In wind turbines, blades are critical design members because performance depends on blade material, shape, twist angle, etc. The problem of internal, mechanical design and material selection for a prototypical high-power horizontal axis wind turbine blade under static, flap-wise loading is investigated in this study. At first a materials selection methodology has been proposed. A very detailed computational analysis based on finite element modes is developed representing the load-carrying box girder of the blade with a given airfoil shape, size, and the type and position of the interior load-bearing longitudinal beams–shear webs. Results concerning displacements and stresses are generated using both plane and shell elements with linear and nonlinear analyses.
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