Modeling and Response of Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Blade Based on Fluid-Structure Interaction

Abstract

Wind energy plays a significant role as a sustainable and renewable energy source. This paper deals with ANSYS to set up computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and structural analysis and then apply for use them to wind turbine (WT) blades. The present paper selected General Electric's (GE) horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) for 1.5 MW of renewable energy and focused on using the ANSYS package to calculate the tip velocity, pressure, power coefficient, deflection, flap-wise, and edge-wise deformation values. The simulation analysis considered three independent variables: wind speeds of (7, 10, 12, 15, and 20 m/s), blade position of (90, 180, 270, and 360⁰), and Five composite materials of (Carbon-Epoxy, E-Glass, S-Glass, Kevlar, and Technora). The shear stress transport (SST) turbulence was employed. The results show a good agreement between the tip velocity, power coefficient values, and the numerical simulation. The Epoxy E-Glass material exhibits the maximum blade deflection of 1.6363 m, while the Kevlar material has the minimum deflection of 0.41277 m. At a 90o angle, the Epoxy E-Glass material shows a maximum blade deflection of 1.4918 m, whereas the Kevlar material has a minimum deflection of 0.37381 m at a 270o angle. These findings highlight the importance of considering wind conditions and their effects on blade performance and structural integrity in wind turbine design and operation.

Keywords

• fluid-structure interaction
• composite materials
• ansys
• wind turbine blade