International Journal on Interactive Design and Manufacturing (IJIDeM)

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12008-021-00790-0

ORIGINAL PAPER

Nonlinear modeling analysis of the coupled mechanical strength and

stiffness enhancement of composite materials of a Horizontal Axis
Wind Turbine Blade (HAWTB)
Omar Rajad1 · Hamid Mounir1 · Abdellatif El Marjani1 · Saïf ed-Dîn Fertahi2

Received: 1 February 2021 / Accepted: 17 October 2021

© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag France SAS, part of Springer Nature 2021, corrected publication 2022

Abstract
Composite materials are used in many wind structures such as renewable wind energy conversion systems because of their
high-performance ratio (density/rigidity) compared to other materials. In this paper, the mechanical behavior of composite
materials has been studied using a finite element (FE) to improve the mechanical strength and stability of a HAWTB. A
nonlinear finite element model (FEM) is developed under FE in ACP software to simulate the mechanical behavior of the
blade manufactured with composite material subjected to quasi-static wind loads. In this study, the effects of three parameters
are discussed: fiber materials, fiber orientation and ply thickness. The results showed a good agreement between our model
and the experimental data with an error less than 1.56%. The results of the finite element analysis (FEA) showed that the
fiber’s orientation, laminate thickness, and materials properties contribute highly to the mechanical robustness and stiffness
of the blade.It has been found that the Carbon/Epoxy composite enhances both strength and stiffness compared to the
Kevlar49/Epoxy and Glass/Epoxy. Moreover, It can be noted that the fiber orientation of 90◦ provides enhanced mechanical
performance namely low deflection and toughness with reference to the biaxial and triaxial fissfig ber orientation. In addition,
we reached a difference of deflection and strength of 10 mm and 3.5 MPa, respectively, in comparison with the ± 60◦ /90◦
configuration. A blade sub-model has been suggested to investigate the damage localization in the HAWTB. In addition, the
effect of weight and cost have been further investigated in this research.

Keywords Multilayered composite blade · Nonlinear FEM · Blade stiffness · Blade strength · Blade performances
optimization · Wind energy · Parametric studies

List of symbols N Maximum tensile strenght (GPa)

C Chord length (mm) P1 , P2 Mechanical loads (kgf)
Ex Longitudinal modulus (GPa) R Shear strenght in the y–z plane (MPa)
Ey Transversal modulus (GPa) S Shear strenght in the x–y plane (MPa)
Ez Transversal modulus (GPa) Sx y Shear strength in x–y plane (MPa)
Gxy Shear modulus in x–y plane (GPa) S yz Shear strength in y–z plane (MPa)
HM High modulus (GPa) Sx z Shear strength in x–z plane (MPa)
HS High strenght (GPa) x1 , x2 The application coordinates of the loads (mm)

B Omar Rajad
Abrreviations
rajadomar@gmail.com
ACP ANSYS composite pre/post
1 EMISys Research Team, Engineering 3S Research Center, FEM Finite element model
Mohammadia School of Engineers, Mohammed V University
FEA Finite element analysis
in Rabat, Avenue Ibn Sina, Agdal, BP 765, Rabat, Morocco
2
FRP Fiber reinforced polymer
Thermodynamics and Energy Research team, Energy
HAWT Horizontal axis wind turbine
Research Center, Physics Department, Faculty of Science,
Mohammed V University in Rabat, 4 Avenue Ibn Batouta, MCHAWTB Multilayered composite horizontal axis wind
B.P 1014, Rabat, Morocco turbine blade

123

GRP Glass-reinforced plastic
Greek symbols
βT Twist angle (◦ )
νx y xy Poisson’s ratio
ν yz yz Poisson’s ratio
νx z xz Poisson’s ratio
σ Normal stress (MPa)
τ Shear stress (MPa)
 Normal strain
γ Distortion strain
1 Introduction
The use of wind turbines has increased and several countries
showed their interest regarding their integration into their
national policies and strategies to consolidate the importance
of renewable energies [1]. In fact, the wind power technolo-
gies are considered as a major source of renewable and clean
energy [2]. Besides, they are a sustainable way to generate
electricity without global warming emissions [3].
Generally, the blades are the most important parts of the
wind turbines [4], and they must have a low mass moment
of inertia to ensure a quick response as wind changes direc-
tion [5]. Moreover, the blades of the Horizontal Axis Wind
Turbine (HAWT) have to resist to severe environment oper-
ating conditions and fatigue effect for at least a lifespan of
20 years [6,7]. However, during the operation of the wind
turbine, the blades have to sustain the extreme wind loads
that may occur [8]. As a result, it is common that many wind
blades fail catastrophically during typhoon seasons [9].
The blade process design is driven by the aerodynamic
requirements considering its geometric shape and construc-
tion cost. The majority of wind turbine components are
manufactured using composite materials, such as fiber Glass
and Polyester or Epoxy resin. Hence, the process doesn’t
require high technology, besides to their reasonable cost in
the market. Nowadays, Carbon fibers are used to manufac-
ture wind turbine blades, due to their good robustness and
their high fatigue resistance. Although, it can be noted that
the manufacturing process is very expensive [10].
Recently, the reliability of wind turbine blades has become
a relevant topic of scientific research, especially the field
interested in the mechanical assessment of the blade’s lam-
ina using composite materials [11]. The performance and
lifespan of the turbine’s blades depend on several properties,
since there are various elements that describe the blades: the
length, width, airfoil profile and also the materials used for
their manufacture [12]. In fact, these elements are determined
through calculation hypothesis or at the base of specific cri-
teria such as cost, resistance to climate etc [13].
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International Journal on Interactive Design and Manufacturing (IJIDeM)
During the past decades, the demand of composite lami-
nates such as Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) [14],
Glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) [15], fiber metal
composite laminates (FMLs) [15], metal matrix composites
(MMCs) [16] and ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) [17]
is increasing due to their advanced mechanical properties,
such as high strength to weight ratio, high stiffness to weight
ratios, high damping capacity, good dimensional stability,
good corrosion and fatigue resistances combining lightness
and strength.
Based on the above, it can be concluded that the research
efforts are increasingly focusing on the development of
lightweight materials, more resistant and cheaper. In this
sense, several researchers have worked on the blades materi-
als among them Shokrieh et al. [12]. These authors extracted
all the failure zones using a steady state 3D simulation based
on FEM to predict the fatigue failure and consequently the
lifespan of a full composite HAWTB. In addition, Hasel-
bach et al. [18] studied the delamination effect of the bending
moment on HAWTB. To support that, this research team used
Abaqus software to model the growth of delamination on the
spar. They applied a bending moment to the flap wise, which
leaded to a local buckling responsible of high stresses and
strains on the surrounding zones, namely the leading and
trainling edges of the blade. Meanwhile, Kam et al. [19] pro-
posed a procedure to study the behavior of HAWTB that is
subjected to quasi-static incremented loads, in order to assess
the reliability of small wind blades. They used several failure
criteria and FE methods to investigate the possible failure’s
causes.
To approach the effect of stress, Zappalorto et al. [20]
provided a theoretical formula for stress concentration fac-
tor of orthotropic notched plates under tension as a function
of Stress Concentration Factor (SCF) of isotropic case and
material elastic constants. They proposed a solution to esti-
mate the SCF of notched orthotropic plates, composites
orthotropic laminates, orthotropic unidirectional laminates
and homogenized orthotropic composite laminates. Further-
more, in order to assess the fatigue life of Glass Fiber
Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) mechanism, Lambert et al. [21]
conducted a set of simulations using the Computer tomogra-
phy (CT) technique. They conducted various tests using CT
technique to identify the key damage mechanisms; in fact
they showed through their results that the width of local void
population is responsible of layer’s critical life.
Albanesi et al. [22] presented a robust redesign tool based
on a Genetic Algorithms combined with the Inverse Finite
Element Method (IFEM), which helps to determine at the
same time the optimal ply-drop, ply-number and ply-order
of laminate wind turbine blades. They showed through their
results that the turbine’s weight could be reduced to 15%
compared to the initial layout. In another related work,
Albanesi et al. [23] applied the I F E M to design and compute
International Journal on Interactive Design and Manufacturing (IJIDeM)
the manufacturing shape of the wind turbine blades that is
based on large elastic strains caused by the operating con-
dition loads. Moreover, Cardenas et al. [24] assessed the
progression of aeroelastic damage in wind turbine blades
using one-dimensional model known as thin-wall beam
model. This method allows the reconstruction of a three-
dimensional stress field of a volume given by the blade. The
calculated stress field helps to assess the damage. Hence,
to predict local modifications that must be assigned to the
structural properties to better support the carried loads.
A novel numerical model, described by Peeters et al. [25]
as high-fidelity FEMs is currently used to assess composite
wind turbine blades, which are designed with shell and solid
elements. The FEM has been implemented by this research
team in a software, which helps to model and create the
required offset surfaces of the blade and to mesh with high
accuracy in its outer mold layer. In addition, Lahuerta et al.
[26] assessed the failure of the trailing edge of a full scale
wind turbine blade with a length of 34 m, which is subjected
to static and fatigue load conditions using a sub-component
test. The authors performed several studies using experimen-
tal and FE simulations in order to prevent the trailing edge
failure mechanism.
According to these authors, the scheme that they have
developed is very important, because it takes into consider-
ation the design details of the wind turbine blade, such as
the connection between the spar web and the spar cap, which
are commonly built up using sandwich materials. While ana-
lyzing their results, Fernandez et al. [27] showed that good
agreement is achieved between the numerical results and
experimental investigations carried out on a specific blade
manufactured as a C-beam structure.
Raman et al. [28] carried out FEA using Abaqus commer-
cial software to identify the weaknesses’ area in a composite
wind turbine blade subjected to bending-torsion, besides to a
static-load condition applied in the flap-wise direction. The
authors showed that the trailing edge and the root section
of the blade are the most subjected and critical zones. For
instance, they found that increasing the number of the plies
could strengthen the root, while the adjustment of the bound-
ing technique would prevent the trailing edge from failure.
According to Wu et al. [29], one of the most used solutions
to enhance the produced amount of the energy extracted from
a wind turbine is the extinction of its blades during opera-
tion. These authors suggested a new technology to extend the
blade’s length called adhesively bonded technology, which
they have assessed taking into consideration periodic dis-
tributed aerodynamic loads on the blade, in order to predict
its fatigue and failure. Moreover, Sohouli et al. [30] carried
out a cost analysis of a wind turbine blade manufactured with
variable stiffness composite laminates, in order to suggest an
optimized design based on three key parameters, namely the
structural performance, the operating reliability and the life
cycle cost of the blade.
Wind turbine technologies are generally implanted in an
aggressive environment that allows them to be exposed as
much as possible to laminar/turbulent wind currents. After
the break-in period, and in full operation, horizontal axis
wind turbines are subjected to severe climatic conditions, for
instance significant temperature gradients, which contribute
to the degradation of the mechanical strength of the blades,
considered as the major element ensuring the conversion of
wind energy into mechanical energy. Moreover, the snowfall
during the winter period affects the tenacity of the blades
and causes multiple cracks in the materials constituting the
skin of the blade’s matrix. In addition, the effect of pitting
and crevice corrosion on the blades, hub and tower of the
wind turbine that it can endure following prolonged expo-
sure to rains and dry weather cycles and damp during the
normal operating cycle. The effect of temperature is also
pronounced during the summer, as it affects the connectiv-
ity between the different layers whose adhesion is ensured
by chemical resins. Although, environmental conditions have
their place in decreasing blade life, but they can be controlled
through predictive and corrective maintenance. Nevertheless,
the mechanical conditions in term of loading remain pre-
ponderant compared to those previously mentioned, on the
health monitoring of resistance and structural aspects against
the plausible damages in an aggressive environment.
This work highlights the recent research related to com-
posite wind turbine blade for reducing both material cost and
blade weight with improving the couple strength-stiffness of
the structure. The paper presents three relevant and innova-
tive parametric studies dealing with the mechanical strength
and stiffness enhancement of a multilayered composite hor-
izontal axis wind turbine blade (MCHAWTB) through an
accurate nonlinear FEA. In fact, the parametric studies are
given as an algorithm with a combinaison of three sub-
programs within a closed loop. Initially, the physical model
has been validated against the experimental investigations
achieving low error values. In fact, the authors [31] assessed
the blade stiffness and strength in two different directions
by selecting the materials for each blade components, hence,
our proposed strategy can improve and determine an opti-
mal materials structure considering various paramaters. In
addition, the authors [32] determined the optimized blade
components materials using an old and new model based
on natural fiber which is crucial towards the cost. However,
it would be important to assess different blade components
using parametric studies having a structural aspects. Sub-
sequently, they were conducted to enhance the composite
material behavior of the blade subjected to quasi-static loads.
Indeed, the ratio weight/cost has been discussed for all the
used materials.
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 International Journal on Interactive Design and Manufacturing (IJIDeM)

Fig. 1 Aerodynamic characteristics of NACA4418 airfoil profile [81]

Fig. 2 Wind turbine’ blade profile (“Type A”) [19]

Fig. 3 a The structure

composition of the blade. b
Junction ply drop-offs included.
c The flanges located at the
bottom of the blade’ skin,
Sandwich structures of the spar
and laminates of the blade’ skin

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International Journal on Interactive Design and Manufacturing (IJIDeM)
– The first parametric study aims to assess the effect of
fiber materials on the mechanical behavior of the blade. In
fact, the fiber materials that were considered are listed as
follows: E-glass (lumino-borosilicate glass with less than
1% w/w alkali oxides), Carbon, Kevlar49 and S-glass
(alumino silicate glass without CaO but with high MgO
content with high tensile strength) for their high requested
mechanical properties on this renewable application.
– The second study aims to predict the mechanical behavior
of the blade by changing the fiber orientations according
to a selected dimension.
– The third parametric study focuses on the assessment of
the ply thickness effect on the mechanical characteristics
of the blade. Unidirectional, biaxial, and triaxial ply will
be considered. It should be noted that for each blade thick-
ness, several fiber orientations are suggested. Therefore,
the adequate material will be studied and the resistance
problems, in particular related to the initiation of multiple
failure related to the dimples, skin backing and delam-
inations will be solved by strengthen the multilayered
blade.
In fact, the number of layers and Young’s modulus of the
matrix are further pertinent and accurate and already have
been considered and evaluated by the scientific community.
Hence, a brief overview is included and discussed in the arti-
cle as you suggested. Indeed, in the context of composite
structure improvement, the current parameters that we sug-
gested are auspicious and pertinents in terms of strength and
stiffness enhancement of the blade’s structure. However, as
you recommended, other parameters could be as well impor-
tant to investigate such as the number of layers [33] and the
Young’s modulus of the matrix [34–36].
2 Wind turbine blade design
The airfoil profile NACA4418 shown in Fig. 1b has been used
to generate the numerical design of the multilayered com-
posite wind turbine blade with a length of 2.5 m. Additional
technical details helpful to describe the investigated blade
are provided in Figs. 2a and 3. The evolution aerodynamic
characteristics Cl /Cd and Cm (torque coefficient) against the
tilt angle of the blade α of the airfoil profile NACA4418 are
presented in Fig. 1a and c. Where Cl is the lift coefficient and
Cd is the drag coefficient.
The root end is located at x = 0 and it is adhesively
bound to a rigid metallic connector. In addition, the blade is
oriented along the x-direction axis as presented in Fig. 2a. As
described in the study previously released by Chehouri et al.
[37], the investigated blade consists of 3 main parts, namely,
the top skin of the blade, the bottom skin, and the longitudi-
nal shear web type connected to the spar. The aerodynamic
profiles of the blade are perfectly bound together at the lead-
ing and trailing edges, in order to prevent the possibility of
delamination or opening failure mode from occurring.
In fact, they are generated from the top and bottom skins,
which are adhesively connected to the spar. According to
Fig. 2a, each skin layer of the blade has one fiber direction
following the (x) director vector and the next skin with the
chord (y) direction. Figure 2b presents the evolution of chord
length and the twist angle as function of radial position.
The number of the composite layers constituting the
blade’s skin could vary along its span in order to optimize
its weight [19]. Herein, for the blade profile, 10, 7, 5, and 3
layers in the ranges of [0; 440] mm, [440; 830] mm, [830;
1610] mm, and [1610; 2410] mm, respectively, were defined
in each blade’s skin. The Fig. 3b shows the ply drop off used
in the numerical design of the blade. The geometric proper-
ties, for instance the chord length (c), the skin thickness (t),
and the twist angle (βT ) are presented in Table 2 for the mul-
tilayered composite blade with a length of 2.5 m. The cross
section of the blade is changing gradually from the airfoil
located at x = 250 mm, to the root located at x = 0 mm
according to the twist angle (βT ) presented in Table 2. The
spar is made of two flanges and a shear web [38].
In fact, the shear web is manufactured from a Glass fab-
ric composite sandwich panel and the flanges of the spar
are manufactured from the Balsa wood panels. The mechan-
ical properties of these materials are presented in Table 1.
The width and thickness of each spar flange are 30 mm and
2 mm respectively. Moreover, for the composite sandwich
spar, each Glass fabric face sheet is composed of 3 Glass
fabric/Epoxy layers, while the core is a 2 mm thick Balsa
wood panel. It is noted that a CAD software was first used
to design the nonlinear profile of the external surface of the
wind turbine blade [39]. Subsequently, the numerical design
of the blade has been exported to ANSYS [40], in which
the outer surface of the wind blade was meshed as shown in
Fig. 4.
3 Physical modeling
A three-dimensional blade model is built for this numerical
simulation. The physical model section shows the equations
implemented the FE solver ACP [41]. The resolution of the
nonlinear physical model, which links the stress to the strain,
helps to assess the contours of displacement, strain and stress
of the HAWTB subjected to the mechanical loading and to
achieve accurate numerical results in some specific zones,
which are difficult to access experimentally [42]. The ACP
solver can give very useful information to evaluate the sug-
gested design of the multilayered composite blade in each
parametric study. Indeed, the stress contours, strain and dis-
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 International Journal on Interactive Design and Manufacturing (IJIDeM)

Fig. 4 The number of the

stacking laminate used in each
section of the HAWTB

placement have been assessed for several components of the 3.2 Kinematic equations
blade. For instance, the root, the trailing edges, the top and
bottoms skins, the spar and the flanges of the composite blade, The strain vector is related to the displacements as expressed
which allowed to discuss the numerical results and finally to in Equation. 2 [47]:
conclude on the technological solution that ensures a bet-
ter mechanical strength of the blade on which a quasi-static ⎧
∂u ∂u i ∂u j ∂u k ∂u k
loading has been applied [43]. The quasi-static loading can ⎪
⎨ x = ∂x , i j = ∂ xi + ∂x j + ∂ xi . ∂ x j
∂v
be defined as an applied load that has very low frequency. y = , γ yz = ∂v + ∂w (2)
⎪
⎩ ∂y
∂w
∂z ∂y
Besides, the inertia effects of the mechanical structure over z = ∂z , γzx = ∂u
∂z + ∂w
∂x
which the loads are applied could be ignored compared
to the dynamic loading where the inertia of the structure
has to be taken into account [44]. In this FEA, the couple  and γ are the components of the strain tensor, where 
stiffness–strength assessment is conducted and based on the is the normal strain, and γ is the distortion strain on the
structural response at extreme loading, which is achieved by multilayered composite blade.
an incremental application methodology well presented in
the experimental/numerical analysis released by Kam et al.
[19]. Hence, the quasi-static loading can be used to repre- 3.3 Compatibility equations
sent with high accuracy the equivalent extreme aerodynamic
wind loads applied on the HAWTB [45]. The achieved results The compatibility equations are expressed as shown in Eq. 3
related to the three carried out parametric studies are pre- [48]:
sented in the results and discussion section.
⎧
⎪
⎪ ∂ 2 x
+
∂ 2 y
=
∂ 2 γx y
, ∂ ∂γ yz ∂γzx ∂γx y ∂ 2 z
3.1 Equilibrium equations ⎪
⎨ ∂ y2 ∂x2 ∂ x∂ y ∂z ( ∂ x + ∂ y − ∂z ) = 2 ∂ x∂ y
∂2 ∂ 2 z ∂ 2 γ yz ∂ ∂γ yz ∂γzx ∂γx y ∂ 2 x
y
+ = , ∂ x (− ∂ x + ∂ y − ∂z ) = 2 ∂ y∂z
.
⎪
⎪ ∂z 2 ∂ y2 ∂ y∂z
The stress tensor inside the computational domain satisfies ⎪
⎩ z +
∂ 2
∂ 2 x ∂ 2 γzx ∂ ∂γ yz ∂γzx ∂γx y ∂ 2 y
the equilibrium equations (Equation. 1) [46]. It has been ∂x2 ∂z 2
= ∂z∂ x , ∂ y (− ∂ x + ∂ y − ∂z ) = 2 ∂ x∂z
expressed according to the steady state assumption. (3)

⎧
⎪ ∂σx ∂τ yx ∂τzx
⎨ ∂ x + ∂ y + ∂z = 0
⎪ 3.4 Constitutive equations for the nonlinear
∂τx y ∂σ y ∂τzy behavior
∂ x + ∂ y + ∂z = 0
(1)
⎪
⎪
⎩ ∂τx z + ∂τ yz + ∂σz = 0
∂x ∂y ∂z The mechanical behavior of each lamina can be considered
as orthotropic in the stress plane. In this numerical study, the
σ and τ are the components of the stress tensor, where σ is elastic behavior and the nonlinear behavior occurring inside
the normal stress, and τ is the shear stress on the multilayered the lamina are considered. Hooke’s law expressed in Equa-
composite blade. tion. 4 defines the relations between strain and stress for an

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 Table 1 Material properties of the horizontal axis wind turbine blade [19]
Properties E 1 (GPa) E 2 (GPa) νx y = νx z ν yz G x y = G x z (MPa) G yz (MPa) X T = YT (MPa) X C = YC (MPa) R (MPa)

Material Blade length (m) Layer thickness (mm)

Glass fabric/Epoxy 2.5 0.260 21.74 0.19 2.79 225 215 64

0.265 21.50 0.19 2.77
0.285 20.60 0.21 2.69
Balsa wood 3.70 0.055 0.20 0.02 0.05 0.0083
International Journal on Interactive Design and Manufacturing (IJIDeM)

Table 2 Cross-sectional properties at different stations (Types A)

Blade length (m) Properties Skin thickness t (mm) [Layer range (mm)] Number of layers
Station location (mm) Twist angle βT (Degree) Chord length C (mm)

2.5 0 – – 2.850
250 20.11 320.00 [0 < x < 440] 10 Layers
459 19.42 284.57 1.855
668 18.53 250.24 [440 < x < 830] 7 Layers
877 17.40 218.06 1.300
1086 15.94 189.09 [830 < x < 1610]
1295 14.10 164.39 5 Layers
1504 11.91 144.73
1713 9.39 129.50 0.780
1922 6.58 117.67 [1610 < x < 2410]
2131 3.48 108.19 3 Layers
2340 0.00 100.08

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 International Journal on Interactive Design and Manufacturing (IJIDeM)

3.5 Hashin damage criterion of composite materials

Recently, a numerous failure criterion have been proposed to

study the composite materials failure initiation (as the Fig. 5
presents). the first ply failure localization prediction is the
object of this studies, this criteria can be written as :
The 2D Hashin criterion for UD lamina can be expressed
as presented by [19,52].

– Fiber failure Eq. 10

F1 σ1 + F11 σ12 + F66 τ12

2
=1 (10)

Fig. 5 A regularized orthotropic continuum damage model for layered – Matrix failure Eq. 11
composites: intralaminar damage initiation and progression
F2 σ2 + F22 σ22 + F66 τ12
2
=1 (11)
orthotropic k-lamina of the composite turbine [49]:
It should be noted that for a balanced composite lamina
⎛ −ν yx
k ⎞ with same material properties in both fiber directions,
⎧ k⎫ 1
0 ⎧ k⎫ ⎧ ⎫
⎨ x ⎬ ⎜ E xkk Ex ⎟ ⎨ σx ⎬ ⎨0 ⎬ the use of Eq. 10 is sufficient to predict the failure of
⎜ ⎟
 k = ⎜ −νx y 1
0 ⎟ · σ k
+ S k
· τ k 2
· 0 a composite lamina. In addition, the 3D Hashin failure
⎩ kx ⎭ ⎝ E xk E ky ⎠ ⎩ ky ⎭ 6666 xy
⎩ k ⎭
τ
γx y 1 τ xy xy criterion for an UD lamina is expressed according to [53].
0 0 G kx y – Fiber failure in tension Eq. 12 (σ1 > 0)
(4)
 2
σ1 2 + σ2
σ12
The mechanical nonlinear shear of the multilayered com- + 13
=1 (12)
XT S2
posite blade can be defined as shown in Equation. 5 [50]:
or σ1 = X T
τxky 3 – Fiber failure in compression Eq. 13 (σ1 < 0)
γxky = + S6666 · τxky (5)
G kx y
− σ1 = X C (13)
It should be noted that the S6666 component is a function of
the shear strain. The incremental Hooke’s law for our non- – Matrix cracking Eq. 14 (σ2 + σ3 > 0)
linear orthotropic lamina can be expressed as presented in
 2
Equations. 6 and 7 [51]: σ2 + σ3 σ12 − σ2 σ3 2 + σ2
σ12
+ + 13
=1 (14)
      YT R2 S2

σ̄ = Q̄ 1 ·
¯ (6)
      – Matrix crushing Eq. 15 (σ2 + σ3 < 0)

τ¯t = Q̄ 2 ·
γ̄t (7)
 2    2
   T    T YC σ2 + σ3 σ2 + σ3
where :
σ̄ =
σx , σ y , τx y ,
τ¯t =
τx z , τ yz , −1 +
   T    T 2R YC 2R

¯ =
x ,  y , γx y ,
γ¯t =
γx z , γ yz
2 −σ σ
σ23 2 3
2 + σ2
σ12
+ + 13
=1 (15)
R2 S2
⎛ ⎞
E xk νx y E ky
0
⎜ 1−ν x y ν yx 1−ν x y ν yx ⎟ The use of Eqs. 12 and 13 enable to predict the failure of
  ⎜ ν yx E ky E ky ⎟
Q̄ 1 = ⎜ 1−ν ν 1−ν ν 0 ⎟ (8) a composite lamina, since a balanced composite lamina
⎜ x y yx x y yx ⎟
⎝ 0 0 1 ⎠ with same material properties in both fiber directions has
1 3
+S6666
k
been used. In addition, only the maximum stress crite-
G kx y
  rion is an independent failure criterion, because the rest
  Gxz 0
Q̄ 2 = (9) belong to the group of quadratic interaction failure crite-
0 G yz ria. Besides, the interfacial debonding mode is assessed
using either the maximum stress criterion presented in

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International Journal on Interactive Design and Manufacturing (IJIDeM)
Eq. 16 or the following quadratic failure criterion. The
most critical of the failure modes is selected:
d = max(d f , dm , dd )
3.6 Assumptions
The assumptions that were considered in this numerical study
are listed as follows:
– The loading and the mechanical behavior of the multi-
layered composite blade are steady.
– The considered composite materials are orthotropic.
– The mechanical behavior of the blade structure is con-
sidered as nonlinear.
– No adhesive material has been used to connect the parts
of the wind blade and the contacts are considered rigid
bonded.
4 Boundary conditions and mesh
independence test
4.1 Boundary conditions
The Blade Element-Linear Momentum method (BEM)
[32,54] is generally used to assess the quasi-static aerody-
namic loads applied on the wind blades with a variable twist
angle (βT ) along the span. However, the static load test of a
wind blade has been performed in this study using the Whiffle
tree testing technique [55,56]. This technique is converting
the distributed wind loads into a set of load points applied at
some particular locations on the top skin of the wind blade.
In the present numerical study, the two-saddle-point Whif-
fle tree testing technique [57,58] were used in order to convert
the distributed wind load into two point loads acting on the
blade, as it is presented in Fig. 6. Hence, both of the two point
loads P1 and P2 applied respectively on x1 et x2 are going to
have the same moment effects on the blade root. The incre-
mental force was applied to two positions of the 2.5 m blade
initially set for the first one at x1 = 1.3 m with a weight of
4.65 kgf and the second one at x2 = 2.2 m with a weight of
2.65 kgf, thus, a ratio of 3:1 has been adopted.
4.2 Mesh independence test
The mesh sensitivity analysis was performed to determine
the optimal number of elements that helps to achieve the
validation and the good agreement between our results and
the experimental results reported by [59]. In fact, four meshes
have been generated and each mesh is described by the total
number of its elements namely 35,000, 50,000, 75,000 and
95,000. Additional attention has been given to the refinement
of the spar Fig. 7b, and the tip of the blade Fig. 7a. In addition,
a hybrid mesh involving quadrilateral shell elements, with
4 integration points, and triangular shell elements, with 3
(16) integration points, has been used to mesh the wind blade as
shown in Fig. 7c.
As shown in Fig. 7c, the blade’s top and bottom skins were
meshed by structured quadrilateral elements, while the sur-
faces close to the root and the tip were meshed by a hybrid
elements to adapt the curvilinear topology of the blade sur-
faces, consequently improving the average quality of the
generated mesh. The mesh with 75,000 elements has an aver-
age quality of 0.85. The minimum size of the elements is
8.5 mm and their maximum size is 35 mm. A growth rate
of 1.1 has been used to ensure the element transitions. It is
noted that, the mechanical displacement, measured on the
path (1–2) (Fig. 8b) represents the junction between the edge
of the spar and the skin of the blade, has been defined as
criterion to carry out the mesh sensitivity analysis. Indeed,
the mechanical displacement was useful to set the optimal
number of elements that lead to convergence.
As presented in Fig. 8a the number of elements that ensure
the validation of the physical model has been estimated equal
to 75,000, because the displacement values measured on the
path (1–2) are very close to those achieved by a mesh with a
total number of elements equal to 95,000.
5 Results and discussion
Numerical results for the blade structure under quasi-static
loads are presented in this section in order to improve
mechanical performances of the composite blade through
the three different parametric studies previously described.
It is noted that, the dimensions of the blade’s geometry have
been sustained. Moreover, the mechanical loading and its two
application points have been fixed at the locations x1 and x2 .
Severe load on the top skin of the blade has been applied. In
fact, the loading was assessed at 45 kgf in the considered two
points.
The first parametric study aims to assess the effect of fiber
materials on the mechanical behavior of the multilayered
composite blade. The fiber materials that have been con-
sidered are the following: E-glass, Carbon, Kevlar49 and
S-glass. The mechanical properties of these materials are
presented in Table 3. The orientation of the fibers that was
considered is (± 45◦ ), and the number of layers applied on
the external surface of the blade has already been presented
previously in Table 2. Besides, Epoxy has been assigned as
material of the matrix.
The aim of the second parametric study is to predict the
mechanical behavior of the HAWTB by changing the ori-
entation of the fibers located in each ply of the skin. The
studied dimensions are presented as follows: unidirectional,
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Fig. 6 The applied quasi-static

load on the “Type A” blade

Fig. 7 a Unstructured hybrid

mesh at the blade’s tip. b
Structured mesh at the blade’
spar. c Structured mesh
generated at the top and bottom
skins of the blade

Fig. 8 a Mesh sensitivity

analysis. b Path (1–2) for
measuring the mechanical
displacement

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Fig. 9 a The multilayered

blade’ shape after the
application of located
quasi-static mechanical loading.
b The path (1–2) on which the
mechanical displacement, stress
and strain curve’s values were
calculated

Table 3 Mechanical properties

Materials Glass Carbon [74] Kevlar [75]
of fiber materials
E [76] S [77] 49

Measured characteristics on the unidirectional Epoxy matrix composite

Volume fraction V f 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6
Density ρc (kg/m3 ) 1814.36 1814.36 1490 1400
Longitudinal young’modulus E x (GPa) 45 50 1.21E+02 1.51E+02
Transversal young’ modulus E y (GPa) 10 8 8.6 5.6
Transversal young’ modulus E z (GPa) 10 8 8.6 5.6
Poisson coefficient νx y 0.3 0.3 0.27 0.34
Poisson coefficient ν yz 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.34
Poisson coefficient νx z 0.3 0.3 0.27 0.34
Longitudinal shear modulus G x y (GPa) 5 5 4.7 2.1
Transversal shear modulus G yz (GPa) 3.8462 3.8462 3.1 2.1
Transversal shear modulus G x z (GPa) 5 5 4.7 2.1

biaxial, and triaxial. For each dimension, several fiber orien-

Fig. 10 Presentation of the unidirectional fiber orientation: fiber and
reference direction (θ = +45◦ andθ = 90◦ )
tations are considered as shown in Fig. 10. Moreover, E-glass
has been assigned as materials for the fibers and Epoxy for
the blade matrix. The thickness of the composite layers is
presented in Table 2. In the following, the achieved results
will be presented in terms of the mechanical displacement,
stress and strain [46] assessed along the path (1–2) shown in
Fig. 9b, also the contours of stress and strain [59] evaluated
on the blade.
The third parametric study focuses on the assessment of
the ply thickness effect on the mechanical behavior of the
multilayered composite blade. Indeed, the thickness of dif-
ferent plies previously presented in Table 2 were increased
by the ratio 1.1:1. In addition, E-glass has been assigned as

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Fig. 11 a Validation curves. b Mounting location of gage at the top skin of the wind blade [19]

materials for the fibers and Epoxy for the blade matrix. The
fiber orientation that has been considered is (± 45◦ ).

5.1 Model validation

The accuracy of the FEM was determined by comparing our

numerical results with experimental at incremental forces
applied to the blade structure using Whiffle tree technique
[60].
Using the sensors positioned in the experimental config-
uration, the deformations were determined in the localized
position of 260 mm from the origin on the upper skin layers
of the blade which undergoes a tensile stress. This position
effectively coincides with the most stressed and critical area
in the HAWTB. This critical zone in the blade could predict
effectively the mechanical behavior for a predimensioning of
the damage like first ply failure, the delamination between
layers and others. This experimental configuration veritably Fig. 12 The relative error assessment of the present FEM calculations
predicts the mechanical response of blade against the possible
failure location. Indeed, this experimental setup is a proto-
type that evaluates the structural performance of HAWTB. the previous section consider the number and quality of ele-
Thereafter, the similitude laws can be used to assess large ments.
blades that generate high level of megawatts, because of their Indeed, during the mesh generation for blade modeling
important radius as detailed in [61]. using hybrid with relevant smoothing and fin meshing in
Figure 11a shows the strain-load curves of numeri- tip and trailing edge areas, the number of elements used
cal results obtained with our developed nonlinear model was 75,000 elements. Therefore, this leads to optimal results
and experimental results. The comparison shows a good using mesh sensibility technique and as the Fig. 12 shows,
agreement between the experimental and FEM result. The the relative error decreases and does not exceed 1.56%, espe-
strain-load curves were found to exhibit same tendency of cially for high load level.
the nonlinear behavior, and similar behavior was observed for
the experimental and numerical results. The curves initially 5.2 Effects of fiber materials
progress as a linear behavior at a low loads before it follow
the nonlinear behavior. The accuracy of the present model The total displacement measured along the path (1–2) that
depend on mesh performance that it has been performed on is connecting the end of the blade and the root is presented

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Fig. 13 Effects of the considered fiber materials on the mechanical displacement (a), stress (b) and strain (c)

Fig. 14 The effects of materials on the mechanical displacement (1) and the mechanical stress (2)

Fig. 15 Effects of the unidirectional fiber orientations on the mechanical displacement (a), stress (b) and strain (c)

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in Fig. 13a. The mechanical behavior of the considered four compression, besides to the shear effects in both directions.
materials is almost identical, but the trend that corresponds to Thus, improved mechanical performances and rigidity to
the Carbon fiber presents a significant difference compared strain of the composite wind turbine blade. For the same pur-
to other materials, which presents low total displacement val- pose, the delamination and fatigue damage of glass/Epoxy
ues. The current difference is evaluated at 20 mm in terms composites that could be used to enhance the mechanical
of the mechanical displacement assessed locally at the point behavior of wind turbine blades, has been assessed through-
x = 2000 mm that belongs to the path (1–2). Further, the out experimental and numerical studies carried out by Roundi
Kevlar49 material depicts the maximal displacement values et al. [62]. Their studies aimed to select the optimal stack-
that are slightly the S-glass and E-glass. In fact, they pre- ing sequence and stress ratio that help to achieve the maximal
sented a displacement of 100 mm at the multilayered blade’s lifespan of the designed device, which is subjected to specific
tip. boundary conditions.
The mechanical stress values were evaluated along the
path (1–2), exactly from x = 800 mm to x = 2000 mm.
5.3 Effects of fiber orientation
The curves presenting the mechanical stress evolution are
decreasing with a stress drop at x = 1300 mm, where the
5.3.1 Unidirectional fiber orientation
static mechanical loading was applied. In fact, it has affected
the structure displacement in this zone, as shown in Fig. 13b.
The effect of the unidirectional fiber orientation is presented
Besides, it is found that the mechanical stress of Carbon and
in Fig. 15a. It is noted that the angle 90◦ generates minimum
Kevlar49 fibers presents a significant difference compared
displacement values, as it is the case for the measured dis-
to the considered glass fiber materials (E-glass and S-glass).
placement equal to 55 mm at the blade’s tip. Besides, for 60◦
These numerical results could be explained by comparing the
and −60◦ orientation angles, a displacement of 100 mm has
young’s modulus presented in Table 3, because the Kevlar49
been recorded at the blade’s tip, which is not the case for the
and Carbon fibers have a high longitudinal young’s modulus
other assessed angles, because the noted difference is 100
and the glass materials have 10 GPa as transversal young’s
mm at the point located in x = 2000 mm that belongs to the
modulus. Hence, they resist more than the glass fiber mate-
path (1–2).
rial in the longitudinal direction of the mechanical loading.
Figure 15b shows the effect of unidirectional fibers. It
The calculated local stress at x = 800 mm using the FEA
was found that 90◦ configuration presents the minimal stress
for the Carbon material is 12 MPa, 11.2 MPa for Kevlar49
value compared to the other assessed configurations, with a
and 17 MPa for the two types of fiberglass, namely E-glass
minimal stress value of 9 MPa at the 800 m position away
and S-glass. In addition, the stress evaluated at the located
from 60◦ and −60◦ configurations with 5 MPa. Moreover,
position of x = 2000 mm for Carbon material, glass fibers
−30◦ configuration presented the maximal stress value equal
and Kevlar49 are respectively 4 MPa, 9.5 MPa and 3.7 MPa.
to 19 MPa, previously evaluated at x = 900 mm.
The effect of four different materials on the strain evolu-
The effect of the considered materials on the strain evolu-
tion of the blade is presented in Fig. 13c. The strain curves
tion over the blade is presented in Fig. 15c. The strain curves
are decreasing throughout the blade with the drop between
are decreasing effectively throughout the blade with a drop
x = 1200 mm and x = 1400 mm, along the path (1–2), which
between x = 1200 mm and x = 1400 mm, along the path
is due to the weight applied at x = 1300 mm as shown in
(1–2), which is due to the weight applied at x = 1300 mm.
Fig. 6a. The strain values are practically equal to 9 × 10−4
In addition, at x = 2000 mm, the strain value could achieve
for Carbon material and 15 × 10−4 for E and S fiber glass
respectively 7 × 10−4 , 5 × 10−4 and 7 × 10−4 for Carbon, E-
fibers and 13 × 10−4 for Kevlar49 at the point x = 800 mm.
glass/S-glass and Kevlar49. The configuration 90◦ presents
In addition, at x = 2000 mm, the strain value could achieve
the minimum strain value compared to the other considered
respectively 3, 5 × 10−4 , 9 × 10−4 and 5 × 10−4 for Carbon,
configurations with a minimal strain value of 2 × 10−4 at the
E-glass/S-glass and Kevlar49.
loaded zone.
The stress contours assessed over the external surface of
the composite laminates of the wind blade are presented
in Fig. 14(2). The stress results are more important for the 5.3.2 Biaxial fiber orientation
blade that is manufactured with E-glass and S-glass materi-
als, because de achieved maximal stresses were 167.68 MPa The effect of fiber orientation on the mechanical strength
and 106.55 MPa respectively. In addition, the mechanical of the blade has been investigated through the second para-
stress, for Carbon and Kevlar49 fibers, presents lower values metric study, where three main orientations were studied. In
in comparison with S-glass and E-glass materials, because fact, Fig. 16a illustrates the total displacement of the blade
it does not exceed 92 MPa. It can be concluded that the structure corresponding to this biaxial fiber orientation. The
Carbon fibers resist to the forces induced in tension as in biaxial orientations ± 15◦ , ± 30◦ , ± 45◦ have a significant

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International Journal on Interactive Design and Manufacturing (IJIDeM)
Fig. 16 Effects of the biaxial fiber orientations on the mechanical displacement (a), stress (b) and strain (c)
Fig. 17 Effects of the triaxial fiber orientations on the mechanical displacement (a), stress (b) and strain (c)
displacement of 23 mm compared to the other considered
orientations.
The effect of the fiber’s biaxial orientation is presented
in Fig. 16b. It is found that the stress curves are generally
decreasing along the path (1–2) with a stress drop at the
located position of the applied mechanical load. The config-
uration of 0◦ /90◦ layers is presenting minimal stress values
along the blade, especially at the point x = 1350 mm. Fur-
thermore, the configuration ± 30◦ supports a maximal stress
value of 18 MPa at the point x = 900 mm. For the other
studied configurations, the stress values for the ± 15◦ and
± 45◦ orientations are more or less inferior to those of the
± 60◦ configuration.
Figure 16c shows the biaxial orientation effect of the
fibers. In fact, the strain curves are generally decreasing, with
a drop in the loading position. Moreover, it is found that the
configuration 0◦ /90◦ of the layers presents minimal strain
values, almost all along the blade, especially at the point
x = 1350 mm. In return, the structure with the configuration
± 30◦ supports maximum strain in the order of 15.5 × 10−4
at the point x = 900 mm. The strain values of the remain-
ing configurations ± 15◦ and ± 45◦ are smaller, but they are
higher than those of the configuration ± 60◦ .
5.3.3 Triaxial fiber orientation
As shown in Fig. 17a, the displacement is important for
the assessed configurations, namely ± 15◦ /0◦ and ± 30◦ /0◦ ,
especially compared to the configuration ± 60◦ /90◦ which
presents a difference of 50 mm at the point x = 2000 mm. In
addition, the configurations ± 60◦ /0◦ , ± 45◦ /90◦ , ± 15◦ /90◦
and ± 30◦ /90◦ have similar evolution trends with respective
values of 80 mm and 75 mm in terms of the displacement
assessed at the blade’s tip. The noted difference in terms of the
mechanical displacement which corresponds to the configu-
ration ± 45◦ /0◦ is greater than the configuration ± 45◦ /90◦ .
However, it remains less important than the displacement
values achieved by the configuration ± 30◦ /0◦ .
The effect of the triaxial arrangement is presented in
Fig. 17b. It should be emphasized that ± 60◦ /90◦ config-
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Fig. 18 Comparison between the fiber orientation effects
Fig. 19 Effects of lamina thickness on the mechanical displacement (a), stress (b) and strain (c)
uration presents the minimal stress values. In return, the
configurations ± 15◦ /0◦ and ± 30◦ /0◦ show the maximal
stress values. Meanwhile, the other remaining configurations
presented the same stress values with 15 MPa in the position
x = 900 mm for ± 45◦ /0◦ and 13 MPa for ± 15◦ /90◦ .
The effect of the triaxial angle is presented in Fig. 17c. The
configuration ± 60◦ /90◦ shows a minimal value of strain. In
contrast, the configurations ± 15◦ /0◦ and ± 30◦ /0◦ present
the maximal strain values. For the remaining configurations,
they have approximately the same evolution pattern with an
assessed strain equal to 13 × 10−4 at x = 900 mm for
± 45◦ /0◦ , 11 × 10−4 for ± 15◦ /90◦ at the same local point
defined by x = 900 mm.
5.3.4 Comparison between the fiber orientation effects
Fig. 18 depicts the evolution of the displacement, strain and
stress values along the path (1–2). For instance, Fig. 18a
shows that the unidirectionnal and triaxial configuration, 90◦
and ± 60◦ /90◦ respectively, enhance the mechanical behav-
ior of the multilayered blade, because it presents the minimal
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International Journal on Interactive Design and Manufacturing (IJIDeM)
displacement values throughout the spar. Consequently, it’
clear that the UD fiber 90◦ of HAWTB presents the ulti-
mate rigidy, especially along the interval [1800, 2200] mm
at blade’s tip [31]. Moreover, Fig. 18b presents the evolution
of the stress curves evaluated along the path (1–2). Indeed,
it was found that both configuration 90◦ and ± 60◦ /90◦ pro-
vide minimal stress values generally throughout longitudinal
blade length, particularly in the range of [600, 2100] mm
compared to the remaining configurations with a difference
of 2.5 MPa for the second configuration and 5 MPa for the
90◦ configuration at x = 900 mm point. In fact, the unidi-
rectional composite materials fiber 90◦ withstands more and
more to probable delaminations between layers at maximum
zone. Finally, Fig. 18c presents the evolution of the strain
curves for some considered configurations. It is found that
the configuration ± 60◦ /90◦ provides minimal strain values
along the path range [600, 2100] mm in comparison with
the remaining configurations, with an evaluated difference
of 2 × 10−4 at the local point x = 900 mm, which belongs
to the patch (1–2). In fact, the 90◦ configuration enhances
further the structure against shear and normal strains. Con-
International Journal on Interactive Design and Manufacturing (IJIDeM)
Fig. 20 Strain and displacement contours. a Unidirectional 90◦ , b carbon/epoxy, c thickness ratio 3
sequently, the selected configuration supports effectively for
possible matrix and fiber damage of the composite materials
[45].
5.4 Effects of lamina thickness
The third parametric study presents the composite layer
thickness’s effects on the mechanical behavior of the blade,
as it is presented in Fig. 19a. It can be observed that the
increase in the thickness of the layers helps to decrease the
displacements all along the blade and conversely, as shown
in Fig. 19. In fact, the presented curves have a similar evo-
lution trend, but their magnitudes depend on the aspect ratio
that has been used while designing the blade according to
the thickness effect parametric study. The flexural rigidity
has been investigated and it can be understood that the thick-
ness contribute on mechanical efficiency, consequently, this
aspect improves the extraction from aerodynamic energy to
rotational mechanic of the blade rotor.
The effect of the laminates’thickness on the mechanical
behavior of the MCHAWTB has been assessed as shown in
Fig. 19b. It was concluded that the stress values on the blade
increase if the lamina’ thickness decrease and conversely. In
fact, increasing the lamina’ thickness help to support more
the mechanical loading and standing against the delamination
between laminates and other failure mechanisms. It has to be
mentioned that the stress curves have an identical tendency
for different thicknesses and the observed differences in the
stress values depend on the aspect ratio that has been applied
to carry out this parametric study. Indeed, the strength of
the blade need to be strongly investigated because the shear
and normal stresses produce internal forces in the materials
and cause damage if the strength limit is exceeded, then, it’
necessary to investigate about thickness effect and proposed
a important safety factor for the purpose of structure ability.
It can be noted that the ply-number effect has been sim-
ulated by Albanesi et al. [22] to enhance the mechanical
performances of laminates medium power 40 kW wind tur-
bine blade using the IFEM. The methodology that has been
used by these authors is based on the combination of genetic
algorithms and the IFEM, and the main aim of their investi-
gations is to decrease the initial weight of the laminates wind
turbine blades by suggesting a robust new design.
5.5 Mechanical stiffness assessment of the
performed blade configuration and damage
assessment of a blade sub-model
In this section, the Fig. 20 shows the evolution of the strain
(T ) and deflexion (u T ) contours over the spar and blade
skin. The most efficient configurations were selected from
each parametric study. In fact, Fig. 20a presents the evolution
of the blade’s skin strain for the unidirectional configura-
tion 90◦ . The strain contours are concentrated and they have
increased gradually from the blade’s tip zone to its root.
Moreover, it was observed that the strain values increased
along the contact zone between the spar and the flanges.
Hence, the maximal achieved value was 16.4×10−4 . In addi-
tion, it was observed that the strain values decrease at the side
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of the leading and trailing edges and at the blade’s tip region,
because the blade’s structure in these zones is strengthened.
Furthermore, the strains through the spar sandwich struc-
ture were also assessed. It was found that they are concen-
trated near the contact zone with the laminate composite skin,
especially, the region between [100; 800] mm of the path (1–
2). The strain maximum value was 4.7 × 10−3 , while the
mechanical displacement reached 123 mm at the blade’s tip.
The strain are concentrated in the blade’s skin. They
increased from the free blade’s tip to the root for the consid-
ered Carbon/Epoxy configuration. Moreover, it was observed
that the strains increased along the spar, the flanges and the
maximal strain value was 3.55 × 10−3 . The strains through
the spar sandwich structure are concentrated near the contact
zone with the laminate composite skin and they were assessed
at 2.75 × 10−3 . Thus, the maximal value of displacement is
about 118 mm around the blade’s tip.
Figure 20c presents the blade configurations where the
ply thickness of the composite laminate has been increased
by an aspect ratio of 3. It is observed that the strains in the
blade’ skin surface are concentrated and they have increased
along the contact zone between the spar and the flanges with
a maximal value of 2.63 × 10−3 . Indeed, the strain values
through the spar sandwich structure are concentrated near
the contact zone with the composite laminate skin and the
maximal achieved strain value was 5.58 × 10−3 . Thus, the
maximal associated mechanical displacement was assessed
at 84.5 mm around the blade’s tip.
According to Grogan et al. [63], the design of composite
turbine blades needs to be thoroughly investigated, because
they are subjected to severe thrust loading that lead to impor-
tant bending moments at the blade’s root. This research team
compared the strain evolution contours and the results from
a FEM of the studied blade to evaluate the structural perfor-
mance of glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) and Carbon
fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) used as materials for the
spar.
In this paper, the structural reinforcement method used
for the WTB is further taking into account the alternative
solutions for the damage regions.
A model of the structural part of the blade has been per-
formed and proposed through this enhancement strategy, in
order to investigate damage initiation zone of this slender part
of the wind blade subjected to flap-wise loading. Hence, this
structural region is responsible element for the reliability and
lifspan of the blade and its further withstanded efficiently to
flap-wise, edge-wise and torsional loads. The choice of this
part for damage investigation is based on his mechanical and
structural performance for WTB. In fact, the damage regions
have been assessed and discussed.
Thus, Fig. 22 presents the damage initiation of the pro-
posed model of blade structural area. The stress limits of the
composite materials used in the FE model have been defined
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International Journal on Interactive Design and Manufacturing (IJIDeM)
in Table 1. Figure 21a presents the contour plots of normal
and shear stresses of the present sub-model and the Fig. 21b
describes the contact behavior of the shear web with the two
spar caps.
The contact effect induced has been evaluated through
FEA. Here, the penetration and pressure are very important
near the high stressed regions where the first failure occurs
which is normal as the Fig. 21 depicts. In fact, the nonlinear
behavior of the composite structure exhibits the rotational
and displacement of the blade transversal section, thus, the
pressure exerted on a contact surface between two compo-
nents is converted to local stress around the damaged ply
initiation in the shear web component.
Indeed, Fig. 22 depicts the contour plots of the damage of
the slender part at ultimate load. This critical regions are
localized approximately at R0.18 i.e. 18.0% of the blade
radius starting from the root.
It has been remarked that damages are locally concen-
trated in the tension area of the blade skin between root and
the airfoil shape during the bending load. The results are cor-
roborating with longitudinal strain response on the top skin
along the blade length as shown in Fig. 20. The results of
this configuration are reconfirmed with the studies released
in [64,65].
In other hand, the shear web is a closing rib of the HAWTB,
and it is made of a sandwich structure based on balsa foam
and Glass fiber/Epoxy. In fact, the shear web has two con-
tacts with the blade skin reinforced with two spar caps. The
contact pressure has been transmitted to the local regions
due to compression and shear stresses generated. The results
indicate that the first ply failure of the shear web occurred
near the root at the first ply near the core of the sandwish
structure.
The shear and normal strains have been increased in this
regions at ultimate load and they exceed material strength
limits, consequently, it can be remarked that compression
stresses provoque buckling strain, which generate delamina-
tion due to out-of-plane strain-stress of laminates.
The compressive/tensile failure of the fiber and the com-
pressive/tensile failure of the matrix are the main failure
criterion to approach the damage initiation of the compos-
ite materials. In fact, Hashin criterion [66,67] has been used
in this investigations. Besides, other types of failure mecha-
nisms as delaminations eventually can be conducted in FEA
using a mathematical models to approach this mechanisms.
In fact, the strengthened and stiffned part of the blade
contribuate effectively to relieve trailing edge because the
optimal strutural part has a total dispalcements, which can
be remarked with the analyse of this enhacenement politic,
are low comparing to basic design. In fact, large deflection
of the WTB generates buckling for flap-wise and edge-wise
loading especially for the second because the trailing edge
region sustain huge compression as described in [68]. Hence
International Journal on Interactive Design and Manufacturing (IJIDeM)
Fig. 21 Stress and contact assessment of the slender part of WTB
Fig. 22 Blade damage
assessment
the high stresses applied in critical regions as the Fig. 22
expressed by the damage initiation in top skin and shear web
need to be strongly enhanced.
5.6 Composite Material efficiencies per weight and
per cost
In this section, the efficiencies per weight and per cost have
been analyzed for composite materials used for the blade
structure. As everyone know the wind turbine for different
scale have the same parts: the blades, generators and other
components. The whole system converts the aerodynamic
loads to electricity where the blades are the most important
and critical parts of wind turbine. Therefore, the manufactur-
ing requirements of the blades are important and the blade
cost is about 15–20% of wind turbine production cost [57].
This manufacturing requirements are specified to reach the
mechanical performance. In fact, the structural efficiency of
the blade is commonly defined as the faculty to sustain the
loads at minimum weight. Indeed, the material efficiency
is usually defined mechanical performance per weight. The
material selection and also the manufacturing process selec-
tion [69] determine usually a large part of the cost of a
structure namely the blade structure.
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Table 4 Weight and prices of
Properties Epoxy [78]
the materials used
Density ρ (g/cm3 ) 1.1
Cost ($/kg) 10
Fig. 23 Comparison between the densities of the used materials
Through increasing the energy conversion efficiency from
about 75 KW to about 5 MW or maybe even, the size of
wind turbine blades becomes more and more large which
blade diameter ranges from about 17 m to about 250 m or
around [70]. However, gradually bigger blades are facing
harsh service environment and ecological problems that may
affect the human security [57].
The performance ratio (PR) can be defined as expressed
in Equation. 17 [71]:
d mechanical properties and his safety degree for the envirom-
P R = C(w) · (17)
E
where C(w) is the cost per units of weight, d is the density
and E is the young’s modulus.
In order to attain a high performance ratio of the blade
structure, it can be remarked that the structural performance
needs to be strongly enhanced, especially in compression.
Nevertheless, the material, manufacturing, operating and the
ecological cost need to be effectively reduced [72].
For this purpose, a good attention has been paid to the
ratio mass/cost of the materials used and analyzed in this
study. The Table 4 and Fig. 23 show the composite materials
properties related to the density and price.
As the Fig. 24 the cost of the blade manufactured with
Carbon fiber increases strongly depending on blade length
compared to the Glass fiber. It can be noted that ensuring the
123
International Journal on Interactive Design and Manufacturing (IJIDeM)
Carbon fiber [78] Glass fiber [78] Kevlar49 [79,80]
1.81 2.54 1.4
28 2 33
Fig. 24 Cost estimation of the blade material per length for carbon and
glass fibers
high security for the ecological environment is a important
factor for the blade material selection.
In fact, the blade with high length exceed 60m, the Glass
fiber is a good material choice for blade due to her good
strength/price because Carbon fiber presents a high effective
cost regarding the other materials and therefore the Carbon
fiber material is not very economic despite his challenged
ment (Fig. 24).
Concerning the blades with medium length about 20–
40 m, it can be remarked that the Cabon fiber is a important
material for this scale because of her good performance ratio
due to the high coupled strength-stiffness properties and due
to the estimated cost involved for wind blade (Fig. 24).
It can be noted that the blades with low length need to be
manufactured with Carbon fiber due to low cost estimation as
Glass fiber because the inertial forces will be not important
compared to high scale wind turbine. Note that the Glass fiber
represents the primary material for this blade length due his
extreme cost effectiveness [73].
It would be ideal for inspecting about the performance
ratio for the hybridization of Glass and Carbon fibers mate-
rials along the blade length as woven fabrics especially for
longer blades in some specific zones (the transition zone)
International Journal on Interactive Design and Manufacturing (IJIDeM)
between the aerodynamic and structural areas where the ini-
tial failures appear of wind turbine blade at severe conditions.
Conclusion
In this paper, a nonlinear FEA is developed to investigate
a behaviors of a MCHAWTB under several wind loads.
Indeed, numerical simulations involving three parametric
studies were carried out, in order to strengthen the struc-
ture of the blade against delamination and failure. In fact,
the total displacement, stress and strain of the multilayered
composite horizontal axis blade were assessed and the opti-
mal configuration has been selected through the evaluation
of fiber orientation according to three directions, namely the
biaxial, triaxial and unidirectionnal orientations and by inves-
tigating the effect of the ply thickness on the behavior of
whole blade’ structure.
First, the nonlinear physical model used to carry out our
parametric studies was validated against the available exper-
imental data of the literature; the results show that the error
value achieved for our corresponding nonlinear results at
higher incremental loads did not exceed 1.56%.
The simulation results clearly demonstrate that the Car-
bon/Epoxy presented the optimal mechanical performances
and has the minimum deflection of 78 mm at the blade’s tip.
Besides, the achieved results showed that 90◦ is the optimal
configuration for the stratified skin. The strength and stiff-
ness of the blade could increase if high skin thicknesses are
used. In fact, the blade’ deflection decreased by 7 mm in the
tip region of the blade by selecting accurate multiplication
ratio equal to 1.1. In addition, the stress results decreased by
2 MPa. The blade skin composite materials reinforcements
have been applied. In fact, the mechanical performances have
been enhanced in order to anticipate the intra-laminar and
inter-laminar damage and reduce the probability of fracture
during operating hours.
The ratio weight/cost has been analyzed and the mate-
rial fiber selection is discussed for the coupled materials
efficiency and cost effectiveness. Based on the investiga-
tions, it is concluded that the fiber material selected for
the blade structure depend on the blade length because the
cost increases strongly for high length. For perspectives, the
hybridization of fiber materials can donate a good perfor-
mance results in this context.
Therefore, employing the proposed parametric models
have reinforced and improved the mechanical properties of
the blade’ structure. Consequently, they could contribute to
the enhancement of the other studies related to the dynamic
evaluation and the natural frequencies assessment of the wind
turbine blades. Besides, they would increase the damage’
tolerance interval which is explained by the fact that after
reaching the failure status by applying static and/or dynamic
loading, the material stiffness reduction is characterized by
an important slope value.
The main conclusions of this paper are that the enhance-
ment strategy based on a three relevant sub-algorithms within
a closed loop considering the fiber material, fiber orientation
and lamina thickness for the full-scale blade composite struc-
ture.
Among the future directions of this technical study, our
research team suggests another avenue available for research:
– A parametric studies on natural fiber materials, such as
hemp, kenaf ... and to conclude on the suitability of the
selected natural materials for the fiber by performing a
techno-economic analysis.
– Combining loads, such as torsional and edge-wise loads
instead of only taking into account the flap-wise load-
ing. This kind of parametric studies would enhance the
stiffness–strength and lifespan of the turbine’ blade using
the numerical method presented in this paper.
Acknowledgements This research was not supported by any public,
commercial, or not-for-profit company.
Author contributions OR designed the HAWTB and performed the
numerical finite element study. Besides, he carried out the validation
analysis to achieve good agreement between numerical analysis exper-
imental data available on the literature as well as he wrote the overall
manuscript. HM, SF and OR contributed to the re-inforcement idea and
discussed the idea of writing this paper. AEM, SF and HM reviewed,
revised and commented the manuscript
Funding This research received no specific grant from any funding
agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Availability of data and material Authors confirm that all relevant data
and material are included in the article.
Declarations
Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of
interest.
Code availability Authors ensure that all relevant data are included in
the article.
Ethics approval Not applicable.
Consent to participate Not applicable.
Consent for publication Not applicable.
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