Design methodology for composite structures: A small low air-speed wind turbine blade case study

Highlights: ► Case study demonstrates application of graphical selection methodology for preliminary design. ► Small wind turbine blade example used to challenge method. ► Many designs considered, varying composite material and layup. ► Structural finite element analysis used to assess performance. ► Graphical stages used to interrogate database of solutions to select appropriate designs. -- Abstract: A small low air-speed wind turbine blade case study is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of a materials and design selection methodology described by Monroy Aceves et al. (2008) for composite structures. The blade structure comprises a shell of uniform thickness and a unidirectional reinforcement. The shell outer geometry is fixed by aerodynamic considerations. A wide range of lay-ups are considered for the shell and reinforcement. Structural analysis is undertaken using the finite element method. Results are incorporated into a database for analysis using material selection software. A graphical selection stage is used to identify the lightest blade meeting appropriate design constraints. The proposed solution satisfies the design requirements and improves on the prototype benchmark by reducing the mass by almost 50%. The flexibility of the selection software in allowing identification of trends in the results and modifications to the selection criteria is demonstrated. Introducing a safety factor of two on the material failure stresses increases the mass by only 11%. The case study demonstrates that the proposed design methodology is useful in preliminary design where a very wide range of cases should be considered using relatively simple analysis.