Introduction to quiz: Wind turbine blade

This document contains all the information you need to solve the quiz called 'Wind turbine blade'. Please calculate
your answers to the questions at the bottom of this page. You will then be prepared to start the quiz.

We recommend using a calculation tool such as a spread sheet or a computer programming tool to solve the
exercise.

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Learning Objectives

When you have completed this exercise, you will be able to explain the main load working on a wind turbine blade
and calculate how a material choice will a၀ect the resulting weight of the blade.

Description

One of the challenges designing long wind turbine blades is to keep the weight down. Based on the information
given in the “Materials” lectures, this will be studied. The aim of the exercise is to estimate the weight of an 86m
long wind turbine blade made of aluminum, glass 䁀ber composite or carbon 䁀ber composite.

Figure 1. Illustration of the 䁀apwise and edgewise materials cross sections inside a turbine blade.

In the following the index ()x indicates a value at a coordinate x along the blade length while ()0 is
the value at the root section, x =0.

In order to utilize the full material strength potential along the blade length, the material cross
section will vary such that the stresses in the blade material are kept more are less constant. The
stresses in the blade cross-section was in the “Material requirements for wind turbine blades”
lecture found to:

2 2
f lap 4 ρ V π(2L + x)(L − x)
air r
σx = (1)
f lap f lap
81 A h
x x

mat 2

edge
1 ρ mat A x g(L − x)
σx = (2)
edge edge
2 A h
x x

From the 䁀gure of the simpli䁀ed cross section it can be seen that:

mat f lap edge

A = 2A + 2A (3)
x x x

Keeping both the 䁀ap- and edge-wise material cross section constant:

f lap f lap edge edge

A ≡ A ;A ≡ A (4)
x 0 x 0

it is possible to choose a blade height variation h fxlap and blade width variation h edge
x
resulting in a
constant stress state:

f lap f lap edge edge

σx ≡ σ ; σx ≡ σ (5)
0 0

In the addition it is now possible to 䁀nd the mass of the wind turbine blade as:

f lap edge
Mblade = A mat Lρ = 2(A + A )Lρ (6)
mat 0 0 mat

Data

The properties of the three materials to be investigated are given in Table 1. The composite material data is for
unidirectional (UD) composites with a 䁀bre volume fraction of 55 − 60% . The carbon 䁀bre composite data is for a
low cost carbon 䁀bre. The provided data for fatigue limits corresponds to approximately 10 8 − 10 9 load cycles.

Material Density ρ Sti၀ness Strength Fatigue limit

Aluminium 2700kg/m
3
70GP a 300M P a 150M P a

UD glass 䁀bre composite 1900kg/m

3
44GP a 1000M P a 180M P a

UD carbon 䁀bre composite 1600kg/m

3
120GP a 2000M P a 300M P a

T able 1. P roperties of  three dif f erent materials.

For all three materials, it can be seen that the fatigue limit is signi䁀cantly lower than the static strength. Therefore,
the fatigue limit will be used as the material limiting stress through out the exercises.
Carbon 䁀bers are approximately 10 times more expensive per weight unit compared with glass 䁀bers. With a 䁀ber
volume fraction on approximately 50% this will result in a carbon 䁀ber composite which will be 7.4 times as
expensive as the corresponding glass 䁀ber composite per weight unit.

Questions

Please use the information given above to complete the following tasks. Write down your answers as you go. You
will need them when you answer the quiz.

Stresses in the blade cross section

In this 䁀rst part of the quiz you will work conceptually with the stresses in a blade cross section.

For simpli䁀cation the edge-wise and the 䁀ap-wise cross material section in equation (4.) are kept constant.
, Ax
f lap f lap edge edge
Ax ≡ A ≡ A
0 0

1. How is the relationship hfxlap /h0 expressed if the stress state is constant regarding the 䁀ap-wise loading of
f lap

the cross section (i.e. σx )? Hint: Use Eq. 1 and solve it for both hfxlap and h0 (setting X=0); then
f lap f lap f lap
≡ σ
0

divide the two expressions. One of the formulas below is correct:

f lap
hx (2L + x)(L − x)
= (1)
f lap 2
h0 2L

f lap 2
hx (2L + x)(L − x)
= (2)
f lap 3
h0 2L

f lap 3
hx (2L + x)(L − x)
=   (3)
f lap 4
h0 2L

2. How is the relationship hedge expressed if the stress state is constant regarding the edge-wise loading of
edge
x
/h
0

the cross section(i.e. σx )? Hint: Use Eq. 2 and solve it for both hedge and h0 (setting X=0); then
edge edge edge
≡ σ x
0

divide the two expressions. One of the formulas below is correct:

edge
hx (L − x)
= (1)
edge
L
h0

edge 2
hx (L − x)
= (2)
edge 2
h0 L

edge 3
hx (L − x)
= (3)
edge 3
h0 L

3. Which is the correct expression for the constant material cross section in the 䁀ap direction? Hint: Use the
expression for h0 , which you derived previously, and isolate A0 .
f lap f lap

2 3
2π ρ air Vr L
Af lap = (1)
81 f lap f lap
σ h
0 0

2 3
4π ρ air Vr L
Af lap = (2)
81 f lap f lap
σ h
0 0

2 3
8π ρ air Vr L
Af lap = (3)
81 f lap f lap
σ h
0 0
4. Which is the correct expression for the constant material cross section in the edge direction? Hint: Use eq. 2 to
derive an expression for σ0 (setting X=0). Replace A0 with the expression in eq. 3 and solve for A0 .
edge mat edge

2
edge edge ρ mat gL f lap
Ax = A = A0 (1)
0 edge edge 2
σ h −ρ gL
0 0 mat

2
edge
2ρ mat gL f lap
edge
Ax = A = A0 (2)
0 edge edge 2
σ h − 2ρ gL
0 0 mat

2
edge
4ρ mat gL f lap
edge
Ax = A = A0 (3)
0 edge edge 2
σ h − 4ρ gL
0 0 mat

The weight of a wind turbine blade

You will now use the equations derived above to calculate the weight of a turbine blade. In the further questions,
use the following information together with the information shown in Table 1:

Length of the blade L = 86m

Rated wind speed Vr = 11m/s

Density of air ρ air = 1.2kg/m

3

Acceleration of gravity g = 10m/s

2

Blade height at root section

f lap
h0 = 2m

Blade width at root section

edge
h0 = 4m

1. Calculate the mass (in metric tons) of a blade made of Aluminum, M blade , setting the stress limit equal to
Al

fatigue limit of the material, σ0Al = 150M P a . Hint: Use the expressions you have derived in question 3. and 6.
to calculate A0 and A0 . Insert these material cross sections in eq. 6, with ρ mat
f lap edge
= ρ Al

2. Calculate the mass (in metric tons) of a blade made of glass 䁀ber reinforced polymers, M blade , setting the
GF RP

stress limit equal to fatigue limit of the material σ0GF RP = 180M P a . Hint: Use the expressions you have
derived in question 3. and 6. to calculate A0 and A0 . Insert these material cross sections in eq. 6, with
f lap edge

ρ mat = ρ GF RP

3. Calculate the mass (in metric tons) of a blade made of carbon 䁀ber reinforced polymers, M blade , setting the
CF RP

stress limit equal to fatigue limit of the material σ0CF RP = 300M P a . Hint: Use the expressions you have
derived in question 3. and 6. to calculate A0 and A0 . Insert these material cross sections in eq. 6, with
f lap edge

ρ mat = ρ CF RP

4. Calculate an approximate factor, which the carbon 䁀ber composite blade will cost more in material price
compared with the glass 䁀ber composite blade using the weight of the two blades found in the two previous
questions. Material-wise, CFRP is 7.4 times as expensive as GFRP. Hint: Calculate the ratio of MCFRP to MGFRP
and multiply with the cost factor of 7.4.

Summary
The main learning points of this exercise were:

The choice of material a၀ects the mass of a wind turbine blade immensely

A carbon 䁀ber composite blade will be almost 3 times more expensive than a glass 䁀ber composite blade

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