Design of wind turbine blade made of graded composite materials and preparation of technical data package

Wind energy, as sustainable and green resource, became an alternative energy source in the last decade. Operational effectiveness of the wind turbine depends on the performance of the airfoils chosen and the material used. At wind turbines, because the composite materials are used lately to make the blade light, economical and durable; the composite material was preferred for the design of high-performance wind turbine blade (NACA 4412) with a diameter of 4 m. Three dimensional flow and mechanical analysis of the blade were carried out by using ANSYS 14.5.7 program. The design of wind turbine blade was done at the maximum stress regions which occurred at 25 m/s and 286 rpm, the optimum orientation and thickness of blade shells were obtained by changing the number of plies and fiber orientation angles of Epoxy-EGlass composite layers. In final design, the maximum stress was found as 172.57 MPa located between hub and blade. In experimental study of blade samples, the maximum stress was found 201.9 MPa in tension test, whereas the corresponding value was obtained as 280.1 MPa in bending test. Based on these results, it was observed that the blade can withstand against the stress occured at the critical region. Hence, a critical design model of light wind turbine blade which could be used at low wind speed was developed and made ready for manufacturing.