INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PRECISION ENGINEERING AND MANUFACTURING Vol. 13, No. 7, pp. 1161-1166 DOI: 10.

1007/s12541-012-0154-8

JULY 2012 / 1161

Dynamic Analysis of Hybrid Wind Power Composite Blades according to Stacking Properties Method
Byong-Yun Kang1, Jeong-Young Han2, Cheol-Hyun Hong2, and Byung-Young Moon3,#
1 Department of R&D, Doha Industry Co. Ltd., Kimhae, Kyungam, South Korea, 621-600 2 Pusan Educational Center for Computer Aided Machine Design, Pusan National University, Pusan, South Korea, 609-735 3 Department of Naval Architecture, Kunsan National University, Gunsan, South Korea, 573-701 # Corresponding Author / E-mail: moonby20@gmail.com, TEL: +82-63-469-1854, FAX: +82-63-469-1854 KEYWORDS: Composite, Modal analysis, Buckling analysis, Wind-turbine, Hybrid blade, Dynamic characteristics

The purpose of this study is to supply an analysis tool for Buckling Analysis and Modal Analysis on hybrid blade for large wind turbine by using Finite Element Analysis. Equivalent Property Method, in which a single ply is assumed according to Classical Lamination Theory, and Stacking Property Method, in which the stacking order and the thickness are considered, was applied to conduct Finite Element Analysis. In addition, glass-epoxy and carbon-epoxy, the two materials applied to the shear web and the spar cap to make blades lighter, were used to compare the analysis results. Therefore, it is regarded efficient that rather than inconvenient employing Equivalent Property Method to find out equivalent properties every time, it would be better to use Stacking Property Method because the input is intuitive and various values including various stresses according to different stacking are available. As for Buckling Analysis, Stacking Property Method was employed based on the result of Modal Analysis and Fluid-structure Interaction Analysis was used. Both carbon-epoxy and glass-epoxy showed enough safety factors of the first modal values.
Manuscript received: November 18, 2011 / Accepted: April 22, 2012

NOMENCLATURE
SPM = Stacking Property Method EPM = Equivalent Property Method = Poissons ratio G = Modulus of rigidity

1. Introduction
Wind-power generation, which is recently drawing attention as one of renewable energies across the world, has been played the trigger role by Netherland, Germany, America and so on. As the demand for the wind-power generation rose and the amount of wind-power generation increased, the studies on megawatt-class wind-power system have been prevalent. As the size and the weight of a blade, one of central parts for designing wind-power generation system, have grown larger and heavier, the relevant design for a large-scale wind-power system had a number of requirements attached. Therefore, the use of composite with such properties as less weight, more strength, anti-corrosion and environment-

friendliness has become requirement. And the studies on composite blades have been briskly conducted.1-3 The technologies possessed by advanced foreign companies dominating composite blade market are categorized into Polyester (LM Glassfiber), Epoxy infusion (All other manufactures) and Prepreg (Vestas and Gamesa). It is noticeable that because of the excellent properties of prepreg composite, studies on prepreg have been done to explore the application to wind-power blades. Recently, Vestas and Gamesa provide 35% of wind-power blades across the world. The demand for the blades is on the rise. A blade is basically composed of external skin, internal shear web and spar cap. Though shear web and spar cap in general is made of glass-epoxy, expensive carbonepoxy is gradually replacing glass-epoxy to reduce the weight of blades as blades grow larger. In this study, proposals on Equivalent Property Method and Stacking Property Method were made among the finite element analysis-oriented application methods for composite property of a wind-power blade. In addition, modal analysis differences were explored and compared when different materials and property application methods to the shear web and the spar cap were actually applied to the blade.

KSPE and Springer 2012

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2. Methodology
2.1 Properties of composite stacking laminates
In order to conduct Finite Element Analysis on composite, Equivalent Property Method and Stacking Property Method in general are used as means of inputting composite properties,4-7 Equivalent Property Method assumes that the stacking laminates of composite is composed of a single ply while as for Stacking Property Method, the direction of the ply and the number of stacking are taken into consideration. In addition, the following assumptions are necessary to analyze the stress condition of composite. A single ply macroscopically has homogeneous, linear-elastic and orthotropic properties. And there is no stress in the initial stage. Fiber is homogeneous and well arranged in a given space with its matrix being linear-elastic and isotropic. Fiber and matrix are completely connected with no pore between them. It is possible to analyze various conditions of composite under this conditions.8 In this study, in order to calculate equivalent properties of composite, the extensional stiffness of composite laminate and mechanical constants based on Classical Lamination Theory were applied. From the following relation, [A] is defined as the extensional stiffness.9

TL =

a12 A A A12 A66 = 16 26 2 a22 A11 A66 A16

A 1 = 2 ka66 k ( A11 A22 A12 ) BLTL = BTLT

(9)

GLT =

(10) (11)

Here, L and T stand for the longitudinal direction of the laminates and the transverse direction of the laminates respectively.

2.2 Modeling of large Wind Turbine blade In this study, the blade of a 2MW-Class wind power generator was the target and Figs. 1 and 2(a) shows the shape of the large scale blade. The surface modeling for FE model was conducted by using CATIA V5, which is an exclusive software for 3D modeling. The blade thickness in general has the structure that is thick in the part of the blade root, but grows thinner as it goes outward. The lay-up pattern and the thickness of each region of the blade skin are shown in Fig. 2(b) and on Table 1. The blade materials used to conduct Finite Element Analysis are UD (Uni-directional Glass), Glass-Epoxy and Carbon-Epoxy and the material properties are shown on Table 2. 2.3 Stacking property method for composite blade Glass-epoxy and carbon-epoxy, the two materials applied to the sheer web and the spar cap to make blades lighter, were used and compared to obtain their material properties. The lay-up pattern and the thickness of the shear web and the spar cap are illustrated on Table 3.

{N } = [ A]{ }

(1)

Here, {N} stands for stress resultant and {} does strain of deformation rate. { } = [a ]{N } (2)

{N} can be turned into the one above. Because [A] and [a] are in inverse matrix, the following relation can be created.
[ a] = [ A]1

(3)

In other word,
a11 a12 a16 A11 A12 A16 a12 a22 a26 = A12 A22 A26 a16 a26 a66 A16 A 26 A 66
1

(4) Fig. 1 Large Scale Wind turbine blade

The relation (2) can be represented as in the following by dividing N6 with h as follows

= (ka ) N 6 = (ka ) 6

1 k

(5)

In the relation (5), the average mechanical constants of composite stacking laminates are represented as in the following.
BL = A 1 = 2 ka11 k ( A22 A66 A26 ) A 1 = 2 ka22 k ( A11 A66 A16 )

(a) 3D surface region of blade for FE model

(6)

BL =

(7) (b) Blade regions according to variable lay-up pattern and thickness Fig. 2 Wind turbine blade modeling

LT =

a12 A A A12 A66 = 16 26 2 a11 A22 A66 A26

(8)

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Stacking Property Method, in which the lay-up pattern and the lay-up direction are taken into account, has the disadvantage that it takes a relatively long time to analyze. Because of the disadvantage, Equivalent Property Method, in which the lay-up pattern and the lay-up direction are optimized as one, is frequently employed. MSC- PATRAN, a widely used finite element program, was used to Table 1 Lay-up Pattern & Thickness of Blade Skin Thickness[mm] Angle 45 0 0/90 Total 40.9 54 40.9(1) 520.9 40.9 400.9 40.9 43.2 [45/0 40.9 280.9 40.9 32.4 /0/90] 40.9 120.9 40.9 18 40.9 80.9 40.9 14.4
(1) NT: N=No. of ply, T = Thickness of ply

Region

Table 2 Material Properties of Blade UD(Glass) Glass-Epoxy E11 (MPa) 43,100 39,000 E22 (MPa) 13,200 8,600 E33 (MPa) 13,200 8,600 12 0.24 0.28 23 0.45 0.47 13 0.24 0.28 G12 (MPa) 3,620 3,800 G23 (MPa) 4,550 2,930 G13 (MPa) 3,620 3,800 (kg/m3) 1,939 2,100

Carbon-Epoxy 142,000 10,300 10,300 0.27 0.46 0.27 7,200 3,520 7,200 1,580

obtain equivalent properties by transforming the existing stacking properties.10 The equivalent properties of the blade skin, the shear web and the spar cap are on Tables 4 and 5. ANSYS Classic 12, exclusive software for finite element, was used in order to conduct Finite Element Analysis. Element type applied to the analysis was Shell 181, which is 4 Node Finite Strain Shell in which the composite stacking capacity and the direction of decreasing thickness are taken into account. The total element number of finite element model is 3,970.11 It is very important in Finite Element Model of composite to confirm whether the stacking sequence and the stacking direction are rightly arranged. In Fig. 3, the stacking sequence of blade skin elements is confirmed on the program. As shown in Fig. 4, the fiber stacking direction(x direction) among element stacking direction is set at the same direction along the length of blade and the thickness direction (z direction) is set along the normal direction of blade surface. Every translational motion of nodes in the part of the blade root and the rotational degree of freedom (UX, UY, UZ, ROTX, ROTY, ROTZ) were constrained to set essential boundary conditions for Finite Element Analysis.

2.4 Dynamic analysis using fluid-structure interaction Modal Analysis was carried out to predict deformation shapes by possible resonance and vibration based on the natural frequency and mode shape of the blade.12 Table 6 shows the way the composite properties are applied to and modal analysis type according to the properties of the materials.

Table 3 Lay-up Pattern & Thickness of Shear Web & Spar Cap Thickness[mm] Angle Remarks 45o 0o 90o 60.9 30.9 30.9 Shear Web [45/0/0/90]s 60.9 30.9 30.9 Spar Cap Table 4 Equivalent Material Properties of Blade Skin E11 (MPa) E22 (MPa) E33 (MPa) 12 23 13 G12 (MPa) G23 (MPa) G13 (MPa) (kg/m3) Region Region Region Region Region 31,100 35,200 38,800 39,900 40,500 18,500 17,500 15,700 15,100 14,700 13,500 13,500 13,400 13,300 13,300 0.260 0.256 0.247 0.245 0.244 0.496 0.489 0.474 0.468 0.465 0.649 0.677 0.726 0.740 0.749 6,120 5,620 4,730 4,450 4,290 4,320 4,370 4,450 4,470 4,490 3,850 3,810 3,720 3,700 3,680 1,939 1,939 1,939 1,939 1,939

Fig. 3 Stacking Sequence of Skin (Region)

Table 5 Equivalent Material Properties of Shear Web & Spar Cap Glass-Epoxy Carbon-Epoxy E11 (MPa) 8,070 13,800 E22 (MPa) 8,070 13,800 E33 (MPa) 8,670 10,500 12 0.229 0.131 23 0.376 0.472 13 0.376 0.472 G12 (MPa) 3,280 6,100 G23 (MPa) 3,360 5,360 G13 (MPa) 3,360 5,360 (kg/m3) 2,100 1,580

Fig. 4 Details of FE Model

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Also, buckling Analysis was conducted to anticipate the buckling load and the buckling mode shape of the blade. Fluidstructure Interaction Analysis was conducted to carry out for buckling analysis. First, Fluid-structure Interaction Analysis was done to obtain the pressure distribution of the blade and then the distribution was applied to carry out Static Analysis. Finally, the result of Static Analysis was set as an initial loading condition and then Linear Buckling Analysis was conducted. The material properties applied to the shear web and the spar cap were the ones of glass-epoxy and carbon-epoxy respectively. Stacking Property Method, which is relatively easy to apply properties, was employed based on the results of Modal Analysis. ANSYS CFX was used to carry out flow analysis. Fig. 5(a) shows the boundary conditions and Finite Element Model. The pressure distribution of the blade was looked for under an extreme condition of wind velocity at 60m/s, as shown in Fig. 5(b). The pressure distribution obtained from the flow analysis was applied to carry out Static Analysis. The result of Static Analysis was set as an initial loading condition and Buckling Analysis was conducted. Table 6 Types of Modal Analysis Skin Shear Web Type 1 Type 2 Type 3 Type 4 S S E(2) E
(1)

3. Result and discussion

Table 7 shows the result of Modal Analysis of the blade. Stacking Property Method and the mode shape of Type 1 to which glass-epoxy was applied are shown in Fig. 6. As for the modal analysis error of stacking properties from mode 1 to mode 6 shown as Table 7, when glass-epoxy was applied, the difference was within the range of 0.6~4.3% while carbonepoxy was applied, the difference was within the range of 4.4~13.3%. Therefore, it was found out that the result of Modal Analysis on stacking properties relatively matched well with that of Modal Analysis on equivalent properties. There were many regions showing different skin thicknesses thanks to the nature of the blade structure. Thus, it requires effort and time to calculate equivalent properties according to different thicknesses each time. If the number of elements in Finite Element Model of a blade is small, Stacking Property Method is regarded far more efficient because its property application in Finite Element Model is more intuitive and the stress information is available ply by ply. Table 7 Results of Modal Analysis Type 1 Type 2 Mode S, G/E S, C/E 1 0.023 0.026 2 0.060 0.064 L 6 0.251 0.285

Spar Cap
(3)

Method Material Method Material Method Material

UD UD UD UD

S S E E

G/E C/E(4) G/E C/E

S S E E

G/E C/E G/E C/E

Type 3 E, G/E 0.022 0.059 0.241

Type 4 E, C/E 0.023 0.061 0.247

(1) Stacking Property Method, (2) Equivalent Property Method, (3) Glass-Epoxy, (4) Carbon-Epoxy

(a) Boundary condition for flow analysis

(a) 1st Mode

(b) Pressure distribution of the blade Fig. 5 Flow analysis of blade

(b) 2nd Mode Fig. 6 Mode Shapes of Type 1 (S, G/E)

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Table 8 shows the result of Buckling Analysis on the blade. Fig. 7 shows the buckling mode shape. According to the results from Buckling Analysis, the first mode values of both carbon-epoxy and glass-epoxy were within the range of 5.6~5.8, which is regarded as safety factor meaning the buckling design is relatively well prepared. In addition, the buckling mode value of carbon-epoxy improved by 4.3~7.9% compared with that of glass-epoxy.

relatively matches well with that of modal analysis on equivalent properties. According to the results from the buckling analysis, the first mode values are in range of safety factor meaning the buckling design is relatively well prepared. Because its property application in Finite Element Model is more intuitive and the various information including ply-by-ply stresses is available, Stacking Property Method is regarded more efficient than Equivalent Property Method which inconveniently requires calculating equivalent properties due to the different blade skin thicknesses.

4. Conclusions
In this study, the modal analysis results according to different property application methods for composite blades and different material properties were analyzed and compared. As for the application method for composite properties, Stacking Property Method, in which lay-up pattern and stacking direction are considered, and Equivalent Property Method, to which an assumed single ply is applied, were explored to confirm the possibility for wind-power blade application. According to the result from Modal Analysis of the blade, it was found that the result on stacking properties Table 8 Results of Buckling Analysis Type 1 Type 2 Mode S, G/E S, C/E 1 5.6448 5.8902 2 5.6452 5.8964 3 6.0052 6.3305 L 6 6.4045 6.9092

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work was supported by the new & Renewable of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning(KETEP) grant funded by the Korea government Ministry of Knowledge Economy (No. 20113040020010).

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Difference (%) 4.3 4.4 5.4 7.9

(a) 1st Mode

(b) 2 nd Mode Fig. 7 Buckling Mode Shapes of Type 1(S, G/E)

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