Aerodynamic and Structural Analysis of Wind Turbine Blade: Mitigation Extreme Wind Loads and Applying Single-Blade Design Concept for Structural Integrity Enhanced Performance and Cost Efficiency

This thesis aims to enhance the performance, structural integrity, and cost-efficiency of wind turbine blades through comprehensive aerodynamic and structural analysis, focusing on four key areas: First, the study investigates the aerodynamics of site-specific wind turbine blades using the Blade Element Momentum (BEM) method with various enhancements validated through computational fluid dynamics (CFD). By incorporating pitch angle and cost of energy as design parameters, the study achieved significant performance gains, reducing energy production cost and promoting the broader adoption of small wind turbines in renewable energy systems. Second, the thesis explores the application of a single-blade concept for designing wind turbine blades customized for diverse wind conditions across different sites. By using the Weibull distribution to characterize site-specific wind patterns and applying a weighted average of wind power densities, the study developed a representative wind distribution for the sites under investigation. It also redefined the cost of energy by considering lifetime cost variations of turbine components relative to rated power. The findings showed high power coefficients and capacity factors for both low and high wind conditions, enabling the design of cost-effective single-blade turbines that maintain enhanced performance across diverse sites. Third, the research proposes a novel beam/cable support system to enhance structural integrity under extreme wind conditions. This support system mitigates the impact of extreme wind loads, leading to optimized use of fiber materials. Structural analyses conducted using ANSYS-ACP and ANSYS Static Structural (version 2023 R2) reveal substantial improvements in total deformation, equivalent-stress levels, and failure criteria across different fiber layup thicknesses. These enhancements strengthen the structural integrity of wind turbine blades under extreme wind conditions, with the potential to reduce fiber material usage and lower production costs. Finally, the thesis presents a modal analysis and dynamic response study of wind turbine structures subjected to turbulent wind loads, using ANSYS Modal (version 2023 R2), stochastic analysis, and computational methods in both time and frequency domains. By employing frequency domain analysis and time domain simulations, the study accurately simulates dynamic responses and natural frequencies, validating the results with experimental data. This analysis pr