THE USE AND APPLICATION OF CARBON FIBRE COMPOSITES IN TURBINE BLADES

摘要

The exponential growth in offshore wind turbine size in recent years and the rapid development of tidal turbines has brought new challenges to the blade designer. Fundamental differences in the operational environment produce different optimum structural configurations, driven by different design parameters. The primary drivers for wind blades are stiffness and weight and for tidal blades static and fatigue strength. Analysis shows that such drivers applied to new and future generations of turbine blades are hard to satisfy with traditional wind blade technologies. Carbon fibre composites, with their high stiffness and excellent fatigue behaviour, are able to contribute to the development of aerodynamically and structurally viable solutions. As well as these parameters, reliability and overall cost are key parameters which can be improved by selecting appropriate manufacturing processes and production orientated design. This paper illustrates how intelligent structural design combined with an increased use of carbon fibre can lead to cost effective solutions to the design of the new generation of offshore wind and tidal turbine blades.