Journal of Materials Processing Technology 167 (2005) 463471

Optimisation of wind turbine blades

yk M. Jureczko, M. Pawlak, A. M ez
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Silesian University of Technology, ul. Konarskiego 18a, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland

Abstract The manufacturing cost of WT blade is about 1520% of wind turbine production cost. The expenses of innovations in design of blades represent the small amount of overall cost of wind turbine production. Prots coming from better structural model, use of suitable composite materials and better techniques of manufacturing, both the blades and composite materials, causes necessity of application of numerical modeling and optimization techniques. When designing a wind turbine, the goal is to attain the highest possible power output under specied atmospheric conditions. From the technical point of view, this depends on the shape of the blade. The change of the shape of blade is one of the methods to modify stiffness and stability, but it may inuence aerodynamic efciency of wind turbine. Other method to change dynamic and mechanical properties of wind turbine is modifying the composite material, which the blade is made of. The problem of determining the optimal shape of blade and determining the optimal composite material is a complex one, as the mathematical description of aerodynamic load is complex and a number of constraints and objectives have to be satised. These considerations have prompted the authors to take up the problem of the multi-criteria optimum design of wind turbine blades. The aim of this study was to develop a computer program package that would enable optimisation of wind turbine blades with regard to a number of criteria. 2005 Published by Elsevier B.V.
Keywords: Wind turbine blade; Composite materials; Finite element analysis; Optimisation

1. Properties of the blade The aerodynamic proles of wind turbine blades have crucial inuence on aerodynamic efciency of wind turbine. However, when blades are longer than 45 m the dynamic behaviour of the blade must be also taken into account. Then, the position and shape of spars have to be considered and analysed. In the article [9] is mentioned that the location of the main spar together with the location of the stiffening ribs will have the biggest inuence on the bending modes of the blade. The model of blade (see Fig. 1) made of shell elements was used in multi-criteria optimisation procedure. According to Ref. [8], the blade is to be twisted around the elastic axis. The position of elastic center can be changed by modifying the position of spars and its shape. The solid model of the blade is created in order to obtain required properties of

Corresponding author. yk). E-mail address: Arkadiusz.Mezyk@polsl.pl (A. M ez

the blade and position of spars. We are interested about the properties of the cross-sections. Using commercial software MSC Patran, there is possible to get information about area, moments of inertia, shear centers and centroids. The output data, for example, cross-section of the blade is presented in Fig. 2. The blade was divided to 26 cross-sections, for each of them were received the similar data. Now the cross-sections of the blade must be twisted along the shear axis. But the question is what with the position of spars, if they are also twisted. The conclusion is that they are not twisted in similar way as aerofoils. Leaving the spars straight, the blade would have the form shown in Fig. 3. The commercial blades does not have the spars positioned in this kind. The reason is the aerodynamic damping phenomena. Twist of the blade decide about value of aerodynamic loads, but also the direction in which the blade will vibrate. The blade with twisted spars is presented in Fig. 4. The twist of spars decides about pitch of principal bending axes. Aerodynamic damping is a very important dynamic

0924-0136/$ see front matter 2005 Published by Elsevier B.V. doi:10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2005.06.055

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Fig. 1. The structural model of the blade with spars, before twist.

Fig. 2. The calculated position of shear center and centroid.

Fig. 4. The twisted blade with twisted spars.

aspect. The negative value of aerodynamic damping means that some additional energy is added to the blade during vibration and the amplitude of vibration is increased. Aerodynamic damping has in plane and out of plane components. Damping in-plane direction will have the negative value if the blade section produce the power. If damping in out of plane direc-

tion is positive, by twisting the blade the value of out of plane damping will decrease (but must be still positive) and the inplane damping will receive positives values. Due to the twist of spars, the blade will vibrate not clearly edgewise or apwise [5]. The second mode shape of the blade is presented in Figs. 5 and 6.

2. Aerodynamic loads The analysis of aerodynamic loads in our case is based on the Blade Element Momentum method (BEM [2,10]). As the input date, we have the free stream wind velocity V0 , geometry of aerodynamic proles used in blade with the CL and CD as the aerodynamic lift and drag coefcients unique for each of them. In literature, they are presented as CL () and CD (), which means that they depend on the angle of attack (Fig. 7).

Fig. 3. The twisted blade with straight spar.

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The pitch angle is the angle between the axial wind velocity and the tangential wind velocity: tan = V0 (1 a) (1 + a ) r (1)

Relative velocity of the wind is calculated from the equation: Vrel = r (1 + a ) cos (2)

The aerodynamic loads are expressed in the following forms: Lift: L= 1 2 Vrel c CL 2 Drag: D= 1 2 Vrel c CD 2 (3)

Fig. 5. The second mode of the blade, rst edgewise mode, frequency 1.5975 Hz.

(4)

Thrust: FN = L cos + D sin

Fig. 6. The second mode of the blade, apwise.

(5)

Torque: FT = L sin D cos (6)

BEM method is an iterative method, at the beginning the value of axial retardation coefcient a is assumed to be zero, the results of simulation (calculated a) are compared with the initial value. If their values differ the calculation is repeated with the received axial retardation coefcient as initial value. If they agree the calculation is nished. Below there are shortly presented the equations used in BEM method [2].

where is the density of the air and c is the chord of aerodynamic prole. Blades used in aeroplanes have the order of the gravity, aerodynamic and shear centers different than blades used in wind turbines.

Fig. 7. The diagram of wind velocity components.

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Fig. 8. The location of the shear, gravity and aerodynamic centers.

According to Ref. [6] on the left there are elastic centers, gravity centers and aerodynamic centers. In modern wind turbines the elastic center is between gravity and aerodynamic center. The position of the spars decide about position of shear axis and the order of centers. As can be seen in Fig. 8 in aerodynamic center there are working aerodynamic loads: tangential aerodynamic loads FT ; normal aerodynamic loads FN . Also, the aerodynamic damping according to Ref. [6] is working directly in aerodynamic center. In the gravity center the gravity forces are working but also inertial loads, which are the results of rotation of the blade has to be mentioned. The elastic axis is the axis about which the aerodynamic proles are twisted. The elastic axis is created from elastic centers of cross-sections. To analyse the dynamics of the blade by the nite element method analysis, the blade model as the Timoshenko beam elements was created. Before it, the assumption was made that the elastic axis is created by shear centers from each cross-section. The grid points are created along the aerodynamic centers. The aerodynamic forces are applied directly to the grid point, the forces act at the aerodynamic centers. Gravity forces are applied to the gravity centers. The shear center and aerodynamic center is offset from the neutral, the loads should cause the element to twist.

On the model of the blade presented below there are marked three lines, red are aerodynamic centers, green are elastic centers and black are gravity centers. In our research, the aerodynamic analysis was done, based on modied BEM theory described in Refs. [2,10]. We do not have pressure forces along the blade to fully analyse the shell model. To speed up calculation, threedimensional model of the blade is reduced to beam elements with data presented in Fig. 9 as input. Beam elements are modeled along the aerodynamic centers, including shear and gravity centers as vector offsets. The limitation of this method is the ability to use this model only in linear analysis, such as modal, static and linear transient analysis.

3. State of load on the blade The analysis of the state of load on the wind turbine blade is intended to verify whether the turbine will withstand the action of load within appropriate safety range. Various cases of load on the blade, resulting from the action of various external factors on the turbine, have to be considered. The following types of states of load on a wind turbine blade can be distinguished: Aerodynamic loads of a wind turbine blade are shown in Fig. 10. Mass loads, as the wind turbine blade is slender, the loads associated with its inertia are limited to the loads generated

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Fig. 11. State of load on wind turbine blade.

Fig. 9. The model of the wind turbine with marked aerodynamic, shear and gravity centers on the blades.

by its weight, which causes sinusoidal loads the frequency of which corresponds to the rotor Fig. 11 shows the determined state of load on wind turbine blade. Both mass and aerodynamic loads were investigated.

4. Material of the blade The considered blade is made of composite materials containing more than one bonded material, each with different structural properties. One of the materials, called the reinforcing phase is embedded in the other material of the matrix

phase. If the composite is designed and fabricated correctly, it combines the strength of the reinforcement with the toughness of the matrix to achieve a combination of desirable properties not available in any single conventional material. The main advantage of composite materials is the potential for a high ratio of stiffness to weight. Composites used for typical engineering applications are advanced ber or laminated composites, such as berglass, glass epoxy, graphite epoxy and boron epoxy. Composites are somewhat more difcult to model than an isotropic material such as iron or steel. The special care must be taken in dening the properties and orientations of the various layers since each layer may have different orthotropic material properties. Majority of wind turbine blades is made of berglass reinforced with polyester or epoxy resin. Construction using woodepoxy or other materials also can be found. Small turbine blades are made of steel or aluminum, but they are heavier. Lighter and more effective blades decrease material requirements for other wind turbines component making

Fig. 10. The local forces on the blade.

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M. Jureczko et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 167 (2005) 463471 Table 1 Investigated composite materials Material Kevlar 149 Technora Glass E Glass S Elastic modulus [GPa] 179 70 76 88 Density [kg/m3 ] 1470 1390 2540 2540

overall costs to be lower. Longer blades require another materials to be applied, usually carbon-based composites. Carbon ber composites allow to lower blades mass (from 20 to 18 T at 61.5 m long blade). Carbon-based composites allows also to reconstruct older blades made of berglass reducing mass and increasing its stiffness. However, use of carbon materials requires increased accuracy and makes manufacturing costs to be higher.

5. FEM model of wind turbine blade The FEM model of the wind turbine blade with a NACA 63212 airfoil was created using APDL language in ANSYS. It is a parametric model, as the thickness of the shell, composite material, which blade is made, number of stiffening ribs and their arrangement were the model parameters that were input from the authors program that implemented a modied genetic algorithm. A given parametric le can be used to create various blade models, modify their thickness and basic dimensions. The created FEM model of the blade consists of 124,042 elements, 55,044 nodes and 327 areas meshed. The 8-nodal shell of the SHELL 63 type with 6 degrees of freedom was chosen as nite elements, what enabling specication of any thickness at each node of the chosen element. Selection of elements in a numerical model of a blade enables specication of various thicknesses and material data and dening various types of elements. The following simplifying assumption was made when creating the numerical model of the blade: the manner of connecting the shell with supporting webs and stiffening ribs was neglected. The blade was treated as a clamped beam with its geometry determined in the manner described in previous section. The FEM blade model is shown in Fig. 12.

Table 2 Natural frequency of blade, which was made of different materials No mode shape Frequency [Hz] Glass E 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0.72853 1.6909 2.0845 4.1426 6.0169 7.1806 10.975 14.548 15.035 16.44 Glass E 0.79534 1.8459 2.2756 4.5224 6.5686 7.839 11.982 15.882 16.414 17.947 Technora 0.98482 2.2857 2.8178 5.5999 8.1336 9.7067 14.836 19.666 20.324 22.223 Kevlar 149 1.4996 3.4805 4.2907 8.527 12.385 14.78 22.591 29.946 30.948 33.84

6. Selection of composite materials of wind turbine blade The aim of this study was estimation the inuence of composite materials, which the blade is made, on dynamical properties of wind turbine blades. The composite materials, which were investigated are presented in Table 1. Modal analysis was made for blade with constant elements thickness. Table 2 shows natural frequency of blade, which was made of different materials. Materials with lower density such as ber aramid (Technora) have higher natural frequencies and bigger deection. The comparison of breglass S-type and breglass E-type shows increase of natural frequencies without eigenvalue change. Another materialKevlar, increases both natural frequencies and eigenvalue.

7. Formulation of the problem of multi-criteria discretecontinuous optimisation It is not possible to formulate the problem of optimum design of wind turbine blades as a single-criterion optimisation task because this process requires many criteria to be taken into account. In many cases, these criteria are mutually incomparable, uncountable and sometimes even contradictory, which precludes their simultaneous optimisation. The authors have taken into account the following criteria in the process of wind turbine blades design:
Fig. 12. FEM blade model.

minimisation of generated blade vibrations; maximisation of output generated;

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minimisation of blade material cost; local and global stability of blade structure; fullment of appropriate strength requirements by the blade structure. Minimisation of vibrations is a good way to successful design of blade structure and at the same time it contributes to other benets, such as lower cost or high stability. However, when minimising vibrations of the blade, the natural frequency of the blade must be separated from the harmonic vibration associated with rotor rotation. Such an approach prevents the occurrence of resonance, which under high amplitude of vibration could lead to destruction of the structure. Frequency spacing is one of the methods of isolating frequencies. The amplitude of generated vibrations of the wind turbine blade depends on its stiffness, which is a function of material density, thickness of shell, number of stiffening ribs and their arrangement along blade span. Therefore, when the vibration minimisation criterion be taken into account, the wind turbine blade should be provided with the highest possible stiffness. Such a formulation of the optimisation problem also satises the criterion of generated output maximisation, as the output of a wind turbine depends also on the optimum shape of blades, i.e. on their optimum geometrical features. The mass and fabrication cost of a blade depend on the same parameters as the amplitude of blade vibrations. If the cost minimisation criterion were considered, then the optimisation task would have to be formulated as a weight minimisation task. However, in order to ensure stability of the structure, the weight should be maximised. Furthermore, to meet the strength requirements of the structure, optimisation of maximum displacements of the blade in transverse direction would have to be carried out with a limiting condition that permissible stresses be not exceeded. In view of the above considerations, the authors formulated the problem of optimum design of wind turbine blades as a multi-criteria optimisation task, which enables simultaneous investigation of several criteria. The values of individual criteria depend on parameters of continuous nature (thickness of shell, thickness of webs) and of discrete nature (number of stiffening ribs, their arrangement along blade span). The optimisation task was formulated as a discrete continuous multi-objective problem.

Table 3 Genetic algorithmno copying Variable x1 (m) x2 (m) x3 x4 (m) Found in population Value of objective function (kg) Duration of computation (s) 0.0201 0.0118 10 1.25, 33.75 22 1645.1 125352

optimisation task
min x

f (x)

(7)

where is the domain of possible solutions within the space of objects, x the column matrix of design variables and f(x) is the objective function, i.e. mass of blade. The column matrix of design variables can be represented in the following form: xT = [x1, x2, x3, x4] (8)

where x1 is the shell thickness, x2 the web thickness, x3 the number of stiffening ribs and x4 is the arrangement of stiffening ribs. The other criteria were expressed in the form of inequality limitations: stresses generated in the blade cannot exceed permissible stressescompliance with appropriate strength requirements of the structure (x) dop (9)

displacement of individual nodes in the numerical model of the blade cannot exceed the set valueglobal stability must be ensured u(x) 0.1 m (10)

displacement of the nose of the numerical model of the blade cannot exceed the set valuelocal stability must be ensured uTIP (x) 0.15 m (11)

separation of natural frequency of the blade from harmonic vibration associated with rotor rotation freqBLADE = freqROTOR
Table 4 Genetic algorithmcopying permitted Variable x1 (m) x2 (m) x3 x4 (m) Found in population Value of objective function (kg) Duration of computation (s) 0.0182 0.0144 2 1.75, 2.25 43 1557.4 120916

(12)

8. Formulation of the optimisation problem After having carried out the study of formulating an optimisation criterion when minimising vibrations, consisting in the investigation of the effect of the various criteria discussed above on the amplitude of vibrations of the wind turbine blade, the authors formulated the problem of multi-criteria discretecontinuous optimisation using the limitations method (described, for instance, in Ref. [4]) a single criterion

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Fig. 13. History of optimisation by means of a modied genetic algorithm with no copying of the best individual.

Further limitations apply to the values of design variables. These can be expressed by means of the following matrix formula: xdown x xup (13)

rithm, for which the following assumptions were made: number of individuals: 20; number of populations (STOP criterion): 50; probability of crossing: 0.7; probability of mutation: 0.03.

where xdown is the column matrix of lower bound variables and xup is the column matrix of upper bound variables. Optimisation calculations were done with the use of the authors program that implemented a modied genetic algo-

The applied probabilities of genetic operations were adopted on the basis of studies performed, inter alia, by the authors and presented, for instance, in Ref. [1].

Fig. 14. History of optimisation by means of a modied genetic algorithm with copying of the best individual.

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9. Numerical calculation results Selected results obtained for the optimisation problem are given in Table 3 (optimisation with the use of the modied genetic algorithm and with no copies of the best individual) and Table 4 (optimisation with the use of the modied genetic algorithm and with copies of the best individual). Fig. 13 shows chosen courses of optimisation with the use of the modied genetic algorithm including the copying of the best individual, whereas Fig. 14 shows chosen courses of optimisation with the use of the modied genetic algorithm where the copying of the best individual was permitted. Because the genetic algorithms this the stochastic methods of search of optimum, which belong to Pareto-optimal set, individual curves solutions (appointed with different colours) represent the course of individual optimisation process.

or Vacuum-Assisted Resin Transfer Moulding (VARTM) method [8,11].

Acknowledgement This investigation was realized within a framework of Project No. 4T07C06828 funded by Scientic Committee (KBN).

References
[1] P. Bachorz, M. Marcinkowska, Relation between efciency of a genetic algorithm and assumed optimization parameters, in: Proceedings of the Scientic Conference Applied Mechanics, 2002, pp. 1116. [2] O.L. Hansen Martin, Aerodynamics of Wind Turbines, James & James, London, 2002. [4] R.T. Marler, J.S. Arora, Survey of multi-objective optimization methods for engineering, Struct. Multidisciplinary Optimisation 26 (2004) 369395. [5] J.T. Petersen, H.A. Madsen, et al., Prediction of Dynamic Loads and Induced Vibrations in Stall, Ris-R-1045 (EN), Ris National Laboratory, Roskilde, Denmark, 1998. [6] R.L. Bisplinghoff, H. Ashley, R.L. Halfman, Aeroelasticity, Dover Publications Inc., New York. [8] Guidelines for Design of Wind Turbines, second ed., Det Norske Veritas and Riso National Laboratory, Jydsk Centraltrykkeri, Denmark, 2002. [9] One-Dimensional Variations: Blades, Dutch Offshore Wind Energy Converter Project, LM Glasber Holland BV, 2003. [10] A. Spera David, Wind Turbine Technology, Fundamental Concepts in Wind Turbine Engineering, ASME Press, New York, 1998. [11] J. Sleziona, Podstawy Technologii Kompozyt ow, Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice, 1998.

10. Conclusion The developed numerical model of the wind turbine blade and the computer program package for performing multicriteria discretecontinuous optimisation of wind turbine blades are of general nature. Various blade models can be created by means of an ANSYS parametric le; thicknesses and main dimensions of the model blade can be varied. The authors program that implements a modied genetic algorithm enables optimisation of various objective functions subjective to various constraints. Subsequent to determination of the optimised prole of the wind turbine blade could be machined using Pre-Pregs