Finite Element Analysis of Composite Offshore Wind Turbine Blades under Operating Conditions
Abstract
World energy demand has increased immediately and is expected to continue to grow in the foreseeable future. Therefore, an overall change of energy consumption continuously from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, and low service and maintenance price are the benefits of using renewable energies such as using wind turbines as an electricity generator. In this context, offshore wind power refers to the development of wind parks in bodies of water to produce electricity from wind. Better wind speeds are available offshore compared to on land, so offshore wind power's contribution in terms of electricity supplied is higher. However, these structures are very susceptible to degradation of their mechanical properties considering various hostile loads. The scope of this work is the study of the damage noticed in full-scale 48 m fiberglass composite blades for offshore wind turbine. In this paper, the most advanced features currently available in finite element (FE) abaqus/Implicit have been employed to simulate the response of blades for a sound knowledge of the mechanical behavior of the structures and then localize the susceptible sections.