Abstract

A procedure is presented to identify the elastic constants of glass fabric composite wind blades using measured blade strains and/or displacements via a numerical-experimental approach. The skins of the composite blade are fabricated using the vacuum assisted resin transfer method. The root of the composite blade is adhesively bonded to a metal connector which can be joined to a rigid frame for static load testing. A finite element model of the blade is established to predict the mechanical behavior of the blade. For elastic constants identification, the strains and displacements at some particular locations on the blade are measured during the static load testing of the blade. The measured as well as the theoretically predicted blade strains and displacements are used in an optimization method to characterize the glass-fabric/epoxy material of the blade skins. The comparison between the experimental theoretical buckling loads and mode shapes are then used to verify the accuracy of the identified elastic constants.

How to Cite:

Kam, T. & Huang, C., (2019) “Elastic constants identification of composite wind blade using measured strains and displacements”, Review of Progress in Quantitative Nondestructive Evaluation .