Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 30 (12) (2016) 5555~5563

www.springerlink.com/content/1738-494x(Print)/1976-3824(Online)
DOI 10.1007/s12206-016-1124-3

Numerical and experimental investigation of wind loadings on vertical axis

wind turbine blade deflection†
Muhammad Muzamil1,2,*, Mubashir Ali Siddiqui1 and Jianjun Wu2
1
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Department, NED University of Engineering & Technology, Karachi 75270, Pakistan
2
School of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi′an 710072, China

(Manuscript Received November 12, 2015; Revised July 12, 2016; Accepted July 26, 2016)

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Abstract

This work focuses on experimental and numerical investigation of the deflection on VAWT blade surface against the high measured
wind speeds that were simulated in FLUENT to obtain the corresponding static forces. The effect of forces, blade setting angle and thick-
ness to chord ratio along with their combined effects on deflection were assessed experimentally and numerically. Three airfoils of
gradually increasing thickness to chord ratio, NACA 0015, 0021 and 4412, were selected along with three levels of forces and tested at 5°,
10° and 15° of blade setting angle. A 33 factorial experimental design was used to perform experiments and Analysis of variance
(ANOVA) confirmed that individual effects of force and thickness to chord ratio were the most significant factors while blade setting
angle had lesser significance on deflected values. However, interactive effects of these parameters were significant. Minimum deflections
were observed in the range of 0.25-0.28 mm on NACA 0021 at 3 kg force in combination with all blade setting angles. Maximum ob-
served value of defection was 1 mm, which occurred at 9 kg force at 5°, 10° and 15° of blade setting angle on NACA 0015 and 4412
airfoil shapes. The results ensure that the blade structure remains stable at 9 kg which corresponds to 20 m/s wind speed without affecting
the performance. The deflections obtained from Finite element method were compared with experimental results and found in good
agreement with each other.
Keywords: Deflection; Wind loadings; Factorial design of experiments; Forces; Blade setting angles; Thickness to chord ratio; Finite element method
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parameters. To harness more energy we need to build a large

1. Introduction
rotor which is the most significant part of the wind turbines,
Among all the renewable energies, wind power is growing whereas blades serve as the most critical part of rotor [2].
at a very fast pace. Wind turbines are usually installed in open Structures must sustain aerodynamic, centrifugal, gyroscopic,
rural country side areas; however, small scale turbines are wind shear and fatigue loads without affecting the perform-
being installed in urban areas. Wind turbines may be classified ance [3]. To meet the above stated goals, most wind turbine
as either horizontal axis or vertical axis. HAWT are consid- blades use composite materials consisting of polymeric resin
ered more efficient than VAWT, and used to install in large with reinforcing phase such as glass or carbon fibers [4].
wind farms. Along with that, recent developments in VAWTs General literature on wind turbines, and its aerodynamic op-
have shown better performance in their installations in urban timization in particular is available. Experimental static load
areas, roof tops and yards [1]. The reason is the ability to catch testing used as a simulator of extreme environmental condi-
wind from multi directions which suits the condition of urban tions on the composite wind turbine blades need more empha-
areas. sis.
To harness wind energy effectively, the advancements in In the development of VAWTs, straight rigid and straight
blade structure, selection of materials, aerodynamics and morphing blades are used, and manufactured to increase the
structural analysis testing are essential for continued utiliza- performance. Rigid blades perform better at high speeds
tion of wind as a viable source. As the wind power depends whereas morphing blades perform better at low speeds; per-
upon density of fluid, rotor diameter and the cube of wind formance of both types depends upon tip speed ratio [5]. Tip
velocity, the only parameter that can be varied is the rotor speed ratio, a dimensionless parameter, is the ratio between
diameter as air density and fluid velocity are site dependent the velocity of rotor tip and wind speed. For high tip speed
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +92 21 99261261 8 (Ext. 2637) ratio, rotor diameter and angular velocity should be high.
E-mail address: muzamil@neduet.edu.pk
†
Recommended by Associate Editor Beomkeun Kim
Another technique used to enhance the performance of
© KSME & Springer 2016 VAWTs is the use of variable pitch [6]. Experiments con-
5556 M. Muzamil et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 30 (12) (2016) 5555~5563

ducted on various airfoil shapes such as NACA 0021 and

NACA 0018 indicated that power coefficient of VAWTs in-
creases with tip speed ratio. Further, former airfoil is 3 %
thicker and has higher power coefficient because of increased
radius of curvature available at the leading edge. It may be
concluded from this discussion that parameters such as high
RPM, large rotor diameter, or operation at rated wind velocity,
will create substantial amount of load which in turn will cause
blade bending in an undesired direction, reducing the per-
formance.
Simulation of aeroelastic behavior of a composite wind tur-
bine blade using fluid structure interaction approach was con-
ducted by Rafiee et al. [7] to find the effect of deformation on
blade performance. It was found that blade experienced insta-
bility at the high wind velocities leading to inaccurate power
estimation and causing blade fluttering if not encountered
properly.
Apart from the aerodynamic behaviour, it has now evident
that the maximum extraction of energy from the blade will not
be possible without controlling its deflection. Overgard et al.
[8] investigated static structural collapse under flap wise load-
ing on epoxy blade using videometric technique to measure
deformation. Yang et al. [9] and Chen et al. [10] investigated
the structural performance and optimization of composite
wind turbine blade. Kong et al. [11] studied structural behav-
ior of glass epoxy blade under various loads such as aerody-
namic loads, loads due to accumulation of ice, hygro-thermal
and mechanical loads. Aerodynamic loadings were found the
most severe as they caused bending and created new fluid
field around the foil [12].
All wind turbines gives optimum efficiency at design condi-
tions, i.e., rated wind speed, but due to abrupt changes in wind
speed, direction, atmospheric turbulence and hazardous gust,
the efficiency will get affected. Under such and other extreme
conditions, wind turbine structure should operate safely and
remain as efficient as possible beyond design conditions. Effi-
ciency in terms of power has been elaborated well in the prior
mentioned study; but research has not been conducted in
terms of deflection which proved to be the ultimate cause of
reduction in efficiency.
The objective of this paper is, therefore, to obtain the de-
flection created against the wind speeds on wind turbine
blades. Likewise, no systematic approach is currently avail-
able to determine the corresponding static loads against vari-
ous wind speeds. One major challenge is to convert wind load
into corresponding static load, because the role of forces is
more pronounced and has a direct effect on deflection. Within
this framework, different airfoils have been used based upon
their shape characterized by a parameter, thickness to chord
ratio. This work capitalizes on VAWTs which are traditionally
extruded in a single airfoil over the whole length. Selected
airfoils carefully investigated are NACA 0015, NACA 0021
and NACA 4412. In addition, three blade setting angles have
also been experimented upon to determine their effect on de-
flection. Main effects of three factors viz forces, thickness to
Fig. 1. Weather station installed at siting place.
Chord ratio and blade setting angle, and their interaction ef-
fects on deflection have been determined as well.
2. Experimentation
Various stages during study and experimentation work are
as under:
2.1 Installation of weather station
Three hemispherical cups anemometer is a common in-
strument used to measure wind speeds; as the air flow pass the
cups in horizontal direction turns the shaft in a manner that is
proportional to the wind speed. Urban green energy (UGE)
weather station was installed on siting area to record the high-
est values of wind speed in summer as shown in Fig. 1.
2.2 Fabrication of wind turbine blades
Hand lay-up technique is the simplest and most commonly
used method for the manufacturing of both small and medium
scale blades.
A different and unique technique was used, in which direct
airfoil patterns of desired profile were cut through hot wire
cutter. The templates of airfoils were cut on a soft wood ply
and then placing the template on both the edges of styrofoam
(Polystyrene) solid block. Using hot wire, polystyrene block
turns into a desired pattern. The hot wire cutter was moved
slightly on the interface of the soft wood ply template, so that
polystyrene block gets the shape of desired profile pattern.
The structure of 1.5 m long fabricated blade consisted of
monolithic skin; the laminate was composed of 0/90○ woven
fabric of glass fiber wetted with epoxy based resin. The inner
volume of the blade remained filled with polystyrene template
for providing stability to the skin. The structural design and
fabricated blades are shown in Figs. 2(a) and (b).
Multiple blades of selected airfoils were fabricated of
gradually increasing thickness to chord ratio including sym-
metric and cambered airfoil. The thickness to chord ratio is a
dimensionless parameter for defining the thickness of airfoil in
 M. Muzamil et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 30 (12) (2016) 5555~5563 5557

(a) (b)

Fig. 2. (a) Cross sectional structure of blade; (b) fabricated wind turbine blade.

(a) (b)

Fig. 3. (a) Thickness to chord ratios of three airfoils; (b) complete assembly of vertical axis wind turbine.

(a) (b)

Fig. 4. (a) Static testing rig with length adjustment feature; (b) drilled at 5° for blade setting angle adjustment.

percentage of chord length of the blade. For example, for
NACA 0021, 21 represents thickness in percentage of total
chord length. The straight line connecting the leading and
trailing edge is the chord length while thickness is the height
of the airfoil measured perpendicular to chord length up to
maximum point as illustrated in Fig. 3(a).
2.3 Fabrication of static testing rig
The structure of testing rig consists of five trapezoidal
shaped links. These links serve as rigid stand for wind turbine
blades and are provided with two guide bushes at each side of
single stand to align them easily.
These links can be easily assembled or folded to make
transportation effortless; a complete assembled testing rig is
shown in Fig. 4(a). The length of blade used for experimenta-
tion is 1.5 m but the length in the testing rig can be adjusted
from 0.5 m to 2 m. Blade setting angle is one of the three im-
portant selected factors. The adjustment of blade setting angle
is provided in the testing rig. Two galvanized sheets of steel, 4
5558 M. Muzamil et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 30 (12) (2016) 5555~5563

mm thick were bended at 90°. First bended sheet was fixed Table 1. Resultant forces obtained from fluent in X, Y and Z axes.
with trapezoidal stand and the second sheet was joined with
Wind
first sheet through pivoted joint. The second sheet was drilled Forces in Forces in Forces in Resultant
Air foil speed Mass (kg)
at 12 locations, each at a difference of 5°as shown in Fig. 4(b). x-axis (N) y-axis (N) z-axis (N) force (N)
(m/s)
Therefore, the second sheet can produce both clockwise and 10 2.556003 24.30384 -0.00083 24.43787 2.491119
anticlockwise moments up to 30° with a difference of 5°. 4412 15 5.104227 51.3505 -0.00387 51.60356 5.260302
When the desired angle is set, a specially designed and heat
20 8.491541 86.40789 -0.01126 86.82413 8.850574
treated pin passes through the plates to tighten it.
10 5.476619 17.9492 -0.00038 18.76611 1.912957
0021 15 10.88943 37.35605 -0.00056 38.91085 3.966447
2.4 Simulation of wind loads on fluent 20 17.97584 61.30276 -0.00049 63.88396 6.512126
Static forces corresponding to measured wind speeds must 10 3.736095 18.67607 -0.00148 19.0461 1.941498
be determined to obtain deflection. The values of free stream 0015 15 7.528013 39.25951 -0.00484 39.97475 4.074898
velocities were divided in appropriate levels in order to simu- 20 12.5177 65.40283 -0.00419 66.58996 6.787968
late actual weather conditions. While deciding levels of ve-
locities, cut in, rated and cut off speeds must be under consid- Table 2. Factors and their levels.
eration for specific case. The first level was selected at 10 m/s,
Levels
which was the highest observed velocity from weather station. Factors
The next levels of wind speeds were selected at 15 m/s and 20 I II III
m/s to check the deflection under extreme natural conditions Forces (Mass) 3 kg 6 kg 9 kg
and may serve as rated or cut out speed. However, the blades Blade setting angle 5° 10° 15°
of wind turbine may be locked at higher speeds, i.e., 20 m/s to T/C ratio 0.12 0.15 0.21
avoid damage to structure and electrical generator, but wind
loads will continuously develop at the blade surfaces.
Analytically it is an extensive job to convert the data into acceleration due to gravity. These weights were applied
static forces. From available softwares [13, 14], GAMBIT was through specially stitched nylon belts as shown in Fig. 5(a).
used to model the blades and apply boundary conditions. All the corresponding weights were added and subtracted in
Meshed files were exported on FLUENT to solve all the weight stand according to set levels of weight. At centroidal
simulation cases. Nine different simulation cases were run on points of two spans of blade, deflection was measured through
FLUENT for selected three NACA airfoils. Each blade was Mitutoyo Japan Deflectometers as shown in Fig. 5(b).
placed in domain three times separately at 5°, 10° and 15°
blade setting angle to obtain pressure distribution.
2.6 Statistical analysis of experiment
The structural response of blade against wind loads can be
obtained through Fluid Structure Interaction in the form of The factors and their levels are shown in Table 2. Factorial
vector pressure distribution on the surface of blade [12, 15]. design was selected for experimental layout. The design con-
This is one of the available methods to obtain load concentra- sists of three independent factors, each being at three levels.
tion at various points against the input load but a different Thus it will be a 33 (3k) factorial design. There were 27 treat-
approach was used from the available options in the operating ment combinations with 2 replicates resulting in 54 runs.
window of software. The resultant forces in the x, y and z axes
of blade were obtained against the generated pressure distribu-
2.7 Finite element modeling using ANSYS
tion and converted into resultant forces as shown in Table 1.
These mass values were applied as weights on blade surfaces The development of blade geometry, element selection,
to determine deflection; moreover, the three levels of forces mesh generation, applying load and boundary conditions on
(Mass) were also derived from it (i.e. 3 kg, 6 kg and 9 kg). the structure similar to experimentation conditions were per-
formed on ANSYS. There were two materials associated with
2.5 Static load test the structure. The outer skin of blade consisted of Fiber glass
reinforced plastic (FRP) and the remaining inside hollow vol-
The static load test was performed on the fabricated testing ume occupied by core or filler material, Polystyrene. Linear
rig as shown in Fig. 4(a). IEC 61400-TS-23 standard was used structural orthotropic model and linear structural isotropic
as technical specification guidelines to design and perform model were selected for skin and core of the blade respec-
static testing. The calculated resultant load is the point load tively. The mechanical properties of glass fiber woven fabric
which acts at the centroid of the blade. This load was further were obtained from the manufacturer as well as confirmed
divided into two equally distributed spans of blades using the from the literature as given in Table 3.
theory of equivalent systems in Mechanics. All the loads were The elements available in ANSYS which are capable of
converted into their corresponding weights by dividing by modeling composite materials are SHELL 91, SHELL 99,
 M. Muzamil et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 30 (12) (2016) 5555~5563 5559

SHELL 181, SHELL 281, SOLID 146, SOLID 185, SOLID shown in Figs. 3(b), 5(a) and (b). Furthermore, the calculated
186 and SOLID 191. The design requires stabilizing both the pressure force was applied at two points; the area of applied
skinned geometry and the core [16]. pressure force is equal to the width of nylon belt on experi-
Shell 99 would be selected for skinned geometry, being the mental testing rig. As depicted in Fig. 6(b), the pressure force
most widely used for similar cases analyzing the wind turbine is highlighted with red color grid and blade is constrained at
blade. The core material required a structural solid element, three points in all degrees of freedom.
SOLID 186 with eight nodes element was selected out of the
available element models. It supports large deflections and is
3. Results and discussions
well suited to model irregular meshes more accurately. The
blade was fixed through three links with the testing rig; a simi- The objective is to select the combination of factors for
lar boundary condition was created and applied in ANSYS as minimum and maximum values of deflections as depicted in
main effect and interaction plot in Figs. 7(a) and (b). Deflec-
Table 3. Mechanical properties of FRP [17]. tion values at each testing combination are listed in Table 4. In
the Analysis of variance (ANOVA) Table 5 illustrates that
Skin FRP material
main effects of Forces and T/C ratio have significant effect on
Elastic moduli (GPA) Shear moduli (GPA) Poisson ratios
response owing to very low P-values, whereas blade setting
E1 26 G12 3.8 V12 0.1 angle is marginally insignificant as its P-value is very close to
E2 26 G23 2.8 V23 0.25 level of significance. Two factor interactions between forces
E3 26 G13 2.8 V13 0.25 and blade setting angle, forces and T/C ratio and, blade setting
Filler material polystyrene angle and T/C ratio are all significant. Similarly three factor
E 3.5 V 0.34 interactions between Forces, Blade setting angle and T/C ratio
are also significant. It may be noted that although blade setting

(a) (b)

Fig. 5. (a) Static load testing rig with Nylon belt; (b) deflectometer for measuring the deflection against applied load.

(a) (b)

Fig. 6. (a) Boundary conditions, constraint at three points in all DOF; (b) applied loads at two point with boundary conditions.
5560 M. Muzamil et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 30 (12) (2016) 5555~5563

Table 4. 33 Factorial experimental design, run order and responses.

Deflection at Deflection at Mean deflection

Std. order Run order Mass (kg) Blade setting angle T/C ratio
point 1 (mm) point 2 (mm) (mm)
1 1 9 5 4412 1 0.9 0.95
2 12 9 5 0021 0.73 0.87 0.8
3 37 9 5 0015 1.14 0.98 1.06
4 49 9 10 4412 0.92 0.98 0.95
5 51 9 10 0021 0.61 0.98 0.795
6 44 9 10 0015 1.04 0.91 0.975
7 2 9 15 4412 0.89 0.97 0.93
8 38 9 15 0021 0.9 0.78 0.84
9 48 9 15 0015 1 0.8 0.9
10 3 6 5 4412 0.5 0.53 0.515
11 39 6 5 0021 0.4 0.46 0.43
12 13 6 5 0015 0.65 0.74 0.695
13 32 6 10 4412 0.53 0.54 0.535
14 4 6 10 0021 0.64 0.4 0.52
15 47 6 10 0015 0.56 0.65 0.605
16 31 6 15 4412 0.62 0.68 0.65
17 14 6 15 0021 0.52 0.59 0.555
18 5 6 15 0015 0.5 0.61 0.555
19 30 3 5 4412 0.3 0.34 0.32
20 29 3 5 0021 0.26 0.24 0.25
21 15 3 5 0015 0.3 0.36 0.33
22 6 3 10 4412 0.33 0.3 0.315
23 33 3 10 0021 0.3 0.25 0.275
24 28 3 10 0015 0.3 0.37 0.335
25 7 3 15 4412 0.31 0.33 0.32
26 16 3 15 0021 0.29 0.27 0.28
27 34 3 15 0015 0.28 0.24 0.26
28 27 9 5 4412 1.01 0.91 0.96
29 8 9 5 0021 0.79 0.87 0.83
30 17 9 5 0015 1 1.13 1.065
31 46 9 10 4412 0.95 1.05 1
32 35 9 10 0021 0.62 0.99 0.805
33 18 9 10 0015 1 0.89 0.945
34 26 9 15 4412 0.9 0.98 0.94
35 36 9 15 0021 0.98 0.81 0.895
36 45 9 15 0015 0.97 0.78 0.875
37 19 6 5 4412 0.5 0.54 0.52
38 25 6 5 0021 0.39 0.46 0.425
39 50 6 5 0015 0.65 0.74 0.695
40 43 6 10 4412 0.54 0.55 0.545
41 20 6 10 0021 0.61 0.44 0.525
42 24 6 10 0015 0.56 0.65 0.605
43 52 6 15 4412 0.61 0.65 0.63
44 42 6 15 0021 0.49 0.57 0.53
45 9 6 15 0015 0.5 0.6 0.55
46 21 3 5 4412 0.3 0.33 0.315
47 23 3 5 0021 0.25 0.27 0.26
48 52 3 5 0015 0.33 0.38 0.355
49 41 3 10 4412 0.31 0.32 0.315
50 10 3 10 0021 0.3 0.23 0.265
51 22 3 10 0015 0.28 0.32 0.3
52 54 3 15 4412 0.3 0.33 0.315
53 40 3 15 0021 0.25 0.28 0.265
54 11 3 15 0015 0.3 0.24 0.27

angle is not significant marginally, but its interaction with the
rest of the factors forces and T/C ratio are very significant.
From interactions plot between forces and blade setting angle,
it can be concluded that minimum deflection will be obtained
at 3 kg and 15°. Interactions plot between forces and T/C ratio
yield minimum deflection at 3 kg and NACA 0021 series,
whereas that between blade setting angle and T/C ratio yields
minimum deflection at 5° and NACA 0021 series. Thus for
minimum deflection, force must be 3 kg, T/C ratio for NACA
0021 and, blade setting angle may be any value since there are
 M. Muzamil et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 30 (12) (2016) 5555~5563 5561

Table 5. ANOVA table.

Analysis of variance for deflection, using adjusted SS for tests

Source DF Seq SS Adj SS Adj MS F P
Forces 2 3.49225 3.49225 1.74612 7906.98 0.000
Blade setting angle 2 0.00141 0.00141 0.00070 3.18 0.057
T/C ratio 2 0.10485 0.10485 0.05242 237.39 0.000
Forces* blade setting angle 4 0.01019 0.01019 0.00255 11.54 0.000
Forces*T/C ratio 4 0.02112 0.02112 0.00528 23.91 0.000
Blade setting angle *T/C ratio 4 0.06575 0.06575 0.01644 74.43 0.000
Forces* blade setting angle*T/C ratio 8 0.01971 0.01971 0.00246 11.16 0.000
Error 27 0.00596 0.00596
Total 53 3.72124 3.72124

(a) (b)

Fig. 7. (a) Interaction plots between forces, blade setting angle and T/C ratio; (b) main effect plots of forces, blade setting anle and T/C ratio.

(a) (b)

Fig. 8. (a) ANSYS deflection results for case load 3 k, 5° and NACA 0021; (b) ANSYS deflection results for case load 3 k, 15° and NACA 0021.

very small differences between deflection values at varying
blade setting angle.
Maximum deflections are obtained at 9 kg force on NACA
4412 and NACA 0015 at 5°, 10°, 15° of blade setting angle,
observed from main effects and interactions plot for deflection
in Figs. 7(a) and (b). R-square value for the model is 99.84 %
whereas R-square (adjusted) is 99.69 % indicating almost
perfect goodness of fit of the model. Further analysis was
performed for comparison of results between experimental
and numerical techniques. Finite element analysis is a well-
known numerical technique for structural analysis. In Figs.
8(a) and (b), it is evident that stress field is created at two
points in the form of circular rings. These rings have high
deflected values at the centers, which are points of applied
5562 M. Muzamil et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 30 (12) (2016) 5555~5563

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 M. Muzamil et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 30 (12) (2016) 5555~5563 5563

Muhammad Muzamil is currently Jianjun Wu is a Professor at School of

working as an Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern
Mechanical Engineering Department, Polytechnical University, China. His
NEDUET, Pakistan. His Expert areas research interests include Aeronautics,
are Finite Element analysis and Aircraft Manufacturing and Materials
Mechanical Testing of Materials. Forming ability.

Mubashir Siddiqui, Professor at

Mechanical Engineering Department,
NEDUET, holds a Bachelors degree in
Mechanical Engineering from NED
University, and M.S. and Ph.D. from
Wayne State University, Michigan,
USA. He has taught various courses
including Renewable Energy, Design of
Experiments, and Heat Transfer. His research interests include
Energy, and application of Statistics in the field of Energy
Systems.