• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.2421-2428
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• 2002

In this study, the failure probability of the degraded LP turbine blade steel was performed using the Monte Carlo simulation to apply variation of applied stress and strength. For this purpose, applied stress under the service condition of steady state was obtained by theoretical stress analysis and the maximum Von-Mises stress was 219MPa. The fatigue strength under rotating-bending load was evaluated by the staircase method. Furthermore, 3-parameter Weibull distribution was found to be most appropriate among assumed distributions when the probabilistic distributions of tensile and fatigue strength were determined by the proposed analysis. The failure probability with various loading conditions was derived from the strength-stress interference model and the characteristic factor of safety was also estimated.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.66-75
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• 2018

In this paper, a lightweight design of the spar cap of 2MW wind turbine blade was carried out using the ply reduction ratio (PRR) and CFRP with a trade-off study. The spar cap is one of the most critical factor in determining the mechanical performance of the blade. Tsai-Wu and Puck fracture theory were used to determine the fracture. As a result, the CFRP composite material could be lighter in terms of weight by about 30% than GFRP composite material under the same conditions. Based on the analytical results, we derive the optimal value of the laminate thickness of the composite material and present the structural performance improvement and the lightweight design result.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.133-138
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• 2024

This study evaluates the structural safety of wind turbine blades, analyzes the behavior of composite laminate structures with and without defects, and assesses surface erosion wear. The NREL 5 MW standard is applied to assign accurate composite material properties to each blade section. Modeling and analysis of the wind turbine blades reveal stable behavior under individual load conditions (gravity, motor speed, wind speed), with the web bearing most of the load. Surface erosion wear analysis in which microparticle impacts are simulated on the blade coating shows a maximum stress and maximum displacement of 14 MPa and 0.02 mm, respectively, indicating good initial durability, but suggest potential long-term performance issues due to cumulative effects. The study examines defect effects on composite laminate structures to compare the stress distribution, strain, and stiffness characteristics between normal and cracked states. Although normal conditions exhibit stable behavior, crack defects lead to fiber breakage, high-stress concentration in the vulnerable resin layer, and decreased rigidity. This demonstrates that local defects can compromise the safety of the entire structure. The study utilizes finite element analysis to simulate various load scenarios and defect conditions. Results show that even minor defects can significantly alter stress distributions and potentially lead to catastrophic failure if left unaddressed. These findings provide valuable insights for wind turbine blade safety evaluations, surface protection strategies, and composite structure health management. The methodology and results can inform the design improvements, maintenance strategies, and defect detection techniques of the wind energy industry.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.593-606
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• 2015

This paper presents a novel concept of healing some of the damages in wind turbine blades (WTBs) such as cracks and delamination. This is achieved through an inherent functioning autonomous repairing system. Such wind turbine blades have the benefit of reduced maintenance cost and increased operational period. Previous techniques of developing autonomous healing systems uses hollow glass fibres (HGFs) to deliver repairing fluids to damaged sites. HGFs have been reported with some limitations like, failure to fracture, which undermines their further usage. The self-healing technique described in this paper represents an advancement in the engineering of the delivery mechanism of a self-healing system. It is analogous to the HGF system but without the HGFs, which are replaced by multiple hollow channels created within the composite, inherently in the FRP matrix at fabrication. An in-house fabricated NACA 4412 WTB incorporating this array of network hollow channels was damaged in flexure and then autonomously repaired using the vascular channels. The blade was re-tested under flexure to ascertain the efficiency of the recovered mechanical properties.

• Composites Research
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.52-58
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• 2005

A cyclocopter propelled by the cycloidal blade system, which can be described as a horizontal rotary wing, is a new concept of VTOL vehicle. In this paper, optimized structure design is carried out for the aerodynamically optimized cyclocopter rotor system. Database is obtained fer design variables such as stacking sequence (ply angles), number of plies and spar locations through MSC/NASTRAN and optimum values are determined by RSM and some other optimizing processes. For the rotor system including optimized blade and composite hub m, the maximum stress by static analysis is within the failure criteria. And the rotor system is designed for the purpose of avoiding possible dynamic instabilities by inconsistency between frequencies of rotor rotation and some low natural frequencies of rotor.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.1784-1797
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• 1996

The disk/blade assembly of a turbine engine is made in the shape of a dovetail type or a fir-tree type. Since disk fillet regions or contact surfaces undergo high stress comcentration, fatigue cracks frequentrly occur in the disk/blade assembly. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the stress distributions in the fir-tree type disk/balde assembly and predict the region of fatigue failure. The stress distributions of the disk/blade assembly were investigated by using the photoelastic method and the finite element method. Two dimensional photoelastic techniques were used to investigate the stress distributions of contact surfaces and fillet regions. TH stress distributions were obtained by the shear-difference method and were compared to the finite element results. It was found that maximum tensile stresses were higher in the fillet region thatn in the contact surfaces of the fir-tree models. The finite element results showed good agreement with the experimental results.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.93-101
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• 2016

This paper presents the results obtained using time-series-based methods for structural damage assessment. The methods are applied to a wind turbine blade structure subjected to fatigue loads. A 9 m CX-100 (carbon experimental 100 kW) blade is harmonically excited at its first natural frequency to introduce a failure mode. Consequently, a through-thickness fatigue crack is visually identified at 8.5 million cycles. The time domain data from the piezoelectric active-sensing techniques are measured during the fatigue loadings and used to detect incipient damage. The damage-sensitive features, such as the first four moments and a normality indicator, are extracted from the time domain data. Time series autoregressive models with exogenous inputs are also implemented. These features could efficiently detect a fatigue crack and are less sensitive to operational variations than the other methods.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.195-199
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• 2007

In this study, bond strength tests were performed for the thermal barrier coating applied to the 1st stage turbine blade. After the tests, the specimens were cut and the locations of failure were observed by using optical microscope. The influence of heat treatment on bond strength of a bond coating and the difference among the three types of bond coatings are treated.

• International Journal of Ocean System Engineering
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.164-168
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• 2013

Tidal-current power is now recognized as a clean power resource. The turbine blade is the fundamental component of a tidal current power turbine. The kinetic energy available within a tidal current can be converted into rotational power by turbine blades. While in service, turbine blades are generally subjected to cyclic fatigue loading due to their rotation and the rotor-tower interaction. Predicting the fatigue life under a hydrodynamic fatigue load is very important to prevent blade failure while in service. To predict the fatigue life, hydrodynamic load data should be acquired. In this study, the vibration characteristics were analyzed based on three-dimensional unsteady simulations to obtain the cyclic fatigue load. Our results can be applied to the fatigue design of horizontal-axis tidal turbines.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.549-556
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• 2014

This study proposes a parallel operation strategy for small wind turbine systems. A small wind turbine system consists of blade, permanent magnet synchronous generator, three-phase diode rectifier, DC/DC buck converter, and the battery load. This configuration has reliability, simple control algorithm, high efficiency, and low cost. In spite of these advantages, the system stops when unexpected failures occur. Possible failures can be divided into mechanical and electrical parts. The proposed strategy focuses on the failure of electrical parts, which is verified by numerical analysis through equivalent circuit and acquired general formula of small wind power generation systems. Simulation and experimental results prove its efficiency and usefulness.