Simulation of the Automation of Composite Wind Turbine Blade Manufacture

摘要

The majority of large wind turbine blades are manufactured from textile-reinforcedresin-infused composites using an open mold. The placement of the textilereinforcements in the mold is traditionally accomplished by a manual process wheredozens of workers hand place each dry fabric in the mold. Depending on the level ofskill and experience of each worker and the relative complexity of the mold geometry,local areas may exhibit out-of-plane wrinkling and in-plane waviness. Fabricimperfections such as these can adversely impact the strength and stiffness of the blade,thereby compromising its durability in service. In an effort to reduce the variabilitiesassociated with a manual-labor process, an automated piecewise shifting method hasbeen proposed for fabric placement. This automated layup method shows potential tosave time on the preform process and to reduce blade-to-blade variability. In the currentresearch, the automated shifting layup method is investigated using the finite elementmodeling approach. A user-defined material model is linked with Abaqus to capture theevolution of the fabric shear stiffness, and the modeling approach allows for theautomatic tracking of the changes in the fiber orientations during the fabric-placementprocess. The simulation approach is demonstrated for the geometry of the trailing edgeof a typical wind turbine blade. The simulation considers the mechanical behavior ofthe fabric and reliably predicts fabric deformation.