A shape adaptive airfoil for a wind turbine blade

Stephen Daynes, Paul M. Weaver

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

The loads on wind turbine components are primarily from the blades. It is important to control these blade loads in order to avoid damaging the wind turbine. Rotor control technology is currently limited to controlling the rotor speed and the pitch of the blades. As blades increase in length it becomes less desirable to pitch the entire blade as a single rigid body, but instead there is a requirement to control loads more precisely along the length of the blade. This can be achieved with aerodynamic control devices such as flaps. Morphing technologies are good candidates for wind turbine flaps because they have the potential to create structures that have the conflicting abilities of being load carrying, light-weight and shape adaptive. A morphing flap design with a highly anisotropic cellular structure is presented which is able to undergo large deflections and high strains without a large actuation penalty. An aeroelastic analysis couples the work done by aerodynamic loads on the flap, the flap strain energy and the required actuation work to change shape. The morphing flap is experimentally validated with a manufactured demonstrator and shown to have reduced actuation requirements compared to a conventional hinged flap.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationIndustrial and Commercial Applications of Smart Structures Technologies 2011
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2011
Externally publishedYes
EventIndustrial and Commercial Applications of Smart Structures Technologies 2011 - San Diego, CA, United States
Duration: 7 Mar 20118 Mar 2011

Publication series

NameProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Volume7979
ISSN (Print)0277-786X

Conference

ConferenceIndustrial and Commercial Applications of Smart Structures Technologies 2011
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySan Diego, CA
Period7/03/118/03/11

Keywords

  • aeroelasticity
  • anisotropy
  • composites
  • load control
  • Morphing trailing edge
  • variable camber
  • wind turbine

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