure the pressure fluctuations on a wide band of frequencies, both in a blade-to-blade channel and on the pressure and suction side of the same blade, to provide validation data for CFD computations. To do so, a 32 channels telemetric data transmission system was used to extract the signal of 31 pressure transducers and two strain gages from the rotating part at an acquisition frequency of 5 KHz. The miniature piezoelectric pressure transducers were placed on two adjacent runner blades according to an estimated pressure distribution coming from flow simulations. Two suction sides and one pressure side were instrumented. The strain gages were mounted in full-bridge on both pressure and suction sides to measure the blade span wise deflection. In order to provide boundary conditions for flow simulations, the test bench conditions during the measurements were acquired. The measurements were made in different operating conditions ranging from part load, where a cavitating vortex occurs, to full load under different heads. The results enabled the identification and the quantification of the

  19. The 52-inch last-stage blades for steam turbines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suzuki, Atsuhide; Hisa, Shoichi; Nagao, Shin-ichiro; Ogata, Hisao

    1986-01-01

    The last-stage blades (LSB) of steam turbines are one of the most important components determining the plant's maximum capacity and efficiency. The development of LSBs necessitates high-technology including advanced methods of analyses and verifications as well as ample accumulation of technical data. The 52-inch LSB recently developed by Toshiba has raised nuclear power plant's capacity up to 1,300 ∼ 1,800 MW, has effected compact design of turbine units, and has improved thermal efficiency, keeping high reliability. (author)

  20. Partial Safety Factors for Fatigue Design of Wind Turbine Blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Toft, Henrik Stensgaard; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

    2010-01-01

    In the present paper calibration of partial safety factors for fatigue design of wind turbine blades is considered. The stochastic models for the physical uncertainties on the material properties are based on constant amplitude fatigue tests and the uncertainty on Miners rule for linear damage...... accumulation is determined from variable amplitude fatigue tests with the Wisper and Wisperx spectra. The statistical uncertainty for the assessment of the fatigue loads is also investigated. The partial safety factors are calibrated for design load case 1.2 in IEC 61400-1. The fatigue loads are determined...... from rainflow-counting of simulated time series for a 5MW reference wind turbine [1]. A possible influence of a complex stress state in the blade is not taken into account and only longitudinal stresses are considered....

  1. BeamDyn: A High-Fidelity Wind Turbine Blade Solver in the FAST Modular Framework: Preprint

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wang, Q.; Sprague, M.; Jonkman, J.; Johnson, N.

    2015-01-01

    BeamDyn, a Legendre-spectral-finite-element implementation of geometrically exact beam theory (GEBT), was developed to meet the design challenges associated with highly flexible composite wind turbine blades. In this paper, the governing equations of GEBT are reformulated into a nonlinear state-space form to support its coupling within the modular framework of the FAST wind turbine computer-aided engineering (CAE) tool. Different time integration schemes (implicit and explicit) were implemented and examined for wind turbine analysis. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the capability of this new beam solver. An example analysis of a realistic wind turbine blade, the CX-100, is also presented as validation.

  2. Examination of cracks and fractures on operationally stressed turbine blades; Untersuchung von Rissen und Bruechen an betriebsbeanspruchten Turbinenschaufeln

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vodopivec, F. [Inst. of Metals and Technologies, Ljubljana (Slovenia); Vrbic, V.S. [Electric Power Work Nikola Tesla, Obrenovac (Yugoslavia); Ule, B. [Inst. of Metals and Technologies, Ljubljana (Slovenia); Zvokelj, J. [Inst. of Metals and Technologies, Ljubljana (Slovenia); Vehovar, L. [Inst. of Metals and Technologies, Ljubljana (Slovenia)

    1997-04-01

    This paper summarises the results of mechanical and fractographic examinations which had been carried out on fractures on the low-pressure blades of a 300 MW steam turbine. The crack-affected turbine blades had been removed, partly during inspections and partly after turbine breakdowns, in contrast to the fractured blades which had been extracted without exception following turbine breakdowns. (orig.) [Deutsch] Im vorliegenden Beitrag werden die Ergebnisse der mechanischen und fraktographischen Untersuchungen zusammengefasst, die an Bruechen von ND-Schaufeln einer 300-MW-Dampfturbine durchgefuehrt wurden. Die rissbehafteten Turbinenschaufeln wurden teilweise waehrend Revisionen und teilweise nach Turbinenversagen entnommen, im Gegensatz zu den gebrochenen Schaufeln, die ausnahmslos nach Turbinenausfall ausgebaut wurden. (orig.)

  3. Aeroelastic stability and response of horizontal axis wind turbine blades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kottapalli, S. B. R.; Friedmann, P. P.; Rosen, A.

    1979-01-01

    Coupled flap-lag-torsion equations of motion of an isolated horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) blade have been formulated. The analysis neglects blade-tower coupling. The final nonlinear equations have periodic coefficients. A new and convenient method of generating an appropriate time-dependent equilibrium position, required for the stability analysis, has been implemented and found to be computationally efficient. Steady-state response and stability boundaries for an existing (typical) HAWT blade are presented. Such stability boundaries have never been published in the literature. The results show that the isolated blade under study is basically stable. The tower shadow (wake) has a considerable effect on the out-of-plane response but leaves blade stability unchanged. Nonlinear terms can significantly affect linearized stability boundaries; however, they have a negligible effect on response, thus implying that a time-dependent equilibrium position (or steady-state response), based completely on the linear system, is appropriate for the type of HAWT blades under study.

  4. Application of high efficiency and reliable 3D-designed integral shrouded blades to nuclear turbines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Watanabe, Eiichiro; Ohyama, Hiroharu; Tashiro, Hikaru; Sugitani, Toshiro; Kurosawa, Masaru

    1998-01-01

    Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. has recently developed new blades for nuclear turbines, in order to achieve higher efficiency and higher reliability. The 3D aerodynamic design for 41 inch and 46 inch blades, their one piece structural design (integral-shrouded blades: ISB), and the verification test results using a model steam turbine are described in this paper. The predicted efficiency and lower vibratory stress have been verified. Based on these 60Hz ISB, 50Hz ISB series are under development using 'the law of similarity' without changing their thermodynamic performance and mechanical stress levels. Our 3D-designed reaction blades which are used for the high pressure and low pressure upstream stages, are also briefly mentioned. (author)

  5. Multipath Suppression with an Absorber for UWB Wind Turbine Blade Deflection Sensing Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhang, Shuai; Franek, Ondrej; Eggers, Patrick Claus F.

    2017-01-01

    The deflection of a wind turbine blade can be monitored with an ultra-wideband (UWB) deflection sensing system which consists of one transmitting antenna at the blade tip and two receiving antennas at the blade root. The blade deflection is calculated by two estimated tip-root antenna distances...... verifications of the proposed method are carried out with different full-blade measurements. From all the results, it is found that the proposed technique can efficiently suppress multipath for the in-blade tip antenna, and improve the pulse wave front fidelity, so that the UWB sensing system can also...

  6. Experimental and Numerical Study of the Aerodynamic Characteristics of an Archimedes Spiral Wind Turbine Blade

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kyung Chun Kim

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available A new type of horizontal axis wind turbine adopting the Archimedes spiral blade is introduced for urban-use. Based on the angular momentum conservation law, the design formula for the blade was derived using a variety of shape factors. The aerodynamic characteristics and performance of the designed Archimedes wind turbine were examined using computational fluid dynamics (CFD simulations. The CFD simulations showed that the new type of wind turbine produced a power coefficient (Cp of approximately 0.25, which is relatively high compared to other types of urban-usage wind turbines. To validate the CFD results, experimental studies were carried out using a scaled-down model. The instantaneous velocity fields were measured using the two-dimensional particle image velocimetry (PIV method in the near field of the blade. The PIV measurements revealed the presence of dominant vortical structures downstream the hub and near the blade tip. The interaction between the wake flow at the rotor downstream and the induced velocity due to the tip vortices were strongly affected by the wind speed and resulting rotational speed of the blade. The mean velocity profiles were compared with those predicted by the steady state and unsteady state CFD simulations. The unsteady CFD simulation agreed better with those of the PIV experiments than the steady state CFD simulations.

  7. A Non-Linear Upscaling Approach for Wind Turbines Blades Based on Stresses

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Castillo Capponi, P.; Van Bussel, G.J.W.; Ashuri, T.; Kallesoe, B.

    2011-01-01

    The linear scaling laws for upscaling wind turbine blades show a linear increase of stresses due to the weight. However, the stresses should remain the same for a suitable design. Application of linear scaling laws may lead to an upscaled blade that may not be any more a feasible design. In this

  8. Load alleviation on wind turbine blades using variable airfoil geometry

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Basualdo, S.

    2005-03-01

    A two-dimensional theoretical study of the aeroelastic behaviour of an airfoil has been performed, whose geometry can be altered using a rear-mounted flap. This device is governed by a controller, whose objective is to reduce the airfoil displacements and, therefore, the stresses present in a real blade. The aerodynamic problem was solved numerically by a panel method using the potential theory, suitable for modelling attached flows. It is therefore mostly applicable for Pitch Regulated Variable Speed (PRVS) wind turbines, which mainly operate under this flow condition. The results show evident reductions in the airfoil displacements by using simple control strategies having the airfoil position and its first and second derivatives as input, especially at the system's eigenfrequency. The use of variable airfoil geometry is an effective means of reducing the vibration magnitudes of an airfoil that represents a section of a wind turbine blade, when subject to stochastic wind signals. The results of this investigation encourage further investigations with 3D aeroelastic models to predict the reduction in loads in real wind turbines. (author)

  9. Study on the Pressure Pulsation inside Runner with Splitter Blades in Ultra-High Head Turbine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meng, L; Zhang, S P; Zhou, L J; Wang, Z W

    2014-01-01

    Runners with splitter blades were used widely for the high efficiency and stability. In this paper, the unsteady simulation of an ultra-high head turbine at the best efficiency point, 50% and 75% discharge points were established, to analyze the pressure pulsation in the vaneless space, rotating domain and the draft tube. First of all, runners with different length splitter blades and without splitter blades were compared to learn the efficiency and the pressure distribution on the blade surface. And then the amplitude of the pressure pulsation was analysed. The peak efficiency of the runner with splitter blades is remarkably higher than that of the corresponding impeller without splitter blades. And the efficiency of the turbine is the highest when the length ratio of the splitter blades is 0.75 times the main blades. The pressure pulsation characteristics were also influenced, because the amplitudes of the pulsation induced by the RSI phenomenon were changed as a result of more blades. At last, the best design plan of the length of the splitter blades (length ratio=0.825) was obtained, which improved the pressure pulsation characteristics without significant prejudice to the efficiency

  10. Nonlinear Legendre Spectral Finite Elements for Wind Turbine Blade Dynamics: Preprint

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wang, Q.; Sprague, M. A.; Jonkman, J.; Johnson, N.

    2014-01-01

    This paper presents a numerical implementation and examination of new wind turbine blade finite element model based on Geometrically Exact Beam Theory (GEBT) and a high-order spectral finite element method. The displacement-based GEBT is presented, which includes the coupling effects that exist in composite structures and geometric nonlinearity. Legendre spectral finite elements (LSFEs) are high-order finite elements with nodes located at the Gauss-Legendre-Lobatto points. LSFEs can be an order of magnitude more efficient that low-order finite elements for a given accuracy level. Interpolation of the three-dimensional rotation, a major technical barrier in large-deformation simulation, is discussed in the context of LSFEs. It is shown, by numerical example, that the high-order LSFEs, where weak forms are evaluated with nodal quadrature, do not suffer from a drawback that exists in low-order finite elements where the tangent-stiffness matrix is calculated at the Gauss points. Finally, the new LSFE code is implemented in the new FAST Modularization Framework for dynamic simulation of highly flexible composite-material wind turbine blades. The framework allows for fully interactive simulations of turbine blades in operating conditions. Numerical examples showing validation and LSFE performance will be provided in the final paper.

  11. Design, evaluation, and fabrication of low-cost composite blades for intermediate-size wind turbines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weingart, O.

    1981-01-01

    Low cost approaches for production of 60 ft long glass fiber/resin composite rotor blades for the MOD-OA wind turbine were identified and evaluated. The most cost-effective configuration was selected for detailed design. Subelement and subscale specimens were fabricated for testing to confirm physical and mechanical properties of the composite blade materials, to develop and evaluate blade fabrication techniques and processes, and to confirm the structural adequacy of the root end joint. Full-scale blade tooling was constructed and a partial blade for tool and process tryout was built. Then two full scale blades were fabricated and delivered to NASA-LeRC for installation on a MOD-OA wind turbine at Clayton, New Mexico for operational testing. Each blade was 60 ft. long with 4.5 ft. chord at root end and 2575 lbs weight including metal hub adapter. The selected blade configuration was a three cell design constructed using a resin impregnated glass fiber tape winding process that allows rapid wrapping of primarily axially oriented fibers onto a tapered mandrel, with tapered wall thickness. The ring winder/transverse filament tape process combination was used for the first time on this program to produce entire rotor blade structures. This approach permitted the complete blade to be wound on stationary mandrels, an improvement which alleviated some of the tooling and process problems encountered on previous composite blade programs.

  12. Experimental determination of unsteady flow forces on turbine blades by hydraulic analogy; Determination experimentale, par analogie hydraulique, des efforts instationnaires sur les aubages d`une turbine

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Verdonk, G. [GEC Alsthom Rateau, 93 - La Courneuve (France); Naudin, M. [Framatome Thermodyn, 71 - Le Creusot (France); Pluviose, M. [CNAM, 75 - Paris (France); Sankale, H. [CETIM, 44 - Nantes (France)

    1998-06-01

    The blades of turbomachinery undergo unsteady flow forces, created principally by the presence of a series of stator or diffuser blades prior to a series of rotor blades. The stage geometry is the main factor which defines the magnitude of these forces. The influence of both geometric and thermodynamic parameters is currently being analysed using a model representing the turbine blades and by applying the hydraulic analogy technique. The study is being conducted at CETIM in Nantes amongst a working group including manufacturers, research organisms, and technical center. Work is in progress and initial results have proved sufficiently encouraging for presentation at the forthcoming Symposium on multidisciplinary turbomachinery issues organised by the Societe Francaise des Mecaniciens. The study should eventually facilitate the optimisation of rotor blade dimensioning for total and partial injection turbine applications and furthermore to reduce the risk of blade failure. Following quantitative study, results obtained for a given geometry of total injection turbine are presented in this paper. (authors) 16 refs.

  13. Ion beam analysis of gas turbine blades: evaluation of refurbishment ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Scanning proton microscopy was employed to evaluate the quality of refurbishment process of gas turbine ... environment of hot combustion gases occur due to various processes, such as .... performance of refurbished blades.7. Due to the ...

  14. Fiberglass Composite Blades for the 4 MW - WTS-4 Wind Turbine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bussolari, R. J.

    1982-01-01

    The design and fabrication of composite blades for the WTS-4, a four-megawatt horizontal-axis wind turbine, is discussed. The blade consists of a two-cell, monolithic structure of filament-wound, fiberglass/epoxy composite. Filament winding is a low-cost process which can produce a blade with an aerodynamically efficient airfoil and planform with nonlinear twist to achieve high performance in terms of energy capture. Its retention provides a redundant attachment for long, durable life and safety. Advanced tooling concepts and as sophisticated computer control is used to achieve the unique filament-wound shape.

  15. An Innovative Technique for Evaluating the Integrity and Durability of Wind Turbine Blade Composites - Final Project Report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wang, Jy-An John [ORNL; Ren, Fei [ORNL; Tan, Ting [ORNL; Mandell, John [Montana State University; Agastra, Pancasatya [Montana State University

    2011-11-01

    To build increasingly larger, lightweight, and robust wind turbine blades for improved power output and cost efficiency, durability of the blade, largely resulting from its structural composites selection and aerodynamic shape design, is of paramount concern. The safe/reliable operation of structural components depends critically on the selection of materials that are resistant to damage and failure in the expected service environment. An effective surveillance program is also necessary to monitor the degradation of the materials in the course of service. Composite materials having high specific strength/stiffness are desirable for the construction of wind turbines. However, most high-strength materials tend to exhibit low fracture toughness. That is why the fracture toughness of the composite materials under consideration for the manufacture of the next generation of wind turbines deserves special attention. In order to achieve the above we have proposed to develop an innovative technology, based on spiral notch torsion test (SNTT) methodology, to effectively investigate the material performance of turbine blade composites. SNTT approach was successfully demonstrated and extended to both epoxy and glass fiber composite materials for wind turbine blades during the performance period. In addition to typical Mode I failure mechanism, the mixed-mode failure mechanism induced by the wind turbine service environments and/or the material mismatch of the composite materials was also effectively investigated using SNTT approach. The SNTT results indicate that the proposed protocol not only provides significant advance in understanding the composite failure mechanism, but also can be readily utilized to assist the development of new turbine blade composites.

  16. Improved design for large wind turbine blades of fibre composites (Phase 4) - Summary report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Soerensen, B.F.; Toftegaard, H.; Goutanos, S. (Risoe DTU, Materials Research Div., Roskilde (Denmark)); Branner, K.; Berring, P. (Risoe DTU, Wind Energy Div., Roskilde (Denmark)); Lund, E. (Aalborg Univ., Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Aalborg (Denmark)); Wedel-Heinen, J. (Vestas Wind System, Randers (Denmark)); Garm, J.H. (LM Wind Power, Kolding (Denmark))

    2010-06-15

    Results are summarised for the project 'Improved design for large wind turbine blades (Phase 4)', partially supported by the Danish Energy Agency under the Ministry of Climate and Energy through the EUDP journal no.: 33033-0267. The aim of the project was to develop new and better design methods for wind turbine blades, so that uncertainties associated with damage and defects can be reduced. The topics that are studied include buckling-driven delamination of flat load-carrying laminates, cracking along interfaces in material joints (fracture mechanical characterisation and modelling), cyclic crack growth with large scale bridging and the use of cohesive laws in finite element programmes for simulating wind turbine blade failure. An overview is given of the methods and the major research results of the project. The implementation of the knowledge in the industry is discussed. Finally, some ideas for future research activities are considered. (author)

  17. Effects of setting angle and chord length on performance of four blades bionic wind turbine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Z. X.; Li, G. S.; Song, L.; Bai, Y. F.

    2017-11-01

    With the energy crisis and the increasing environmental pollution, more and more efforts have been made about wind power development. In this paper, a four blades bionic wind turbine was proposed, and the outline of wind turbine was constructed by the fitted curve. This paper attempted to research the effects of setting angle and chord length on performance of four blades bionic wind turbine by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation. The results showed that the setting angle and chord length of the bionic wind turbine has some significant effects on the efficiency of the wind turbine, and within the range of wind speed from 7 m/s to 15 m/s, the wind turbine achieved maximum efficiency when the setting angle is 31 degree and the chord length is 125 mm. The conclusion will work as a guideline for the improvement of wind turbine design

  18. Blade-to-coolant heat-transfer results and operating data from a natural-convection water-cooled single-stage turbine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diaguila, Anthony J; Freche, John C

    1951-01-01

    Blade-to-coolant heat-transfer data and operating data were obtained with a natural-convection water-cooled turbine over range of turbine speeds and inlet-gas temperatures. The convective coefficients were correlated by the general relation for natural-convection heat transfer. The turbine data were displaced from a theoretical equation for natural convection heat transfer in the turbulent region and from natural-convection data obtained with vertical cylinders and plates; possible disruption of natural convection circulation within the blade coolant passages was thus indicated. Comparison of non dimensional temperature-ratio parameters for the blade leading edge, midchord, and trailing edge indicated that the blade cooling effectiveness is greatest at the midchord and least at the trailing edge.

  19. Investigation of HP Turbine Blade Failure in a Military Turbofan Engine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mishra, R. K.; Thomas, Johny; Srinivasan, K.; Nandi, Vaishakhi; Bhatt, R. Raghavendra

    2017-04-01

    Failure of a high pressure (HP) turbine blade in a military turbofan engine is investigated to determine the root cause of failure. Forensic and metallurgical investigations are carried out on the affected blades. The loss of coating and the presence of heavily oxidized intergranular fracture features including substrate material aging and airfoil curling in the trailing edge of a representative blade indicate that the coating is not providing adequate oxidation protection and the blade material substrate is not suitable for the application at hand. Coating spallation followed by substrate oxidation and aging leading to intergranular cracking and localized trailing edge curling is the root cause of the blade failure. The remaining portion of the blade fracture surface showed ductile overload features in the final failure. The damage observed in downstream components is due to secondary effects.

  20. A multi-frequency fatigue testing method for wind turbine rotor blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eder, Martin Alexander; Belloni, Federico; Tesauro, Angelo

    2017-01-01

    Rotor blades are among the most delicate components of modern wind turbines. Reliability is a crucial aspect, since blades shall ideally remain free of failure under ultra-high cycle loading conditions throughout their designated lifetime of 20–25 years. Full-scale blade tests are the most accurate...... means to experimentally simulate damage evolution under operating conditions, and are therefore used to demonstrate that a blade type fulfils the reliability requirements to an acceptable degree of confidence. The state-of-the-art testing method for rotor blades in industry is based on resonance...... higher modes contribute more significantly due to their higher cycle count. A numerical feasibility study based on a publicly available large utility rotor blade is used to demonstrate the ability of the proposed approach to outperform the state-of-the-art testing method without compromising fatigue test...

  1. Influence of delayed excitation on vibrations of turbine blades couple

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Půst L.

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available In the presented paper, the computational model of the turbine blade couple is investigated with the main attention to the influence two harmonic excitation forces, having the same frequency and amplitude but with moderate delay in time. Time delay between the exciting harmonic forces depends on the revolutions of bladed disk, on the number of blades on a rotating disk and on the number of stator blades. The reduction of resonance vibrations realized by means of dry friction between the shroud blade-heads increases roughly proportional to the difference of stator and rotor blade-numbers and also to the magnitude of dry friction force. From the analysis of blade couple with direct contact it was proved that the increase of friction forces causes decrease of resonance peaks, but the influence of elastic micro-deformations in the contact surfaces (modeled e.g. by the modified Coulomb dry friction law is rather small. Analysis of a blade couple with a friction element shows that the lower number of stator blades has negligible influence on the amplitudes of both blades, but decreases amplitudes of the friction element oscillations. Similarly the increase of friction forces causes a decrease of resonance peaks, but an increase of friction element amplitudes.

  2. Investigation into the effects of operating conditions and design parameters on the creep life of high pressure turbine blades in a stationary gas turbine engine

    OpenAIRE

    Eshati, Samir; Abu, Abdullahi; Laskaridis, Panagiotis; Haslam, Anthony

    2011-01-01

    A physics–based model is used to investigate the relationship between operating conditions and design parameters on the creep life of a stationary gas turbine high pressure turbine (HPT) blade. A performance model is used to size the blade and to determine its stresses. The effects of radial temperature distortion, turbine inlet temperature, ambient temperature and compressor degradation on creep life are then examined. The results show variations in creep life and failure locat...

  3. Metallurgical failure analysis for a blade failed in a gas-turbine engine of a power plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huda, Zainul

    2009-01-01

    The failed gas-turbine blades (first stage blades) (type Siemens V94.2 KWU) were acquired from TNB Research Sdn. Bhd: a subsidiary of Malaysian power-generation industry (TNB, Malaysia). The blades were sectioned for metallographic investigations. The microstructural characterization involved use of both optical as well as electron microscopes including application of EPMA technique. The Microstructures were compared for three spots selection i.e. leading edge of the blade (transverse and longitudinal), trailing edge of the blade (transverse and longitudinal), and centre (near the platform of the blade) (transverse and longitudinal). The material properties and behavior at high temperature were interpreted on the basis of the observed microstructures and the phases present in the alloy. The interpretations were related to the operating conditions of the turbine blade; and main cause of failure was found to be creep damage. Recommendations have been made for improved material performance.

  4. Influence of water–air ratio on the heat transfer and creep life of a high pressure gas turbine blade

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eshati, S.; Abu, A.; Laskaridis, P.; Khan, F.

    2013-01-01

    An analytical model to investigate the influence of Water–Air Ratio (WAR) on turbine blade heat transfer and cooling processes (and thus the blade creep life) of industrial gas turbines is presented. The effects of WAR are emphasised for the modelling of the gas properties and the subsequent heat transfer process. The approach considers convective/film cooling and includes the influence of a thermal barrier coating. In addition, the approach is based on the thermodynamic outputs of a gas turbine performance simulation, heat transfer model, as well as a method that accounts for the changes in the properties of moist air as a function of WAR. For a given off-design point, the variation of WAR (0.0–0.10) was investigated using the heat transfer model. Results showed that with increasing WAR the blade inlet coolant temperature reduced along the blade span. The blade metal temperature at each section was reduced as WAR increased, which in turn increased the blade creep life. The increase in WAR increased the specific heat of the coolant and increased the heat transfer capacity of the coolant air flow. The model can be implemented by using the thermodynamic cycle of the engine, without knowing the turbine cooling details in the conceptual design stage. Also, this generic method assists the end user to understand the effect of operating conditions and design parameter on the creep life of a high pressure turbine blade. -- Highlights: • The influence of WAR on gas turbine blade heat transfer and creep life is examined. • Coolant specific heat capacity is the key property affected by changes in WAR. • Increase in WAR reduces the coolant and metal temperature along the blade span. • Creep life increases with increase in WAR even if ambient temperature is increased

  5. Investigations on Vibration Characteristics of Sma Embedded Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Blade

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jagadeesh, V.; Yuvaraja, M.; Chandhru, A.; Viswanathan, P.; Senthil kumar, M.

    2018-02-01

    Vibration induced in wind turbine blade is a solemn problem as it reduces the life of the blade and also it can create critical vibration onto the tower, which may cause serious damage to the tower. The aim of this paper is to investigate the vibration characteristics of the prototype horizontal axis wind turbine blade. Shape memory alloys (SMA), with its variable physical properties, provides an alternative actuating mechanism. Heating an SMA causes a change in the elastic modulus of the material and hence SMAs are used as a damping material. A prototype blade with S1223 profile has been manufactured and the natural frequency is found. The natural frequency is found by incorporating the single SMA wire of 0.5mm diameter over the surface of the blade for a length of 240 mm. Similarly, number of SMA wires over the blade is increased up to 3 and the natural frequency is found. Frequency responses showed that the embedment of SMA over the blade’s surface will increase the natural frequency and reduce the amplitude of vibration. This is because of super elastic nature of SMA. In this paper, when SMA wire of 0.5 mm diameter and of length of 720 mm is embedded on the blade, an increase in the natural frequency by 6.3% and reducing the amplitude by 64.8%. Results of the experimental modal and harmonic indicates the effectiveness of SMA as a passive vibration absorber and that it has potential as a modest and high-performance method for controlling vibration of the blade.

  6. CFD-based shape optimization of steam turbine blade cascade in transonic two phase flows

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Noori Rahim Abadi, S.M.A.; Ahmadpour, A.; Abadi, S.M.N.R.; Meyer, J.P.

    2017-01-01

    Highlights: • CFD-based shape optimization of a nozzle and a turbine blade regarding nucleating steam flow is performed. • Nucleation rate and droplet radius are the best suited objective functions for the optimization process. • Maximum 34% reduction in entropy generation rate is reported for turbine cascade. • A maximum 10% reduction in Baumann factor and a maximum 2.1% increase in efficiency is achieved for a turbine cascade. - Abstract: In this study CFD-based shape optimization of a 3D nozzle and a 2D turbine blade cascade is undertaken in the presence of non-equilibrium condensation within the considered flow channels. A two-fluid formulation is used for the simulation of unsteady, turbulent, supersonic and compressible flow of wet steam accounting for relevant phase interaction between nucleated liquid droplets and continuous vapor phase. An in-house CFD code is developed to solve the governing equations of the two phase flow and was validated against available experimental data. Optimization is carried out in respect to various objective functions. It is shown that nucleation rate and maximum droplet radius are the best suited target functions for reducing thermodynamic and aerodynamic losses caused by the spontaneous nucleation. The maximum increase of 2.1% in turbine blade efficiency is achieved through shape optimization process.

  7. Anisotropic beam model for analysis and design of passive controlled wind turbine blades

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Branner, K; Blasques, J P; Kim, T; Fedorov, V A; Berring, P; Bitsche, R D; Berggreen, C

    2012-02-15

    The main objective of the project was, through theoretical and experimental research, to develop and validate a fully coupled, general beam element that can be used for advanced and rapid analysis of wind turbine blades. This is fully achieved in the project and the beam element has even been implemented in the aeroelastic code HAWC2. It has also been demonstrated through a parametric study in the project that a promising possibility with the tool is to reduce fatigue loads through structural couplings. More work is needed before these possibilities are fully explored and blades with structural couplings can be put into production. A cross section analysis tool BECAS (BEam Cross section Analysis Software) has been developed and validated in the project. BECAS is able to predict all geometrical and material induced couplings. This tool has obtained great interest from both industry and academia. The developed fully coupled beam element and cross section analysis tool has been validated against both numerical calculations and experimental measurements. Numerical validation has been performed against beam type calculations including Variational Asymptotical Beam Section Analysis (VABS) and detailed shell and solid finite element analyses. Experimental validation included specially designed beams with built-in couplings, a full-scale blade section originally without couplings, which subsequently was modified with extra composite layers in order to obtain measurable couplings. Both static testing and dynamic modal analysis tests have been performed. The results from the project now make it possible to use structural couplings in an intelligent manner for the design of future wind turbine blades. The developed beam element is especially developed for wind turbine blades and can be used for modeling blades with initial curvature (pre-bending), initial twist and taper. Finally, it have been studied what size of structural couplings can be obtained in current and future

  8. On the impact of multi-axial stress states on trailing edge bondlines in wind turbine rotor blades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noever Castelos, Pablo; Balzani, Claudio

    2016-09-01

    For a reliable design of wind turbine systems all of their components have to be designed to withstand the loads appearing in the turbine's lifetime. When performed in an integral manner this is called systems engineering, and is exceptionally important for components that have an impact on the entire wind turbine system, such as the rotor blade. Bondlines are crucial subcomponents of rotor blades, but they are not much recognized in the wind energy research community. However, a bondline failure can lead to the loss of a rotor blade, and potentially of the entire turbine, and is extraordinarily relevant to be treated with strong emphasis when designing a wind turbine. Modern wind turbine rotor blades with lengths of 80 m and more offer a degree of flexibility that has never been seen in wind energy technology before. Large deflections result in high strains in the adhesive connections, especially at the trailing edge. The latest edition of the DNV GL guideline from end of 2015 demands a three-dimensional stress analysis of bondlines, whereas before an isolated shear stress proof was sufficient. In order to quantify the lack of safety from older certification guidelines this paper studies the influence of multi-axial stress states on the ultimate and fatigue load resistance of trailing edge adhesive bonds. For this purpose, detailed finite element simulations of the IWES IWT-7.5-164 reference wind turbine blades are performed. Different yield criteria are evaluated for the prediction of failure and lifetime. The results show that the multi-axial stress state is governed by span-wise normal stresses. Those are evidently not captured in isolated shear stress proofs, yielding non-conservative estimates of lifetime and ultimate load resistance. This finding highlights the importance to include a three-dimensional stress state in the failure analysis of adhesive bonds in modern wind turbine rotor blades, and the necessity to perform a three-dimensional characterization

  9. Optimization of the blade trailing edge geometric parameters for a small scale ORC turbine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, L.; Zhuge, W. L.; Peng, J.; Liu, S. J.; Zhang, Y. J.

    2013-12-01

    In general, the method proposed by Whitfield and Baines is adopted for the turbine preliminary design. In this design procedure for the turbine blade trailing edge geometry, two assumptions (ideal gas and zero discharge swirl) and two experience values (WR and γ) are used to get the three blade trailing edge geometric parameters: relative exit flow angle β6, the exit tip radius R6t and hub radius R6h for the purpose of maximizing the rotor total-to-static isentropic efficiency. The method above is established based on the experience and results of testing using air as working fluid, so it does not provide a mathematical optimal solution to instruct the optimization of geometry parameters and consider the real gas effects of the organic, working fluid which must be taken into consideration for the ORC turbine design procedure. In this paper, a new preliminary design and optimization method is established for the purpose of reducing the exit kinetic energy loss to improve the turbine efficiency ηts, and the blade trailing edge geometric parameters for a small scale ORC turbine with working fluid R123 are optimized based on this method. The mathematical optimal solution to minimize the exit kinetic energy is deduced, which can be used to design and optimize the exit shroud/hub radius and exit blade angle. And then, the influence of blade trailing edge geometric parameters on turbine efficiency ηts are analysed and the optimal working ranges of these parameters for the equations are recommended in consideration of working fluid R123. This method is used to modify an existing ORC turbine exit kinetic energy loss from 11.7% to 7%, which indicates the effectiveness of the method. However, the internal passage loss increases from 7.9% to 9.4%, so the only way to consider the influence of geometric parameters on internal passage loss is to give the empirical ranges of these parameters, such as the recommended ranges that the value of γ is at 0.3 to 0.4, and the value

  10. Optimization of the blade trailing edge geometric parameters for a small scale ORC turbine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, L; Zhuge, W L; Liu, S J; Zhang, Y J; Peng, J

    2013-01-01

    In general, the method proposed by Whitfield and Baines is adopted for the turbine preliminary design. In this design procedure for the turbine blade trailing edge geometry, two assumptions (ideal gas and zero discharge swirl) and two experience values (W R and γ) are used to get the three blade trailing edge geometric parameters: relative exit flow angle β 6 , the exit tip radius R 6t and hub radius R 6h for the purpose of maximizing the rotor total-to-static isentropic efficiency. The method above is established based on the experience and results of testing using air as working fluid, so it does not provide a mathematical optimal solution to instruct the optimization of geometry parameters and consider the real gas effects of the organic, working fluid which must be taken into consideration for the ORC turbine design procedure. In this paper, a new preliminary design and optimization method is established for the purpose of reducing the exit kinetic energy loss to improve the turbine efficiency η ts , and the blade trailing edge geometric parameters for a small scale ORC turbine with working fluid R123 are optimized based on this method. The mathematical optimal solution to minimize the exit kinetic energy is deduced, which can be used to design and optimize the exit shroud/hub radius and exit blade angle. And then, the influence of blade trailing edge geometric parameters on turbine efficiency η ts are analysed and the optimal working ranges of these parameters for the equations are recommended in consideration of working fluid R123. This method is used to modify an existing ORC turbine exit kinetic energy loss from 11.7% to 7%, which indicates the effectiveness of the method. However, the internal passage loss increases from 7.9% to 9.4%, so the only way to consider the influence of geometric parameters on internal passage loss is to give the empirical ranges of these parameters, such as the recommended ranges that the value of γ is at 0.3 to 0.4, and the

  11. Application to nuclear turbines of high-efficiency and reliable 3D-designed integral shrouded blades

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Watanabe, Eiichiro; Ohyama, Hiroharu; Tashiro, Hikaru; Sugitani, Toshio; Kurosawa, Masaru

    1999-01-01

    Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has recently developed new blades for nuclear turbines, in order to achieve higher efficiency and higher reliability. The three-dimensional aerodynamic design for 41-inch and 46-inch blades, their one piece structural design (integral shrouded blades: ISB), and the verification test results using a model steam turbine are described in this paper. The predicted efficiency and lower vibratory stress have been verified. On the basis of these 60 Hz ISB, 50 Hz ISB series are under development using 'the law of similarity' without changing their thermodynamic performance and mechanical stress levels. Our 3D-designed reaction blades which are used for the high pressure and low pressure upstream stages, are also briefly mentioned. (author)

  12. Fundamentals for remote structural health monitoring of wind turbine blades - a pre-project

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Soerensen, B.F.; Lading, L.; Sendrup, P. (and others)

    2002-05-01

    This summary-report describes the results of a pre-project that has the aim of establishing the basic technical knowledge to evaluate whether remote surveillance of the rotor blades of large off-shore wind turbines has technical and economical potential. A cost-benefit analysis was developed, showing that it is economically attractive to use sensors embedded in the blade. Specific technical requirements were defined for the sensors capability to detect the most important damage types in wind turbine blades. Three different sensor types were selected for use in laboratory experiments and full-scale tests of a wind turbine blade developing damage: 1) detection of stress wave emission by acoustic emission, 2) measurement of modal shape changes by accelerometers and 3) measurement of crack opening of adhesive joint by a fibre optics micro-bend displacement transducer that was developed in the project. All types of sensor approaches were found to work satisfactory. The techniques were found to complement each other: Acoustic emission has the capability of detecting very small damages and can be used for locating the spatial position and size of evolving damages. The fibre optics displacement transducer was found to work well for detecting adhesive failure. Modelling work shows that damage in a wind turbine blade causes a significant change in the modal shape when the damage is in the order of 0.5-1 m. Rough estimates of the prices of complete sensor systems were made. The system based on acoustic emission was the most expensive and the one based on accelerometers was the cheapest. NDT methods (ultrasound scanning and X-ray inspection) were found to be useful for verification of hidden damage. Details of the work are described in annexes. (au)

  13. Active load reduction by means of trailing edge flaps on a wind turbine blade

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Couchman, Ian; Castaignet, Damien; Poulsen, Niels Kjølstad

    2014-01-01

    This paper presents the blade fatigue load reduction achieved with a trailing edge flap during a full scale test on a Vestas V27 wind turbine. A frequency-weighted linear model predictive control (MPC) is tuned to decrease flapwise blade root fatigue loads at the frequencies where most of the blade...... damage occurs, i.e. the 1P and 2P frequencies (respectively 1 and 2 events per revolution). Frequency-weighted MPC is chosen for its ability to handle constraints on the trailing edge flap deflection and to optimise its actuation in order to decrease wear and tear of the actuator. The controller...... was first tested in aero-servo-elastic simulations, before being implemented on a Vestas V27 wind turbine. Consistent load reduction is achieved during the full-scale test. An average of 14% flapwise blade root fatigue load reduction is measured....

  14. Model Predictive Control of Trailing Edge Flaps on a wind turbine blade

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Castaignet, Damien; Poulsen, Niels Kjølstad; Buhl, Thomas

    2011-01-01

    Trailing Edge Flaps on wind turbine blades have been studied in order to achieve fatigue load reduction on the turbine components. We show in this paper how Model Predictive Control can be used to do frequency weighted control of the trailing edge flaps in order to reduce fatigue damage on the bl...

  15. Design of rotor blade for vertical axis wind turbine using double aerofoil

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chougule, P.D.; Ratkovich, N.; Kirkegaard, P.H.; Nielsen, Soeren R.K. [Aalborg Univ.. Dept. of Civil Engineering, Aalborg (Denmark)

    2012-07-01

    Nowadays, small vertical axis wind turbines are receiving more attention compared to horizontal wind turbines due to their suitability in urban use,because they generate less noise, have bird free turbines and lower cost. There are few vertical axis wind turbines design with good power curve. However, the efficiency of power extraction has not been improved. Therefore, an attempt has been made to utilize high lift technology in practice for vertical axis wind turbines in order to improve power efficiency. High lift is obtained by double aerofoil elements mainly used in aeroplane wing design. In this current work, two aerofoils are used to design a rotor blade for a vertical axis wind turbine to improve the power efficiency on the rotor. Double aerofoil blade design consists of a main aerofoil and a slat aerofoil. The parameters related to position and orientation of the slat aerofoil with respect to the main aerofoil defines the high lift. Orientation of slat aerofoil is a parameter of investigation in this paper. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) have been used to obtain the aerodynamic characteristics of double aerofoil. The CFD simulations were carried out using Star CCM+ v7.04 (CD-adapco, UK) software. Aerofoils used in this work are selected from standard aerofoil shapes. (Author)

  16. Design of a 3 kW wind turbine generator with thin airfoil blades

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ameku, Kazumasa; Nagai, Baku M.; Roy, Jitendro Nath [Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of the Ryukyus, 1 Senbaru, Nishihara-cho, Okinawa 903-0213 (Japan)

    2008-09-15

    Three blades of a 3 kW prototype wind turbine generator were designed with thin airfoil and a tip speed ratio of 3. The wind turbine has been controlled via two control methods: the variable pitch angle and by regulation of the field current of the generator and examined under real wind conditions. The characteristics of the thin airfoil, called ''Seven arcs thin airfoil'' named so because the airfoil is composed of seven circular arcs, are analyzed with the airfoil design and analysis program XFOIL. The thin airfoil blade is designed and calculated by blade element and momentum theory. The performance characteristics of the machine such as rotational speed, generator output as well as stability for wind speed changes are described. In the case of average wind speeds of 10 m/s and a maximum of 19 m/s, the automatically controlled wind turbine ran safely through rough wind conditions and showed an average generator output of 1105 W and a power coefficient 0.14. (author)

  17. The Brazier effect in wind turbine blades and its influence on design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Find Mølholt; Weaver, P.M.; Cecchini, L.S.

    2012-01-01

    Critical failure was observed in the shear web of a wind turbine blade during a full-scale testing. This failure occurred immediately before the ultimate failure and was partly caused by buckling and non-linear cross-sectional strain. Experimental values had been used to compare and validate both...... numerical and semi-analytical results in the analysis of the shear webs in the reinforced wind turbine blade. Only elastic material behaviour was analysed, and attention was primarily focused on the Brazier effect. The complex, geometrically non-linear and elastic stress–strain behaviour of the shear webs...... and the cap in compression were analysed using a balance of experimental, numerical and analytical approaches. It was noted that the non-linear distortion was caused by the crushing pressure derived from the Brazier effect. This Brazier pressure may have a significant impact on the design of new blades...

  18. Loadings in thermal barrier coatings of jet engine turbine blades an experimental research and numerical modeling

    CERN Document Server

    Sadowski, Tomasz

    2016-01-01

    This book discusses complex loadings of turbine blades and protective layer Thermal Barrier Coating (TBC), under real working airplane jet conditions. They obey both multi-axial mechanical loading and sudden temperature variation during starting and landing of the airplanes. In particular, two types of blades are analyzed: stationary and rotating, which are widely applied in turbine engines produced by airplane factories.

  19. Contactless Diagnostics of Turbine Blade Vibration and Damage

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Procházka, Pavel; Vaněk, František

    2011-01-01

    Roč. 305, č. 1 (2011), s. 1-11 E-ISSN 1742-6596. [International Conference on Damage Assessment of Structures (DAMAS 2011) /9./. Oxford, 11.07.2011-13.07.2011] Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z20760514 Keywords : steam turbine * blade damage assessment * tip-timing method Subject RIV: JL - Materials Fatigue, Friction Mechanics http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/305/1/012116

  20. Part 1 – Experimental study of the pressure fluctuations on propeller turbine runner blades during steady-state operation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Houde, S; Fraser, R; Ciocan, G D; Deschênes, C

    2012-01-01

    A good evaluation of the unsteady pressure field on hydraulic turbine blades is critical in evaluating the turbine lifespan and its maintenance schedule. Low-head turbines such as Kaplan and Propeller, using a relatively low number of blades supported only at the hub, may also undergo significant deflections at the blade tips which will lead to higher amplitude vibration compared to Francis turbines. Furthermore, the precise evaluation of the unsteady pressure distribution on low-head turbines is still a challenge for computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Within the framework of an international research consortium on low-head turbines, a research project was instigated at the Hydraulic Machines Laboratory in Laval University (LAMH) to perform experimental measurements of the unsteady pressure field on propeller turbine model runner blades. The main objective of the project was to measure the pressure fluctuations on a wide band of frequencies, both in a blade-to-blade channel and on the pressure and suction side of the same blade, to provide validation data for CFD computations. To do so, a 32 channels telemetric data transmission system was used to extract the signal of 31 pressure transducers and two strain gages from the rotating part at an acquisition frequency of 5 KHz. The miniature piezoelectric pressure transducers were placed on two adjacent runner blades according to an estimated pressure distribution coming from flow simulations. Two suction sides and one pressure side were instrumented. The strain gages were mounted in full-bridge on both pressure and suction sides to measure the blade span wise deflection. In order to provide boundary conditions for flow simulations, the test bench conditions during the measurements were acquired. The measurements were made in different operating conditions ranging from part load, where a cavitating vortex occurs, to full load under different heads. The results enabled the identification and the quantification of the

  1. Vortex lattice modelling of winglets on wind turbine blades. 3. ed.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Doessing, M.

    2007-08-15

    The power production of wind turbines can be increased by the use of winglets without increasing the swept area. This makes them suitable for sites with restrictions in rotor diameter and in wind farms. The present project aims at understanding how winglets influences the flow and the aerodynamic forces on wind turbine blades. A free wake vortex lattice code and a fast design algorithm for a horizontal axis wind turbine under steady conditions has been developed. 2 winglet designs are treated in detail. (au)

  2. Shape Optimization of Wind Turbine Blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wang, Xudong; Shen, Wen Zhong; Zhu, Wei Jun

    2009-01-01

    of the rotor. The design variables used in the current study are the blade shape parameters, including chord, twist and relative thickness. To validate the implementation of the aerodynamic/aero-elastic model, the computed aerodynamic results are compared to experimental data for the experimental rotor used...... in the European Commision-sponsored project Model Experiments in Controlled Conditions, (MEXICO) and the computed aero-elastic results are examined against the FLEX code for flow post the Tjereborg 2 MW rotor. To illustrate the optimization technique, three wind turbine rotors of different sizes (the MEXICO 25 k...

  3. Tunneling cracks in full scale wind turbine blade joints

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jørgensen, Jeppe Bjørn; Sørensen, Bent F.; Kildegaard, C.

    2017-01-01

    A novel approach is presented and used in a generic tunneling crack tool for the prediction of crack growth rates for tunneling cracks propagating across a bond-line in a wind turbine blade under high cyclic loadings. In order to test and demonstrate the applicability of the tool, model predictions...

  4. Slotted Blades Savonius Wind Turbine Analysis by CFD

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrea Alaimo

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available In this paper a new bucket configuration for a Savonius wind generator is proposed. Numerical analyses are performed to estimate the performances of the proposed configuration by means of the commercial code COMSOL Multiphysics® with respect to Savonius wind turbine with overlap only. Parametric analyses are performed, for a fixed overlap ratio, by varying the slot position; the results show that for slot positioned near the blade root, the Savonius rotor improves performances at low tip speed ratio, evidencing a better starting torque. This circumstance is confirmed by static analyses performed on the slotted blades in order to investigate the starting characteristic of the proposed Savonius wind generator configuration.

  5. Design of Linear Control System for Wind Turbine Blade Fatigue Testing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Toft, Anders; Roe-Poulsen, Bjarke Nørskov; Christiansen, Rasmus

    2016-01-01

    This paper proposes a linear method for wind turbine blade fatigue testing at Siemens Wind Power. The setup consists of a blade, an actuator (motor and load mass) that acts on the blade with a sinusoidal moment, and a distribution of strain gauges to measure the blade flexure. Based...... difficult to control. To make a linear controller, a different approach has been chosen, namely making a controller which is not regulating on the input frequency, but on the input amplitude. A non-linear mechanical model for the blade and the motor has been constructed. This model has been simplified based...... on the desired output, namely the amplitude of the blade. Furthermore, the model has been linearised to make it suitable for linear analysis and control design methods.\\\\ The controller is designed based on a simplified and linearised model, and its gain parameter determined using pole placement. The model...

  6. Numerical study of aero-excitation of steam-turbine rotor blade self-oscillations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galaev, S. A.; Makhnov, V. Yu.; Ris, V. V.; Smirnov, E. M.

    2018-05-01

    Blade aero-excitation increment is evaluated by numerical solution of the full 3D unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations governing wet steam flow in a powerful steam-turbine last stage. The equilibrium wet steam model was adopted. Blade surfaces oscillations are defined by eigen-modes of a row of blades bounded by a shroud. Grid dependency study was performed with a reduced model being a set of blades multiple an eigen-mode nodal diameter. All other computations were carried out for the entire blade row. Two cases are considered, with an original-blade row and with a row of modified (reinforced) blades. Influence of eigen-mode nodal diameter and blade reinforcing on aero-excitation increment is analyzed. It has been established, in particular, that maximum value of the aero-excitation increment for the reinforced-blade row is two times less as compared with the original-blade row. Generally, results of the study point definitely to less probability of occurrence of blade self-oscillations in case of the reinforced blade-row.

  7. Effect of small cold forming on the creep behaviour of gas turbine blades made of Nimonic 90

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Keienburg, K.H.; Krueger, H.; Pickert, U.; Bautz, G.

    1987-01-01

    In order to obtain information on the material behaviour of Nimonic 90 with and without cold forming at the main temperature of use of 560deg C for large gas turbine blades, creep and relaxation samples were taken from the large volume foot of a gas turbine blade, part of which were tensioned by 3% cold in a tensile test machine. The selected cold forming was obtained as the upper limit from DMS measurements on a gas turbine blade when aligning. The negative effect of cold forming on the creep behaviour known from the literature for other γ hardened nickel base alloys was confirmed. The grain (matrix) is strengthened and the grain boundary is simultaneously weakened by cold forming. The material is also sensitized, so that fine separation occurs in the grain at the sliding bands and at the grain boundaries. Both circumstances contribute to the worsening of the creep behaviour, significantly for stresses below the technical elastic limit in the cold formed state. It follows, relative to large gas turbine blades, that: 1) Aligning operations must be restricted to the absolute minimum necessary and should be avoided completely if possible. 2) Aligned blades should be subjected to renewed solution annealing and separation hardening. 3.) Blades deformed in operation should also be subjected to renewed complete heat treatment. (orig.) [de

  8. Aerodynamic investigation of winglets on wind turbine blades using CFD

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Johansen, Jeppe; Soerensen, Niels N.

    2006-02-15

    The present report describes the numerical investigation of the aerodynamics around a wind turbine blade with a winglet using Computational Fluid Dynamics, CFD. Five winglets were investigated with different twist distribution and camber. Four of them were pointing towards the pressure side (upstream) and one was pointing towards the suction side (downstream). Additionally, a rectangular modification of the original blade tip was designed with the same planform area as the blades with winglets. Results show that adding a winglet to the existing blade increase the force distribution on the outer approx 14 % of the blade leading to increased produced power of around 0.6% to 1.4% for wind speeds larger than 6 m/s. This has to be compared to the increase in thrust of around 1.0% to 1.6%. Pointing the winglet downstream increases the power production even further. The effect of sweep and cant angles is not accounted for in the present investigation and could improve the winglets even more. (au)

  9. Assessment of the performance of various airfoil sections on power generation from a wind turbine using the blade element momentum theory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chen, Xiaomin; Agarwal, Ramesh [Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Washington University in St. Louis, Jolley Hall, Campus Box 1185, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, Missouri, 63130 (United States)

    2013-07-01

    It is well established that the power generated by a Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT) is a function of the number of blades, the tip speed ratio (blade tip speed/wind free stream velocity) and the lift to drag ratio (CL /CD) of the airfoil sections of the blade. The airfoil sections used in HAWT are generally thick airfoils such as the S, DU, FX, Flat-back and NACA 6-series of airfoils. These airfoils vary in (CL /CD) for a given blade and ratio and therefore the power generated by HAWT for different blade airfoil sections will vary. The goal of this paper is to evaluate the effect of different airfoil sections on HAWT performance using the Blade Element Momentum (BEM) theory. In this study, we employ DU 91-W2-250, FX 66-S196-V1, NACA 64421, and Flat-back series of airfoils (FB-3500-0050, FB-3500-0875, and FB-3500-1750) and compare their performance with S809 airfoil used in NREL Phase II and III wind turbines; the lift and drag coefficient data for these airfoils sections are available. The output power of the turbine is calculated using these airfoil section blades for a given blade and ratio and is compared with the original NREL Phase II and Phase III turbines using S809 airfoil section. It is shown that by a suitable choice of airfoil section of HAWT blade, the power generated by the turbine can be significantly increased. Parametric studies are also conducted by varying the turbine diameter.

  10. Low cycle fatigue analysis of a last stage steam turbine blade

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Měšťánek P.

    2008-11-01

    Full Text Available The present paper deals with the low cycle fatigue analysis of the low pressure (LP steam turbine blade. The blade is cyclically loaded by the centrifugal force because of the repeated startups of the turbine. The goal of the research is to develop a technique to assess fatigue life of the blade and to determine the number of startups to the crack initiation. Two approaches were employed. First approach is based on the elastic finite element analysis. Fictive 'elastic' results are recalculated using Neuber's rule and the equivalent energy method. Triaxial state of stress is reduced using von Mises theory. Strain amplitude is calculated employing the cyclic deformation curve. Second approach is based on elastic-plastic FE analysis. Strain amplitude is determined directly from the FE analysis by reducing the triaxial state of strain. Fatigue life was assessed using uniaxial damage parameters. Both approaches are compared and their applicability is discussed. Factors that can influence the fatigue life are introduced. Experimental low cycle fatigue testing is shortly described.

  11. WindPACT Turbine Design Scaling Studies Technical Area 2: Turbine, Rotor and Blade Logistics; TOPICAL

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smith, K.

    2001-01-01

    Through the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the United States Department of Energy (DOE) implemented the Wind Partnership for Advanced Component Technologies (WindPACT) program. This program will explore advanced technologies that may reduce the cost of energy (COE) from wind turbines. The initial step in the WindPACT program is a series of preliminary scaling studies intended to determine the optimum sizes for future turbines, help define sizing limits for certain critical technologies, and explore the potential for advanced technologies to contribute to reduced COE as turbine scales increase. This report documents the results of Technical Area 2-Turbine Rotor and Blade Logistics. For this report, we investigated the transportation, assembly, and crane logistics and costs associated with installation of a range of multi-megawatt-scale wind turbines. We focused on using currently available equipment, assembly techniques, and transportation system capabilities and limitations to hypothetically transport and install 50 wind turbines at a facility in south-central South Dakota

  12. Improved blade element momentum theory for wind turbine aerodynamic computations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sun, Zhenye; Chen, Jin; Shen, Wen Zhong

    2016-01-01

    Blade element momentum (BEM) theory is widely used in aerodynamic performance predictions and design applications for wind turbines. However, the classic BEM method is not quite accurate which often tends to under-predict the aerodynamic forces near root and over-predict its performance near tip....... for the MEXICO rotor. Results show that the improved BEM theory gives a better prediction than the classic BEM method, especially in the blade tip region, when comparing to the MEXICO measurements. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved....

  13. Design, fabrication, test, and evaluation of a prototype 150-foot long composite wind turbine blade

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gewehr, H. W.

    1979-01-01

    The design, fabrication, testing, and evaluation of a prototype 150 foot long composite wind turbine blade is described. The design approach and material selection, compatible with low cost fabrication methods and objectives, are highlighted. The operating characteristics of the blade during rotating and nonrotating conditions are presented. The tensile, compression, and shear properties of the blade are reported. The blade fabrication, tooling, and quality assurance are discussed.

  14. Aerodynamic investigation of winglets on wind turbine blades using CFD

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Johansen, Jeppe; Sørensen, Niels N.

    2006-01-01

    The present report describes the numerical investigation of the aerodynamics around a wind turbine blade with a winglet using Computational Fluid Dynamics, CFD. Five winglets were investigated with different twist distribution and camber. Four of them were pointing towards the pressure side...

  15. Parametric dependence of a morphing wind turbine blade on material elasticity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Puterbaugh, Martin; Beyene, Asfaw

    2011-01-01

    A few recent works have suggested a morphing blade for wind turbine energy conversion. The concept is derived from fin and wing motions that better adapt to varying load conditions. Previous research has provided the fluid mechanic justification of this new concept. This paper establishes a parametric relationship between an asymmetric wind turbine blade and constituent material modulus to predict the geometric response of the morphing blade for a given material characteristic. The airfoil's trailing edge deflection is associated to a prescribed fluid exit angle via the Moment Area (MA) method. Subsequently, a mathematical model is derived to predict material deformation with respect to imparted aerodynamic forces. Results show that an airfoil, much like a tapered beam, can be modeled as a non-prismatic cantilevered beam using this well established method. -- Research highlights: →A mathematical model relating morphing airfoil thickness and elastic modulus was established. →For non-prismatic beam under a uniform distributive load, the slope and deflection of the airfoil's trailing edge were related to the fluid exit angle. →The main driver of blade deformation was the angular drag force. The Moment Area method was used, verified by Finite Element method. →Displacement to the exit angle is predicated upon the elastic modulus value given that other parameters are constant. →Optimum power output is obtained in part load conditions when the blade deforms to the applicable exit angle.

  16. Fish passage through hydropower turbines: Simulating blade strike using the discrete element method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Richmond, M C; Romero-Gomez, P

    2014-01-01

    Among the hazardous hydraulic conditions affecting anadromous and resident fish during their passage though hydro-turbines two common physical processes can lead to injury and mortality: collisions/blade-strike and rapid decompression. Several methods are currently available to evaluate these stressors in installed turbines, e.g. using live fish or autonomous sensor devices, and in reduced-scale physical models, e.g. registering collisions from plastic beads. However, a priori estimates with computational modeling approaches applied early in the process of turbine design can facilitate the development of fish-friendly turbines. In the present study, we evaluated the frequency of blade strike and rapid pressure change by modeling potential fish trajectories with the Discrete Element Method (DEM) applied to fish-like composite particles. In the DEM approach, particles are subjected to realistic hydraulic conditions simulated with computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and particle-structure interactions-representing fish collisions with turbine components such as blades-are explicitly recorded and accounted for in the calculation of particle trajectories. We conducted transient CFD simulations by setting the runner in motion and allowing for unsteady turbulence using detached eddy simulation (DES), as compared to the conventional practice of simulating the system in steady state (which was also done here for comparison). While both schemes yielded comparable bulk hydraulic performance values, transient conditions exhibited an improvement in describing flow temporal and spatial variability. We released streamtraces (in the steady flow solution) and DEM particles (transient solution) at the same locations where sensor fish (SF) were released in previous field studies of the advanced turbine unit. The streamtrace- based results showed a better agreement with SF data than the DEM-based nadir pressures did because the former accounted for the turbulent dispersion at the

  17. Influence of Reynolds Number on Multi-Objective Aerodynamic Design of a Wind Turbine Blade.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ge, Mingwei; Fang, Le; Tian, De

    2015-01-01

    At present, the radius of wind turbine rotors ranges from several meters to one hundred meters, or even more, which extends Reynolds number of the airfoil profile from the order of 105 to 107. Taking the blade for 3MW wind turbines as an example, the influence of Reynolds number on the aerodynamic design of a wind turbine blade is studied. To make the study more general, two kinds of multi-objective optimization are involved: one is based on the maximum power coefficient (CPopt) and the ultimate load, and the other is based on the ultimate load and the annual energy production (AEP). It is found that under the same configuration, the optimal design has a larger CPopt or AEP (CPopt//AEP) for the same ultimate load, or a smaller load for the same CPopt//AEP at higher Reynolds number. At a certain tip-speed ratio or ultimate load, the blade operating at higher Reynolds number should have a larger chord length and twist angle for the maximum Cpopt//AEP. If a wind turbine blade is designed by using an airfoil database with a mismatched Reynolds number from the actual one, both the load and Cpopt//AEP will be incorrectly estimated to some extent. In some cases, the assessment error attributed to Reynolds number is quite significant, which may bring unexpected risks to the earnings and safety of a wind power project.

  18. Influence of Reynolds Number on Multi-Objective Aerodynamic Design of a Wind Turbine Blade

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ge, Mingwei; Fang, Le; Tian, De

    2015-01-01

    At present, the radius of wind turbine rotors ranges from several meters to one hundred meters, or even more, which extends Reynolds number of the airfoil profile from the order of 105 to 107. Taking the blade for 3MW wind turbines as an example, the influence of Reynolds number on the aerodynamic design of a wind turbine blade is studied. To make the study more general, two kinds of multi-objective optimization are involved: one is based on the maximum power coefficient (C Popt) and the ultimate load, and the other is based on the ultimate load and the annual energy production (AEP). It is found that under the same configuration, the optimal design has a larger C Popt or AEP (C Popt//AEP) for the same ultimate load, or a smaller load for the same C Popt//AEP at higher Reynolds number. At a certain tip-speed ratio or ultimate load, the blade operating at higher Reynolds number should have a larger chord length and twist angle for the maximum C popt//AEP. If a wind turbine blade is designed by using an airfoil database with a mismatched Reynolds number from the actual one, both the load and C popt//AEP will be incorrectly estimated to some extent. In some cases, the assessment error attributed to Reynolds number is quite significant, which may bring unexpected risks to the earnings and safety of a wind power project. PMID:26528815

  19. Damage Detection Method of Wind Turbine Blade Using Acoustic Emission Signal Mapping

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Han, Byeong Hee; Yoon, Dong JIn [Korea Research Institute of Standards and Seience, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2011-02-15

    Acoustic emission(AE) has emerged as a powerful nondestructive tool to detect any further growth or expansion of preexisting defects or to characterize failure mechanisms. Recently, this kind of technique, that is an in-situ monitoring of inside damages of materials or structures, becomes increasingly popular for monitoring the integrity of large structures like a huge wind turbine blade. Therefore, it is required to find a symptom of damage propagation before catastrophic failure through a continuous monitoring. In this study, a new damage location method has been proposed by using signal napping algorithm, and an experimental verification is conducted by using small wind turbine blade specimen: a part of 750 kW real blade. The results show that this new signal mapping method has high advantages such as a flexibility for sensor location, improved accuracy, high detectability. The newly proposed method was compared with traditional AE source location method based on arrival time difference

  20. On the impact of multi-axial stress states on trailing edge bondlines in wind turbine rotor blades

    OpenAIRE

    Castelos, Pablo Noever; Balzani, Claudio

    2016-01-01

    For a reliable design of wind turbine systems all of their components have to be designed to withstand the loads appearing in the turbine's lifetime. When performed in an integral manner this is called systems engineering, and is exceptionally important for components that have an impact on the entire wind turbine system, such as the rotor blade. Bondlines are crucial subcomponents of rotor blades, but they are not much recognized in the wind energy research community. However, a bondline fai...

  1. The Study the Vibration Condition of the Blade of the Gas Turbine Engine with an All-metal Wire Rope Damper in the Area Mount of the Blade to the Disk

    Science.gov (United States)

    Melentjev, Vladimir S.; Gvozdev, Alexander S.

    2018-01-01

    Improving the reliability of modern turbine engines is actual task. This is achieved due to prevent a vibration damage of the operating blades. On the department of structure and design of aircraft engines have accumulated a lot of experimental data on the protection of the blades of the gas turbine engine from a vibration. In this paper we proposed a method for calculating the characteristics of wire rope dampers in the root attachment of blade of a gas turbine engine. The method is based on the use of the finite element method and transient analysis. Contact interaction (Lagrange-Euler method) between the compressor blade and the disc of the rotor has been taken into account. Contribution of contact interaction between details in damping of the system was measured. The proposed method provides a convenient way for the iterative selection of the required parameters the wire rope elastic-damping element. This element is able to provide the necessary protection from the vibration for the blade of a gas turbine engine.

  2. Development turbine blade for ultramicro hydro power generation by 3D printer system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kamimura, T.; Itoh, H.; Sugiura, K.

    2017-11-01

    We have developed micro generation system for effective use of unutilized energy and the spread of a self-controlled dispersion energy supply system. The turbine blade was designed for achieving high performance by special shape. The turbine type was called quasi-Peace turbine type. Turbine with a diameter of 30cm is made of metal, it was created by the 5-axis milling machine. The experimental apparatus was fabricated by the 3D printer. An experiment was carried out in the scale down model. The specific speed of this turbine was much lower than that of existing turbines.

  3. Probabilistic Fatigue Design of Composite Material for Wind Turbine Blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Toft, Henrik Stensgaard; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

    2011-01-01

    In the present paper a probabilistic design approach to fatigue design of wind turbine blades is presented. The physical uncertainty on the fatigue strength for composite material is estimated using public available fatigue tests. Further, the model uncertainty on Miner rule for damage accumulation...

  4. Evaluation of the Effect of Spar Cap Fiber Angle of Bending-Torsion Coupled Blades on the Aero-Structural Performance of Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sener, Ozgun; Farsadi, Touraj; Gozc, M. Ozan

    2018-01-01

    with the fatigue load mitigation in the whole wind turbine system, tower clearances, peak stresses in the blades, and power generation of wind turbines. For this purpose, a full E-glass/epoxy reference blade has been designed, following the inverse design methodology for a 5-MW wind turbine. An E-glass/epoxy blade...... with IBTC, and besides the fiber orientation angle, sectional properties of hybrid blades must be adjusted accordingly using proper number of carbon/epoxy layers in the sections of the blade with IBTC, in order to simultaneously reduce generator power losses and the FEL....

  5. Aerodynamic study of a blade with sine variation of chord length along the height for Darrieus wind turbine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crunteanu, D. E.; Constantinescu, S. G.; Niculescu, M. L.

    2013-10-01

    The wind energy is deemed as one of the most durable energetic variants of the future because the wind resources are immense. Furthermore, one predicts that the small wind turbines will play a vital role in the urban environment. Unfortunately, the complexity and the price of pitch regulated small horizontal-axis wind turbines represent ones of the main obstacles to widespread the use in populated zones. In contrast to these wind turbines, the Darrieus wind turbines are simpler and their price is lower. Unfortunately, their blades run at high variations of angles of attack, in stall and post-stall regimes, which can induce significant vibrations, fatigue and even the wind turbine failure. For this reason, the present paper deals with a blade with sine variation of chord length along the height because it has better behavior in stall and post-stall regimes than the classic blade with constant chord length.

  6. Evaluation of Hand Lay-Up and Resin Transfer Molding in Composite Wind Turbine Blade Manufacturing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    CAIRNS,DOUGLAS S.; SHRAMSTAD,JON D.

    2000-06-01

    The majority of the wind turbine blade industry currently uses low cost hand lay-up manufacturing techniques to process composite blades. While there are benefits to the hand lay-up process, drawbacks inherent to this process along with advantages of other techniques suggest that better manufacturing alternatives may be available. Resin Transfer Molding (RTM) was identified as a processing alternative and shows promise in addressing the shortcomings of hand lay-up. This report details a comparison of the RTM process to hand lay-up of composite wind turbine blade structures. Several lay-up schedules and critical turbine blade structures were chosen for comparison of their properties resulting from RTM and hand lay-up processing. The geometries investigated were flat plate, thin and thick flanged T-stiffener, I-beam, and root connection joint. It was found that the manufacturing process played an important role in laminate thickness, fiber volume, and weight for the geometries investigated. RTM was found to reduce thickness and weight and increase fiber volumes for all substructures. RTM resulted in tighter material transition radii and eliminated the need for most secondary bonding operations. These results would significantly reduce the weight of wind turbine blades. Hand lay-up was consistently slower in fabrication times for the structures investigated. A comparison of mechanical properties showed no significant differences after employing fiber volume normalization techniques to account for geometry differences resulting from varying fiber volumes. The current root specimen design does not show significant mechanical property differences according to process and exceeds all static and fatigue requirements.

  7. A methodology to guide the selection of composite materials in a wind turbine rotor blade design process

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bortolotti, P.; Adolphs, G.; Bottasso, C. L.

    2016-09-01

    This work is concerned with the development of an optimization methodology for the composite materials used in wind turbine blades. Goal of the approach is to guide designers in the selection of the different materials of the blade, while providing indications to composite manufacturers on optimal trade-offs between mechanical properties and material costs. The method works by using a parametric material model, and including its free parameters amongst the design variables of a multi-disciplinary wind turbine optimization procedure. The proposed method is tested on the structural redesign of a conceptual 10 MW wind turbine blade, its spar caps and shell skin laminates being subjected to optimization. The procedure identifies a blade optimum for a new spar cap laminate characterized by a higher longitudinal Young's modulus and higher cost than the initial one, which however in turn induce both cost and mass savings in the blade. In terms of shell skin, the adoption of a laminate with intermediate properties between a bi-axial one and a tri-axial one also leads to slight structural improvements.

  8. DEVELOPMENT OF PROTECTIVE COATINGS FOR SINGLE CRYSTAL TURBINE BLADES

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Amarendra K. Rai

    2006-12-04

    Turbine blades in coal derived syngas systems are subject to oxidation and corrosion due to high steam temperature and pressure. Thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) are developed to address these problems. The emphasis is on prime-reliant design and a better coating architecture, having high temperature and corrosion resistance properties for turbine blades. In Phase I, UES Inc. proposed to develop, characterize and optimize a prime reliant TBC system, having smooth and defect-free NiCoCrAlY bond layer and a defect free oxide sublayer, using a filtered arc technology. Phase I work demonstrated the deposition of highly dense, smooth and defect free NiCoCrAlY bond coat on a single crystal CMSX-4 substrate and the deposition of alpha-alumina and yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) sublayer on top of the bond coat. Isothermal and cyclic oxidation test and pre- and post-characterization of these layers, in Phase I work, (with and without top TBC layer of commercial EB PVD YSZ) revealed significant performance enhancement.

  9. Investigation of structural behaviour due to bend-twist couplings in wind turbine blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fedorov, Vladimir; Dimitrov, Nikolay Krasimiroy; Berggreen, Christian

    2009-01-01

    The structural behaviour of a composite wind turbine blade with implemented bend-twist coupling is examined in this paper. Several shell finite element models of the blade have been developed and validated against full-scale tests. All shell models performed well for flap-wise bending......, but performed poorly in torsion, when employing material off-sets....

  10. Interaction of Atmospheric Turbulence with Blade Boundary Layer Dynamics on a 5MW Wind Turbine using Blade-Boundary-Layer-Resolved CFD with hybrid URANS-LES.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vijayakumar, Ganesh [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States); Brasseur, James [Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States); Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States); Lavely, Adam; Jayaraman, Balaji; Craven, Brent

    2016-01-04

    We describe the response of the NREL 5 MW wind turbine blade boundary layer to the passage of atmospheric turbulence using blade-boundary-layer-resolved computational fluid dynamics with hybrid URANS-LES modeling.

  11. Direct Embedding of Fiber-Optical Load Sensors into Wind Turbine Blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Glavind, Lars; Buggy, Stephen; Olesen, Ib S.

    Long Period Gratings were embedded into the adhesive utilized in the matrix of a wind turbine blade. The LPGs were subsequently subjected to temperature-testing in order to assess their performance, which illustrates good embedding capabilities....

  12. High Humidity Aerodynamic Effects Study on Offshore Wind Turbine Airfoil/Blade Performance through CFD Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Weipeng Yue

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Damp air with high humidity combined with foggy, rainy weather, and icing in winter weather often is found to cause turbine performance degradation, and it is more concerned with offshore wind farm development. To address and understand the high humidity effects on wind turbine performance, our study has been conducted with spread sheet analysis on damp air properties investigation for air density and viscosity; then CFD modeling study using Fluent was carried out on airfoil and blade aerodynamic performance effects due to water vapor partial pressure of mixing flow and water condensation around leading edge and trailing edge of airfoil. It is found that the high humidity effects with water vapor mixing flow and water condensation thin film around airfoil may have insignificant effect directly on airfoil/blade performance; however, the indirect effects such as blade contamination and icing due to the water condensation may have significant effects on turbine performance degradation. Also it is that found the foggy weather with microwater droplet (including rainy weather may cause higher drag that lead to turbine performance degradation. It is found that, at high temperature, the high humidity effect on air density cannot be ignored for annual energy production calculation. The blade contamination and icing phenomenon need to be further investigated in the next study.

  13. Corrosion fatigue in LP steam turbine blading - experiences, causes and appropriate measures; Korrosionsutmattning i aangturbinskovlar - Erfarenheter, inverkande faktorer och moejliga aatgaerder

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tavast, J [ABB STAL AB, Finspaang (Sweden)

    1996-12-01

    Corrosion fatigue in LP steam turbine blading was reviewed together with result of tests performed in order to find blade materials with improved resistance against this. According to international experience, corrosion fatigue of 12Cr steam turbine blades in the transition zone between dry and wet steam, is one of the major causes, if not the major cause, for unavailability of steam turbines. Corrosion fatigue in LP blading is a frequent problem also in Swedish and Finnish nuclear power plants, especially in turbines of type D54 in BWR-plants. Corrosion fatigue has also been discovered in at least one type of nuclear turbine. Initiation times have been very long and the varying experiences in different types of turbines may simply reflect differing initiation times. Corrosion fatigue may therefore become more frequent in other types of turbines in the future. The type of water treatment (BWR/PWR) and possibly temperature after reheating seem to influence the risk for corrosion fatigue. Influence of inleakage of cooling water is less clear for these nuclear plants. The long initiation times together with the fact that very few of the cracked blades have actually failed, indicate that the cracks initiate and/or propagate during transients. Extensive laboratory tests show that there are alternative blade materials available with improved resistance against corrosion fatigue, with the most promising being 15/5 PH and A905, together with Ti6Al4V. The Ti alloy shows the best resistance against corrosion fatigue in most environments and is already used in some turbines. Disadvantage is a higher cost and possible need for redesign of the blades. The alternative materials are recommended for use for blades in the transition zone between dry and wet steam in LP turbines. The main disadvantage is a lack of references, even if 15%5 PH has been used to a very limited extent. 40 refs, 24 figs, 12 tabs, 9 appendices

  14. Sonic IR crack detection of aircraft turbine engine blades with multi-frequency ultrasound excitations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Ding; Han, Xiaoyan; Newaz, Golam

    2014-01-01

    Effectively and accurately detecting cracks or defects in critical engine components, such as turbine engine blades, is very important for aircraft safety. Sonic Infrared (IR) Imaging is such a technology with great potential for these applications. This technology combines ultrasound excitation and IR imaging to identify cracks and flaws in targets. In general, failure of engine components, such as blades, begins with tiny cracks. Since the attenuation of the ultrasound wave propagation in turbine engine blades is small, the efficiency of crack detection in turbine engine blades can be quite high. The authors at Wayne State University have been developing the technology as a reliable tool for the future field use in aircraft engines and engine parts. One part of the development is to use finite element modeling to assist our understanding of effects of different parameters on crack heating while experimentally hard to achieve. The development has been focused with single frequency ultrasound excitation and some results have been presented in a previous conference. We are currently working on multi-frequency excitation models. The study will provide results and insights of the efficiency of different frequency excitation sources to foster the development of the technology for crack detection in aircraft engine components

  15. Ultimate strength of a large wind turbine blade

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Moelholt Jensen, Find

    2008-05-15

    The present PhD project contains a study of the structural static strength of wind turbine blades loaded in flap-wise direction. A combination of experimental and numerical work has been used to address the most critical failure mechanisms and to get an understanding of the complex structural behaviour of wind turbine blades. Four failure mechanisms observed during the fullscale tests and the corresponding FE-analysis are presented. Elastic mechanisms associated with failure, such as buckling, localized bending and the Brazier effect, are studied. Six different types of structural reinforcements helping to prevent undesired structural elastic mechanisms are presented. The functionality of two of the suggested structural reinforcements was demonstrated in full-scale tests and the rest trough FE-studies. The blade design under investigation consisted of an aerodynamic airfoil and a load carrying box girder. In total, five full-scale tests have been performed involving one complete blade and two shortened box girders. The second box girder was submitted to three independent tests covering different structural reinforcement alternatives. The advantages and disadvantages of testing a shortened load carrying box girder vs. an entire blade are discussed. Changes in the boundary conditions, loads and additional reinforcements, which were introduced in the box girder tests in order to avoid undesired structural elastic mechanisms, are presented. New and advanced measuring equipment was used in the fullscale tests to detect the critical failure mechanisms and to get an understanding of the complex structural behaviour. Traditionally, displacement sensors and strain gauges in blade tests are arranged based on an assumption of a Bernoulli-Euler beam structural response. In the present study it is shown that when following this procedure important information about distortions of the cross sections is lost. In the tests presented here, one of the aims was to measure distortion

  16. Experimental verification of computational model for wind turbine blade geometry design

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Štorch Vít

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available A 3D potential flow solver with unsteady force free wake model intended for optimization of blade shape for wind power generation is applied on a test case scenario formed by a wind turbine with vertical axis of rotation. The calculation is sensitive to correct modelling of wake and its interaction with blades. The validity of the flow solver is verified by comparing experimentally obtained performance data of model rotor with numerical results.

  17. Modelling the pultrusion process of off shore wind turbine blades

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Baran, Ismet

    This thesis is devoted to the numerical modelling of the pultrusion process for industrial products such as wind turbine blades and structural profiles. The main focus is on the thermo-chemical and mechanical analyses of the process in which the process induced tresses and shape distortions together

  18. Nondestructive evaluation of turbine blades vibrating in resonant modes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sciammarella, Cesar A.; Ahmadshahi, Mansour A.

    1991-12-01

    The paper presents the analysis of the strain distribution of turbine blades. The holographic moire technique is used in conjunction with computer analysis of the fringes. The application of computer fringe analysis technique reduces the number of holograms to be recorded to two. Stroboscopic illumination is used to record the patterns. Strains and stresses are computed.

  19. Numerical Investigation on Effect of Immersed Blade Depth on the Performance of Undershot Water Turbines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yah Nor Fadilah

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Energy, especially electricity, plays a vital role in global social and economic development. High annual rain rate in Malaysia seems a good potential for electricity generation especially through small hydro powers. Undershot water turbines are one of the hydropower turbines used for many years. However, the effect of blade depth immersed in the flowing water is not fully investigated. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to study the effect of immersed blade depth for straight blade undershot water turbine in power generation by using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD method. ANSYS CFX 15.0 was used to perform three dimensional analysis under steady state, incompressible, and non-isothermal conditions. The water wheel with number of blades of 6 and four different immersed depth was applied for each simulation. There are four different immersed depth was applied to each simulation, which are 20 mm, 40 mm, 60 mm and 80 mm. From the simulation result, it was found that the optimum immersed depth is 40 mm where the torque load and power generated were 0.264 N.m and 1.318 Watt respectively.

  20. Materials and process limitations for thermoplastic composite materials for wind turbine blades - preform of prepregs and commingled yarns

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Prabhakaran, R.T.D.

    2011-07-01

    Wind turbine blades are produced based on the current thermoset resin technology, but thermoplastics can offer better potential to become the future blade materials. One of the most important goals when designing larger blade systems is to keep the blade weight under control. Thermoplastic materials offer weight saving similar to thermosets, apart from many other benefits like design flexibility, durability, cost, weight saving, and performance advantageous to the wind industry. In the current research study a detailed discussion on material and process limitations such as thermoplastic prepreg tapes and commingled yams are presented in terms of their properties and available forms in the current markets. A critical review of thermoplastics discussed in the context of turbine blades applications. (Author)

  1. Effect of Reynolds number, turbulence level and periodic wake flow on heat transfer on low pressure turbine blades.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suslov, D; Schulz, A; Wittig, S

    2001-05-01

    The development of effective cooling methods is of major importance for the design of new gas turbines blades. The conception of optimal cooling schemes requires a detailed knowledge of the heat transfer processes on the blade's surfaces. The thermal load of turbine blades is predominantly determined by convective heat transfer which is described by the local heat transfer coefficient. Heat transfer is closely related to the boundary layer development along the blade surface and hence depends on various flow conditions and geometrical parameters. Particularly Reynolds number, pressures gradient and turbulence level have great impact on the boundary layer development and the according heat transfer. Therefore, in the present study, the influence of Reynolds number, turbulence intensity, and periodic unsteady inflow on the local heat transfer of a typical low pressure turbine airfoil is experimentally examined in a plane cascade.

  2. Effect of Blade Curvature Angle of Savonius Horizontal Axis Water Turbine to the Power Generation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Apha Sanditya, Taufan; Prasetyo, Ari; Kristiawan, Budi; Hadi, Syamsul

    2018-03-01

    The water energy is one of potential alternative in creating power generation specifically for the picohydro energy. Savonius is a kind of wind turbine which now proposed to be operated utilizing the energy from low fluid flow. Researches about the utilization of Savonius turbine have been developed in the horizontal water pipelines and wave. The testing experimental on the Savonius Horizontal Axis Water Turbine (HAWT) by observing the effect of the blade curvature angle (ψ) of 110°, 120°, 130°, and 140° at the debit of 176.4 lpm, 345 lpm, 489.6 lpm, and 714 lpm in order to know the power output was already conducted. The optimal result in every debit variation was obtained in the blade curvature angle of 120°. In the maximum debit of 714 lpm with blade curvature angle of 120° the power output is 39.15 Watt with the coefficient power (Cp) of 0.23 and tip speed ratio (TSR) of 1.075.

  3. Effect on Torque and Thrust of the Pointed Tip Shape of a Wind Turbine Blade

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kyoungsoo Lee

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the effect of the tip shape of a wind turbine blade on aerodynamic forces, including the effects of separation, transition and stall. A National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL Phase-VI wind turbine blade was used, in which the shape of the tip was modified to a pointed tip. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD simulations were employed for the analysis and the results were compared with the original NREL blade CFD and experimental data using ANSYS CFX (Ansys Inc., Delaware, PA, USA. To predict the separation and separation-induced transition on both near wall and far away, the shear-stress-transport (SST Gamma-Theta turbulent model was used. The stall onset of a 20° angle of attack and its effects were also analyzed and presented. The value of torque with the pointed tip blade was found to be 3%–8% higher than the original NREL blade showing the benefit of the pointed tip. Normal force coefficient is lower at the tip for the pointed tip blade, which results in lower deformation of the blade. It was found that the pointed-tip blade is more efficient in terms of generating torque than the original NREL Phase-VI blade in the dynamic stall region of 10–15 m/s wind speeds.

  4. Structural optimization procedure of a composite wind turbine blade for reducing both material cost and blade weight

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Weifei; Park, Dohyun; Choi, DongHoon

    2013-12-01

    A composite blade structure for a 2 MW horizontal axis wind turbine is optimally designed. Design requirements are simultaneously minimizing material cost and blade weight while satisfying the constraints on stress ratio, tip deflection, fatigue life and laminate layup requirements. The stress ratio and tip deflection under extreme gust loads and the fatigue life under a stochastic normal wind load are evaluated. A blade element wind load model is proposed to explain the wind pressure difference due to blade height change during rotor rotation. For fatigue life evaluation, the stress result of an implicit nonlinear dynamic analysis under a time-varying fluctuating wind is converted to the histograms of mean and amplitude of maximum stress ratio using the rainflow counting algorithm Miner's rule is employed to predict the fatigue life. After integrating and automating the whole analysis procedure an evolutionary algorithm is used to solve the discrete optimization problem.

  5. Gas turbine with heating during the expansion in the stator blades

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abd El-Maksoud, Rafea Mohamed

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • A new cycle is herein introduced with a concept of heating during the expansion. • Turbine overheating is avoided by reducing significantly the cycle temperature. • Comparison is done with a reheat cycle having a higher maximum cycle temperature. • The cycle performance is higher than the reheat cycle. • Regeneration is used to boost the present cycle efficiency. - Abstract: Reheat is used in the gas turbine to achieve higher power output. However, the reheat process is constrained by the heat quantity given to it and the choice of reheat point. Consequently, this paper introduces a new gas turbine cycle to overcome the reheat drawbacks and having superior features. In this cycle, the reheat process is replaced by processes of heating the expanded gases while passing through different turbine stator blades. Small amount of combusted gases is utilized to flow inside such blades for heating and mixing with the expanded gases. Nevertheless, this is performed with precautions of turbine overheating by reducing significantly the maximum temperature of the present cycle. The simulated results demonstrate that the cycle performance is increased by raising the quantity of heating during the expansion. Additionally, this cycle achieves greater efficient output than the traditional reheat Brayton cycle operating with higher maximum cycle temperature. To boost the present cycle efficiency, regeneration is used making the possibility of such cycle to be competitive to the combined cycle

  6. Fundamentals for remote structural health monitoring of wind turbine blades - a preproject. Annex C. Fibre transducer for damage detection in adhesive layers of wind turbine blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sendrup, P.

    2002-01-01

    displacement transducer for detection of damage in adhesive layers of wind turbine blades. It was chosen to base the transducer on the fibre optic micro-bend principle. The report contains the result of measurementsand optical simulations of light transmittance through optical fibres with micro......-bends and a suggestion for a micro-bend transducer design specifically suitable for detection of damage in adhesive layers between larger composite structures, as the shellsin a wind turbine blade. Such a damage will cause the joined parts to move slightly relative to each other, and the transducer is designed to change...... optic micro-bend transducer would be in the range between0.5%/um to 1 %/um depending on the number of bends on the fibre. A measurement on the final transducer showed that the sensitivity was 1.2 %/um. A large 50 % change in transmittance, that is easy to measure, is then obtained for displacements...

  7. Influence of Working Environment on Fatigue Life Time Duration for Runner Blades of Kaplan Turbines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana-Maria Budai

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available The paper present an analytical analyzes refer to influence of working environment on life time duration in service of runner blades of Kaplan turbines. The study are made using only analytical method, the entry dates being obtained from measurements made in situ for a Kaplan turbine. To calculate the maximum number of stress cycles whereupon the runner blades work without any damage it was used an analytical relation known in specialized literatures under the name of Morrow’s relation. To estimate fatigue life time duration will be used a formula obtained from one of most common cumulative damage methodology taking in consideration the real exploitation conditions of a specified Kaplan turbine.

  8. Effect of Blade Pitch Angle on the Aerodynamic Characteristics of a Straight-bladed Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Based on Experiments and Simulations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yanzhao Yang

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available The blade pitch angle has a significant influence on the aerodynamic characteristics of horizontal axis wind turbines. However, few research results have revealed its impact on the straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine (Sb-VAWT. In this paper, wind tunnel experiments and CFD simulations were performed at the Sb-VAWT to investigate the effect of different blade pitch angles on the pressure distribution on the blade surface, the torque coefficient, and the power coefficient. In this study, the airfoil type was NACA0021 with two blades. The Sb-VAWT had a rotor radius of 1.0 m with a spanwise length of 1.2 m. The simulations were based on the k-ω Shear Stress Transport (SST turbulence model and the wind tunnel experiments were carried out using a high-speed multiport pressure device. As a result, it was found that the maximum pressure difference on the blade surface was obtained at the blade pitch angle of β = 6° in the upstream region. However, the maximum pressure coefficient was shown at the blade pitch angle of β = 8° in the downstream region. The torque coefficient acting on a single blade reached its maximum value at the blade pitch angle of β = 6°. As the tip speed ratio increased, the power coefficient became higher and reached the optimum level. Subsequently, further increase of the tip speed ratio only led to a quick reversion of the power coefficient. In addition, the results from CFD simulations had also a good agreement with the results from the wind tunnel experiments. As a result, the blade pitch angle did not have a significant influence on the aerodynamic characteristics of the Sb-VAWT.

  9. Design of Single Stage Axial Turbine with Constant Nozzle Angle Blading for Small Turbojet

    Science.gov (United States)

    Putra Adnan, F.; Hartono, Firman

    2018-04-01

    In this paper, an aerodynamic design of a single stage gas generator axial turbine for small turbojet engine is explained. As per design requirement, the turbine should be able to deliver power output of 155 kW at 0.8139 kg/s gas mass flow, inlet total temperature of 1200 K and inlet total pressure of 335330 Pa. The design phase consist of several steps, i.e.: determination of velocity triangles in 2D plane, 2D blading design and 3D flow analysis at design point using Computational Fluid Dynamics method. In the determination of velocity triangles, two conditions are applied: zero inlet swirl (i.e. the gas flow enter the turbine at axial direction) and constant nozzle angle design (i.e. the inlet and outlet angle of the nozzle blade are constant from root to tip). The 2D approach in cascade plane is used to specify airfoil type at root, mean and tip of the blade based on inlet and outlet flow conditions. The 3D approach is done by simulating the turbine in full configuration to evaluate the overall performance of the turbine. The observed parameters including axial gap, stagger angle, and tip clearance affect its output power. Based on analysis results, axial gap and stagger angle are positively correlated with output power up to a certain point at which the power decreases. Tip clearance, however, gives inversely correlation with output power.

  10. A potential flow 2-D vortex panel model: Applications to vertical axis straight blade tidal turbine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, L.B.; Zhang, L.; Zeng, N.D.

    2007-01-01

    A potential flow 2-D vortex panel model (VPM2D) for unsteady hydrodynamics calculation of the vertical axis straight blade variable pitch turbine was given for tidal streams energy conversion. Numerical results of predicted instantaneous blade forces and wake flow of the rotor showed good agreement with the test data. The model was also compared with the previous classic free vortex model (V-DART) and vortex method combined with finite element analysis (FEVDTM). It showed that the present model was much better than the former, less complex than the latter and suitable for designing and optimization of the vertical axis straight blade turbine

  11. Investigation of Dynamic Aerodynamics and Control of Wind Turbine Sections Under Relevant Inflow/Blade Attitude Conditions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Naughton, Jonathan W. [University of Wyoming

    2014-08-05

    The growth of wind turbines has led to highly variable loading on the blades. Coupled with the relative reduced stiffness of longer blades, the need to control loading on the blades has become important. One method of controlling loads and maximizing energy extraction is local control of the flow on the wind turbine blades. The goal of the present work was to better understand the sources of the unsteady loading and then to control them. This is accomplished through an experimental effort to characterize the unsteadiness and the effect of a Gurney flap on the flow, as well as an analytical effort to develop control approaches. It was planned to combine these two efforts to demonstrate control of a wind tunnel test model, but that final piece still remains to be accomplished.

  12. Wind turbine blades condition assessment based on vibration measurements and the level of an empirically decomposed feature

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abouhnik, Abdelnasser; Albarbar, Alhussein

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► We used finite element method to model wind turbine induced vibration characteristics. ► We developed a technique for eliminating wind turbine’s vibration modulation problems. ► We use empirical mode decomposition to decompose the vibration into its fundamental elements. ► We show the area under shaft speed is a good indicator for assessing wind blades condition. ► We validate the technique under different wind turbine speeds and blade (cracks) conditions. - Abstract: Vibration based monitoring techniques are well understood and widely adopted for monitoring the condition of rotating machinery. However, in the case of wind turbines the measured vibration is complex due to the high number of vibration sources and modulation phenomenon. Therefore, extracting condition related information of a specific element e.g. blade condition is very difficult. In the work presented in this paper wind turbine vibration sources are outlined and then a three bladed wind turbine vibration was simulated by building its model in the ANSYS finite element program. Dynamic analysis was performed and the fundamental vibration characteristics were extracted under two healthy blades and one blade with one of four cracks introduced. The cracks were of length (10 mm, 20 mm, 30 mm and 40 mm), all had a consistent 3 mm width and 2 mm depth. The tests were carried out for three rotation speeds; 150, 250 and 360 r/min. The effects of the seeded faults were revealed by using a novel approach called empirically decomposed feature intensity level (EDFIL). The developed EDFIL algorithm is based on decomposing the measured vibration into its fundamental components and then determines the shaft rotational speed amplitude. A real model of the simulated wind turbine was constructed and the simulation outcomes were compared with real-time vibration measurements. The cracks were seeded sequentially in one of the blades and their presence and severity were determined by decomposing

  13. Navier-Stokes analysis of an oxidizer turbine blade with tip clearance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gibeling, Howard J.; Sabnis, Jayant S.

    1992-01-01

    The Gas Generator Oxidizer Turbine (GGOT) Blade is being analyzed by various investigators under the NASA MSFC sponsored Turbine Stage Technology Team design effort. The present work concentrates on the tip clearance region flow and associated losses; however, flow details for the passage region are also obtained in the simulations. The present calculations simulate the rotor blade row in a rotating reference frame with the appropriate coriolis and centrifugal acceleration terms included in the momentum equation. The upstream computational boundary is located about one axial chord from the blade leading edge. The boundary conditions at this location were determined by using a Euler analysis without the vanes to obtain approximately the same flow profiles at the rotor as were obtained with the Euler stage analysis including the vanes. Inflow boundary layer profiles are then constructed assuming the skin friction coefficient at both the hub and the casing. The downstream computational boundary is located about one axial chord from the blade trailing edge, and the circumferentially averaged static pressure at this location was also obtained from the Euler analysis. Results were obtained for the 3-D baseline GGOT geometry at the full scale design Reynolds number. Details of the clearance region flow behavior and blade pressure distributions were computed. The spanwise variation in blade loading distributions are shown, and circumferentially averaged spanwise distributions of total pressure, total temperature, Mach number, and flow angle are shown at several axial stations. The spanwise variation of relative total pressure loss shows a region of high loss in the region near the casing. Particle traces in the near tip region show vortical behavior of the fluid which passes through the clearance region and exits at the downstream edge of the gap.

  14. Stochastic Analysis of the Influence of Tower Shadow on Fatigue Life of Wind Turbine Blade

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Ronnie; Nielsen, Søren R.K.; Thoft-Christensen, Palle

    2012-01-01

    . The blade stresses are calculated from a dynamic mechanical model based on a two dynamic degree of freedom with quasi-static correction for higher modes. The self-induced aero-elastic loading and the turbulence loading are modeled by means of a quasi-static model linearized around the operational point......Fatigue damage accumulation in upwind turbine blades is primarily influenced by turbulence in the inflow. However, the stress reversals during blade passages through the stagnating and deflected mean wind field in front of the tower also contributes significantly. In the paper the lower order...... statistical moments of the fatigue life of a blade are estimated and compared for a turbine with a tripod tower and a standard mono-tower, respectively. The stagnation zones for each of the legs of the tripod are narrower than for the mono-tower, and hence the stress reversals will be comparable smaller...

  15. Technological assessment of local manufacturers for wind turbine blade manufacturing in Pakistan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahmood, Khurram; Haroon, General

    2012-11-01

    Composite materials manufacturing industry is one of the world's hi-tech industry. Manufacturing of wind turbine blades is one of the specialized fields requiring high degree of precision and composite manufacturing techniques. This paper identifies the industries specializing in the composite manufacturing and is able to manufacture wind turbines blades in Pakistan. In the second phase, their technology readiness level is determined, based on some factors and then a readiness level are assigned to them. The assigned technology readiness level will depict the absorptive capacity of each manufacturing unit and its capability to take on such projects. The individual readiness level of manufacturing unit will then be used to establish combined technology readiness level of Pakistan particularly for wind turbine blades manufacturing. The composite manufacturing industry provides many spin offs and a diverse range of products can be manufactured using this facility. This research will be helpful to categorize the strong points and flaws of local industry for the gap analysis. It can also be used as a prerequisite study before the evaluation of technologies and specialties to improve the industry of the country for the most favorable results. This will form a basic data base which can be used for the decision making related to transfer of technology, training of local skilled workers and general up-gradation of the local manufacturing units.

  16. Numerical Research on Effects of Splitter Blades to the Influence of Pump as Turbine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yang Sun-Sheng

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Centrifugal pumps can be operated in reverse as small hydropower recovery turbines and are cheaper than bespoke turbines due to their ease of manufacture. Splitter blades technique is one of the techniques used in flow field optimization and performance enhancement of rotating machinery. To understand the effects of splitter blades to the steady and unsteady influence of PAT, numerical research was performed. 3D Navier-Stokes solver CFX was used in the performance prediction and analysis of PAT’s performance. Results show that splitter blades have a positive impact on PAT’s performance. With the increase of splitter blades, its required pressure head is dropped and its efficiency is increased. Unsteady pressure field analysis and comparison show that the unsteady pressure field within PAT is improved when splitter blades are added to impeller flow passage. To verify the accuracy of numerical prediction methods, an open PAT test rig was built at Jiangsu University. The PAT was manufactured and tested. Comparison between experimental and numerical results shows that the discrepancy between numerical and experimental results is acceptable. CFD can be used in the performance prediction and optimization of PAT.

  17. Operational Measurement of Stationary Characteristics and Positions of Shrouded Steam Turbine Blades

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Procházka, Pavel; Vaněk, František

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 65, č. 5 (2016), s. 1079-1086 ISSN 0018-9456 Institutional support: RVO:61388998 Keywords : displacement measurement * turbomachine blades * steam turbines Subject RIV: BI - Acoustics Impact factor: 2.456, year: 2016

  18. Effect of the number of blades on the dynamics of floating straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cheng, Zhengshun; Aagaard Madsen, Helge; Gao, Zhen

    2017-01-01

    Floating vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) are promising solutions for exploiting the wind energy resource in deep waters due to their potential cost-of-energy reduction. The number of blades is one of the main concerns when designing a VAWT for offshore application. In this paper, the effect...

  19. High efficiency turbine blade coatings

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Youchison, Dennis L. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Gallis, Michail A. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

    2014-06-01

    The development of advanced thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) of yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) that exhibit lower thermal conductivity through better control of electron beam - physical vapor deposition (EB-PVD) processing is of prime interest to both the aerospace and power industries. This report summarizes the work performed under a two-year Lab-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project (38664) to produce lower thermal conductivity, graded-layer thermal barrier coatings for turbine blades in an effort to increase the efficiency of high temperature gas turbines. This project was sponsored by the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Investment Area. Therefore, particular importance was given to the processing of the large blades required for industrial gas turbines proposed for use in the Brayton cycle of nuclear plants powered by high temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs). During this modest (~1 full-time equivalent (FTE)) project, the processing technology was developed to create graded TBCs by coupling ion beam-assisted deposition (IBAD) with substrate pivoting in the alumina-YSZ system. The Electron Beam - 1200 kW (EB-1200) PVD system was used to deposit a variety of TBC coatings with micron layered microstructures and reduced thermal conductivity below 1.5 W/m.K. The use of IBAD produced fully stoichiometric coatings at a reduced substrate temperature of 600°C and a reduced oxygen background pressure of 0.1 Pa. IBAD was also used to successfully demonstrate the transitioning of amorphous PVD-deposited alumina to the -phase alumina required as an oxygen diffusion barrier and for good adhesion to the substrate Ni2Al3 bondcoat. This process replaces the time consuming thermally grown oxide formation required before the YSZ deposition. In addition to the process technology, Direct Simulation Monte Carlo plume modeling and spectroscopic characterization of the PVD plumes were performed. The project consisted of five tasks. These included the

  20. Damage tolerance and structural monitoring for wind turbine blades.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGugan, M; Pereira, G; Sørensen, B F; Toftegaard, H; Branner, K

    2015-02-28

    The paper proposes a methodology for reliable design and maintenance of wind turbine rotor blades using a condition monitoring approach and a damage tolerance index coupling the material and structure. By improving the understanding of material properties that control damage propagation it will be possible to combine damage tolerant structural design, monitoring systems, inspection techniques and modelling to manage the life cycle of the structures. This will allow an efficient operation of the wind turbine in terms of load alleviation, limited maintenance and repair leading to a more effective exploitation of offshore wind. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

  1. Ceramic blade attachment system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frey, G.A.; Jimenez, O.D.

    1996-12-03

    A turbine blade having a preestablished rate of thermal expansion is attached to a turbine flange having a preestablished rate of thermal expansion being greater than the preestablished rate of thermal expansion of the turbine blade. The turbine flange includes a first upstanding flange and a second upstanding flange having a groove formed between them. The turbine flange further includes a recess. Each of the first and second upstanding flanges have a plurality of bores therein. A turbine blade has a first member and a second member positioned in one of the groove and the recess. Each of the first member and the second member have a plurality of bores therein. A pin is positioned in respective ones of the plurality of bores in the first and second upstanding members and the first and second members and attach the blade to the turbine flange. The pin has a preestablished rate of thermal expansion being substantially equal to the rate of thermal expansion of the blade. 4 figs.

  2. Studi Eksperimen Pengaruh Sudut Plat Pengganggu Di Depan Returning Blade Turbin Angin Tipe Savonius Terhadap Performa Turbin “ Studi Kasus Untuk Rasio Lebar Plat Pengganggu Terhadap Diameter Turbin (L/D = 1,4144”

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yoga Erry Priandika

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Energi Angin merupakan salah satu energi alternatif yang sangat menjanjikan jika dapat dimanfaatkan dengan baik. Pemanfaatan energi angin untuk diubah menjadi energi listrik dapat menggunakan turbin angin dan generator. Turbin angin tipe Savonius merupakan rotor angin dengan sumbu tegak (vertical yang dikembangkan oleh Singuard J. Savonius pada tahun 1920. Salah satu kelemahan yang dimiliki turbin Savonius yaitu efisiensi yang rendah. Torsi dan putaran yang dihasilkan oleh turbin Savonius disebabkan oleh adanya perbedaan gaya drag pada advancing blade dan returning blade. Salah satu cara untuk meningkatkan performa turbin Savonius  dapat dilakukan dengan pemberian plat pengganggu didepan returning blade. Untuk meningkatkan performa turbin Savonius dengan diameter D sebesar 60 mm dan tinggi h sebesar 80 mm, sebuah plat dengan tebal 3 mm dan lebar 84,9 mm digunakan sebagai pengganggu yang diletakkan didepan returning blade turbin. Pengganggu tersebut diletakkan dengan pada sudut 0o< ɑ < 90o. Penelitian ini dilakukan pada subsonic open circuit wind tunnel. Alat ini memiliki panjang 2980 mm, dengan test section 304 mm x 304 mm. Kecepatan free stream pada wind tunnel diatur sebesar 8,752 m/s, 10,94 m/s, 13,128 m/s, sesuai dengan Reynolds number Re = 6.0 x 104, 7.5 x 104, 9.0 x 104 (berdasarkan panjang karakteristik d = 2D-b, dimana b adalah lebar diameter overlap dari kedua sudu turbin, dan kecepatan free stream. Kecepatan aliran udara diukur menggunakan static pitot tube yang dihubungkan dengan inclined manometer. Putaran turbin Savonius diukur menggunakan tachometer. Torsi statis diukur menggunakan torsi meter digital dan daya output dihasilkan dari pengukuran tegangan dan arus listrik yang dihasilkan generator yang dihubungkan dengan poros turbin. Untuk Re = 60.000, penggunaan plat dengan lebar L/D = 1,4144 pada posisi ɑ = 40o sebagai pengganggu didepan turbin Savonius, terbukti paling efektif untuk meningkatkan performa turbin Savonius. Pada

  3. Mechanical characterization of composite repairs for fiberglass wind turbine blades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chawla, Tanveer Singh

    While in service, wind turbine blades experience various modes of loading. An example is impact loading in the form of hail or bird strikes, which might lead to localized damage or formation of cracks a few plies deep on the blade surface. One of the methods to conduct repairs on wind turbine blades that are damaged while in service is hand lay-up of the repair part after grinding out the damaged portion and some of its surrounding area. The resin used for such repairs usually differs from the parent plate resin in composition and properties such as gel time, viscosity, etc. As a result the properties of the repaired parts are not the same as that of the undamaged blades. Subsequent repetitive loading can be detrimental to weak repairs to such an extent so as to cause delamination at the parent-repair bondline causing the repairs to eventually fall off the blade. Thus the strength and toughness of the repair are of critical importance. Initial part of this work consists of an effort to increase repair strength by identifying an optimum hand layup repair resin for fiberglass wind turbine blades currently being manufactured by a global company. As delamination of the repair from the parent blade is a major concern and unidirectional glass fibers along with a polymer resin are used to manufacture blades under consideration, testing method detailed in ASTM D 5528 (Test Method for Mode I Interlaminar Fracture Toughness of Unidirectional Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Matrix Composites) was followed to determine propagation fracture toughness values of the prospective vinyl ester repair resin candidates. These values were compared to those for a base polyester repair resin used by the company. Experimental procedure and results obtained from the above mentioned testing using double cantilever beam (DCB) specimens are detailed. Three new repair resins were shortlisted through mode I testing. It was also found that variation in the depth of the ground top ply of the parent part

  4. Design and Evaluation of Glass/epoxy Composite Blade and Composite Tower Applied to Wind Turbine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Hyunbum

    2018-02-01

    In the study, the analysis and manufacturing of small class wind turbine blade was performed. In the structural design, firstly the loading conditions are defined through the load case analysis. The proposed structural configuration of blade has a sandwich type composite structure with the E-glass/Epoxy face sheets and the Urethane foam core for lightness, structural stability, low manufacturing cost and easy manufacturing process. And also, this work proposes a design procedure and results of tower for the small scale wind turbine systems. Structural analysis of blade including load cases, stress, deformation, buckling, vibration and fatigue life was performed using the finite element method, the load spectrum analysis and the Miner rule. Moreover, investigation on structural safety of tower was verified through structural analysis by FEM. The manufacturing of blade and tower was performed based on structural design. In order to investigate the designed structure, the structural tests were conducted and its results were compared with the calculated results. It is confirmed that the final proposed blade and tower meet the design requirements.

  5. Estimation of Efficiency of the Cooling Channel of the Nozzle Blade of Gas-Turbine Engines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vikulin, A. V.; Yaroslavtsev, N. L.; Zemlyanaya, V. A.

    2018-02-01

    The main direction of improvement of gas-turbine plants (GTP) and gas-turbine engines (GTE) is increasing the gas temperature at the turbine inlet. For the solution of this problem, promising systems of intensification of heat exchange in cooled turbine blades are developed. With this purpose, studies of the efficiency of the cooling channel of the nozzle blade in the basic modification and of the channel after constructive measures for improvement of the cooling system by the method of calorimetry in a liquid-metal thermostat were conducted. The combined system of heat-exchange intensification with the complicated scheme of branched channels is developed; it consists of a vortex matrix and three rows of inclined intermittent trip strips. The maximum value of hydraulic resistance ξ is observed at the first row of the trip strips, which is connected with the effect of dynamic impact of airflow on the channel walls, its turbulence, and rotation by 117° at the inlet to the channels formed by the trip strips. These factors explain the high value of hydraulic resistance equal to 3.7-3.4 for the first row of the trip strips. The obtained effect was also confirmed by the results of thermal tests, i.e., the unevenness of heat transfer on the back and on the trough of the blade is observed at the first row of the trip strips, which amounts 8-12%. This unevenness has a fading character; at the second row of the trip strips, it amounts to 3-7%, and it is almost absent at the third row. At the area of vortex matrix, the intensity of heat exchange on the blade back is higher as compared to the trough, which is explained by the different height of the matrix ribs on its opposite sides. The design changes in the nozzle blade of basic modification made it possible to increase the intensity of heat exchange by 20-50% in the area of the vortex matrix and by 15-30% on the section of inclined intermittent trip strips. As a result of research, new criteria dependences for the

  6. Selection of High Performance Alloy for Gas Turbine Blade Using Multiphysics Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H Khawaja

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available With the extensive increase in the utilization of energy resources in the modern era, the need of energy extraction from various resources has pronounced in recent years. Thus comprehensive efforts have been made around the globe in the technological development of turbo machines where means of energy extraction is energized fluids. This development led the aviation industry to power boost due to better performing engines. Meanwhile, the structural conformability requirements relative to the functional requirements have also increased with the advent of newer, better performing materials. Thus there is a need to study the material behavior and its usage with the idea of selecting the best possible material for its application. In this work a gas turbine blade of a small turbofan engine, where geometry and aerodynamic data was available, was analyzed for its structural behavior in the proposed mission envelope, where the engine turbine is subjected to high thermal, inertial and aerodynamic loads. Multiphysics Finite Element (FE linear stress analysis was carried out on the turbine blade. The results revealed the upper limit of Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS for the blade. Based on the limiting factor, high performance alloys were selected from the literature. The two most recommended alloy categories for gas turbine blades are NIMONIC and INCONEL from where total of 21 types of INCONEL alloys and 12 of NIMONIC alloys, available on commercial bases, were analyzed individually to meet the structural requirements. After applying selection criteria, four alloys were finalized from NIMONIC and INCONEL alloys for further analysis. On the basis of stress-strain behavior of finalized alloys, the Multiphysics FE nonlinear stress analysis was then carried out for the selection of the individual alloy by imposing a restriction of Ultimate Factor of Safety (UFOS of 1.33 and yield strength. Final selection is made keeping in view other factors

  7. AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE MECHANICS OF SINGLE CRYSTAL TURBINE BLADES WITH A VIEW TOWARDS ENHANCING GAS TURBINE EFFICIENCY

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    K.R. Rajagopal; I.J. Rao

    2006-05-05

    The demand for increased efficiency of gas turbines used in power generation and aircraft applications has fueled research into advanced materials for gas turbine blades that can withstand higher temperatures in that they have excellent resistance to creep. The term ''Superalloys'' describes a group of alloys developed for applications that require high performance at elevated temperatures. Superalloys have a load bearing capacity up to 0.9 times their melting temperature. The objective of the investigation was to develop a thermodynamic model that can be used to describe the response of single crystal superalloys that takes into account the microstructure of the alloy within the context of a continuum model. Having developed the model, its efficacy was to be tested by corroborating the predictions of the model with available experimental data. Such a model was developed and it is implemented in the finite element software ABAQUS/STANDARD through a user subroutine (UMAT) so that the model can be used in realistic geometries that correspond to turbine blades.

  8. The root flow of horizontal axis wind turbine blades : Experimental analysis and numerical validation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Akay, B.

    2016-01-01

    Despite a long research history in the field of wind turbine aerodynamics, horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) blade's root flow aerodynamics is among the least understood topics. In this thesis work, a detailed investigation of the root flow is performed to gain a better insight into the features

  9. Development of a Bamboo-Based Composite as a Sustainable Green Material for Wind Turbine Blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Holmes, John W.; Brøndsted, Povl; Sørensen, Bent F.

    2009-01-01

    Bamboo has many engineering and environmental attributes that make it an attractive material for utilization in wind turbine blades. This paper examines the mechanical properties of a novel bamboo-poplar epoxy laminate which is being developed for wind turbine blades. Information provided...... in this paper includes an overview of the laminate construction and initial data for the monotonic tensile and compressive stress-strain behavior and tension-tension fatigue life of panels formed by hot-pressing. In addition, a discussion of fracture resistance of the bamboo-poplar laminate, under Mode I...

  10. Numerical study on a single bladed vertical axis wind turbine under dynamic stall

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bangga, Galih [Institute of Aerodynamics and Gas Dynamics, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart (Germany); Hutomo, Go; Sasongko, Herman [Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya (Indonesia); Wiranegara, Raditya [School of Mechanical Aerospace and Civil Engineering, University of Manchester, Manchester (United Kingdom)

    2017-01-15

    The aim of this study is to investigate the flow development of a single bladed vertical axis wind turbine using Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods. The blade is constructed using the NACA 0012 profile and is operating under stalled conditions at tip speed ratio of 2. Two dimensional simulations are performed using a commercial CFD package, ANSYS Fluent 15.0, employing the Menter-SST turbulence model. For the preliminary study, simulations of the NACA 0012 airfoil under static conditions are carried out and compared with available measurement data and calculations using the boundary layer code XFOIL. The CFD results under the dynamic case are presented and the resulting aerodynamic forces are evaluated. The turbine is observed to generate negative power at certain azimuth angles which can be divided into three main zones. The blade vortex interaction is observed to strongly influence the flow behavior near the blade and contributes to the power production loss. However, the impact is considered small since it covers only 6.4 % of the azimuth angle range where the power is negative compared to the dynamic stall impact which covers almost 22 % of the azimuth angle range.

  11. Reduction of fatigue loads on jacket substructure through blade design optimization for multimegawatt wind turbines at 50 m water depths

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    NJOMO WANDJI, Wilfried; Pavese, Christian; Natarajan, Anand

    2016-01-01

    This paper addresses the reduction of the fore-aft damage equivalent moment at the tower base for multi-megawatt offshore wind turbines mounted on jacket type substructures at 50 m water depths. The study investigates blade design optimization of a reference 10 MW wind turbine under standard wind...... conditions of onshore sites. The blade geometry and structure is optimized to yield a design that minimizes tower base fatigue loads without significant loss of power production compared to that of the reference setup. The resulting blade design is then mounted on a turbine supported by a jacket and placed...

  12. Innovation in Vertical Axis Hydrokinetic Turbine – Straight Blade Cascaded (VAHT-SBC) design and testing for low current speed power generation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hantoro, R.; Utama, I. K. A. P.; Arief, I. S.; Ismail, A.; Manggala, S. W.

    2018-05-01

    This study examines an innovative turbine with the addition of the number and arrangement of straight blade cascaded (SBC). SBC is a combination of passive variable-pitch and fixed pitch of each turbine arm. This study was conducted in an open channel flow that has a current velocity (V-m/s) of 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3. RPM and torque ware measured for coefficient of performance (Cp) and tip speed ratio (TSR) calculation. Without changing the turbine dimension, the employment of cascaded blade (three blades in each arm) contributes to improve energy extraction significantly. A significant increase in Cp value is seen when 9 blades (3 cascaded blades per arm) are used with a Cp 0.42 value at TSR 2.19. This value has reached 93% of the maximum theoritical Cp value.

  13. Optimizing parameters of GTU cycle and design values of air-gas channel in a gas turbine with cooled nozzle and rotor blades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kler, A. M.; Zakharov, Yu. B.

    2012-09-01

    The authors have formulated the problem of joint optimization of pressure and temperature of combustion products before gas turbine, profiles of nozzle and rotor blades of gas turbine, and cooling air flow rates through nozzle and rotor blades. The article offers an original approach to optimization of profiles of gas turbine blades where the optimized profiles are presented as linear combinations of preliminarily formed basic profiles. The given examples relate to optimization of the gas turbine unit on the criterion of power efficiency at preliminary heat removal from air flows supplied for the air-gas channel cooling and without such removal.

  14. Development of a Wave Energy -Responsive Self-Actuated Blade Articulation Mechanism for an OWC Turbine

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Francis A. Di Bella

    2010-06-01

    The Phase I SBIR effort completed the feasibility design, fabrication, and wind tunnel testing of a self-actuated blade articulation mechanism that uses a torsion bar and a lightweight airfoil to affect the articulation of the Wells airfoil. The articulation is affected only by the air stream incident on the airfoil. The self-actuating blade eliminates the complex and costly linkage mechanism that is now needed to perform this function on either a variable pitch Wells-type or Dennis-Auld air turbine. Using the results reported by independent researchers, the projected improvement in the Wells-type turbine efficiency is 20-40%, in addition to an increase in the operating air flow range by 50-100%, therefore enabling a smaller or slower single turbine to be used.

  15. Wind Turbine Blade Nondestructive Testing with a Transportable Radiography System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. G. Fantidis

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Wind turbines are becoming widely used as they are an environmentally friendly way for energy production without emissions; however, they are exposed to a corrosive environment. In addition, as wind turbines typically are the tallest structures in the surrounding area of a wind farm, it is expected that they will attract direct lightning strikes several times during their operating life. The purpose of this paper is to show that the radiography with a transportable unit is a solution to find defects in the wind turbine blade and reduce the cost of inspection. A transportable neutron radiography system, incorporating an Sb–Be source, has been simulated using the MCNPX code. The simulated system has a wide range of radiography parameters.

  16. Composite Structural Analysis of Flat-Back Shaped Blade for Multi-MW Class Wind Turbine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Soo-Hyun; Bang, Hyung-Joon; Shin, Hyung-Ki; Jang, Moon-Seok

    2014-06-01

    This paper provides an overview of failure mode estimation based on 3D structural finite element (FE) analysis of the flat-back shaped wind turbine blade. Buckling stability, fiber failure (FF), and inter-fiber failure (IFF) analyses were performed to account for delamination or matrix failure of composite materials and to predict the realistic behavior of the entire blade region. Puck's fracture criteria were used for IFF evaluation. Blade design loads applicable to multi-megawatt (MW) wind turbine systems were calculated according to the Germanischer Lloyd (GL) guideline and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 61400-1 standard, under Class IIA wind conditions. After the post-processing of final load results, a number of principal load cases were selected and converted into applied forces at the each section along the blade's radius of the FE model. Nonlinear static analyses were performed for laminate failure, FF, and IFF check. For buckling stability, linear eigenvalue analysis was performed. As a result, we were able to estimate the failure mode and locate the major weak point.

  17. Remote Monitoring of the Structural Health of Hydrokinetic Composite Turbine Blades

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    J.L. Rovey

    2012-09-21

    A health monitoring approach is investigated for hydrokinetic turbine blade applications. In-service monitoring is critical due to the difficult environment for blade inspection and the cost of inspection downtime. Composite blade designs have advantages that include long life in marine environments and great control over mechanical properties. Experimental strain characteristics are determined for static loads and free-vibration loads. These experiments are designed to simulate the dynamic characteristics of hydrokinetic turbine blades. Carbon/epoxy symmetric composite laminates are manufactured using an autoclave process. Four-layer composite beams, eight-layer composite beams, and two-dimensional eight-layer composite blades are instrumented for strain. Experimental results for strain measurements from electrical resistance gages are validated with theoretical characteristics obtained from in-house finite-element analysis for all sample cases. These preliminary tests on the composite samples show good correlation between experimental and finite-element strain results. A health monitoring system is proposed in which damage to a composite structure, e.g. delamination and fiber breakage, causes changes in the strain signature behavior. The system is based on embedded strain sensors and embedded motes in which strain information is demodulated for wireless transmission. In-service monitoring is critical due to the difficult environment for blade inspection and the cost of inspection downtime. Composite blade designs provide a medium for embedding sensors into the blades for in-situ health monitoring. The major challenge with in-situ health monitoring is transmission of sensor signals from the remote rotating reference frame of the blade to the system monitoring station. In the presented work, a novel system for relaying in-situ blade health measurements in hydrokinetic systems is described and demonstrated. An ultrasonic communication system is used to transmit

  18. Selection of a high performance alloy for gas turbine blade using finite element methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Khawaja, H.A.; Khan, A.M.; Ali, S.T.

    2007-01-01

    With the extensive increase in the utilization of energy resources in the modern era, the need of energy extraction from various resources has pronounced in recent years. Thus comprehensive efforts have been made around the globe in the technological development of turbo machines where means of energy extraction is energized fluids. This development led the eviation industry to power boost due to better performing engines. Meanwhile, the structural conformability requirements relative to the functional requirements have also increased with the advent of newer, better performing materials. Thus there is a need to study the material behavior and its usage with the idea of selecting the best possible material for its application. In this work a gas turbine blade of a small turbofan engine, where geometry and aerodynamic data was available, was analyzed for its structural behavior in the proposed mission envelope, where the engine turbine is subjected to high thermal, inertial and aerodynamic loads. FE linear stress analysis was carried out on the turbine blade. The results revealed the upper limit of UTS for the blade. Based on the limiting factor, high performance alloys were selected from the literature. The two most recommended alloy categories for gas turbine blades are NIMONIC and INCONEL from where total of 21 types of INCONEL alloys and 12 of NIMONIC alloys, available on on commercial bases, were analyzed individually to meet the INCONEL alloys for further analysis. On the basis of stress-strain behavior of finalized alloys, the FE restriction of UFOS of 1.33 and yield strength. Final selection is made keeping in view other factors like manufacturability and workability in due consideration. (author)

  19. Inverse Design of Single- and Multi-Rotor Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Blades using Computational Fluid Dynamics

    OpenAIRE

    Moghadassian, Behnam; Sharma, Anupam

    2017-01-01

    A method for inverse design of horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs) is presented in this paper. The direct solver for aerodynamic analysis solves the Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) equations, where the effect of the turbine rotor is modeled as momentum sources using the actuator disk model (ADM); this approach is referred to as RANS/ADM. The inverse problem is posed as follows: for a given selection of airfoils, the objective is to find the blade geometry (described as blade twist an...

  20. Interlaminar/interfiber Failure of Unidirectional GFRP used for Wind Turbine Blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Leong, Martin; Hvejsel, C.F.; Lund, Erik

    2013-01-01

    A unidirectional glass fiber/epoxy composite material system used for wind turbine blades was characterized under multi-axial loading by cutting specimens in varying off-axis angles relative to the fiber direction. In addition, Iosipescu shear tests were performed on both symmetric and asymmetric...