Structural design and evaluation of a 3MW class wind turbine blade

This research presents results of structural designs and evaluations for 3MW Wind Turbine Blade by FEM analysis. After the GFRP model was designed as a baseline model, failure check by Puck's failure criterion and buckling analysis were accomplished to verify safety of wind turbine blade in the critical design load case. Moreover, applicability of two kinds of carbon spar cap model, was studied by comparing total mass, price and tip deflection to the GFRP model. The results showed that the GFRP model had sufficient structural integrity in the critical design load case, and the carbon spar cap model could be a reasonable solution to reduce weights, tip deflections.