Physical Approach to Stress Analysis of Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Blade Using Finite Element Analysis

Wind energy plays a very crucial role in meeting the growing demand for energy across the world. Energy from solar and wind are renewable and found in abundant. They do not deplete as fossils, which are alternate sources of energy. Many countries in the world like China, United States, Germany, India, Spain and others have already adopted wind as a source of energy. Large wind turbines are most common design and they extract more wind but their main challenge is that they require large terrains and are most suitable in areas with high wind speeds. Usually erected onshore or offshore. On the other hand, small wind turbines require small ground spaces for them to be erected and can operate well in terrains with low wind speed. The turbine blade is one of the most important components of a wind turbine expected to be 20% of the overall cost of the wind turbine. The performance of wind turbine blades depends greatly on the material used in the design. Selecting which material to use in the design is a very important and crucial. Many materials are available for selection, which include steel, carbon fibres, wood and many more. All these materials perform differently since they have different material properties. In this paper, only three materials, which are Thermoplastic Resin (Plastic and vinyl material), Aluminium Alloy and Titanium Alloy, were considered. The evaluation criteria included comparing the values of von misses stress and displacement. These values were attained using simulations. Performance analysis was carried out using Inventor professional software for the Finite Element Analysis (FEA). The design, and performance analysis was based on a 1kva small-scale horizontal axis wind turbine blade prototype with a blade length of 0.5 m which was scaled up based on the design specification and material performance criteria. Validation for the mechanical strength of the blade was done using FEA.