Numerical modelling of hailstone impact on the leading edge of a wind turbine blade

Keegan, Mark Hugh and Nash, David and Stack, Margaret (2013) Numerical modelling of hailstone impact on the leading edge of a wind turbine blade. In: EWEA Annual Wind Energy Event 2013, 2013-02-04 - 2013-02-07.

[thumbnail of Nash_DH_Stack_MM_Pure_Numerical_modelling_of_hailstone_impact_on_the_leading_edge_of_a_wind_turbine_blade_Feb_2013.pdf] PDF. Filename: Nash_DH_Stack_MM_Pure_Numerical_modelling_of_hailstone_impact_on_the_leading_edge_of_a_wind_turbine_blade_Feb_2013.pdf
Preprint
Download (694kB)

Abstract

The scale of modern blades means that tip speeds in excess of 100ms-1 are now common in utility scale turbines. Coupling this with a hailstone terminal velocity ranging from 9ms-1 to 40ms-1, the relative impact velocity becomes highly significant. There is little published data on the performance of blade materials under these impact conditions and as such this work aims to understand the impact phenomena more clearly and consequently characterize the impact performance of the constitutive blade materials. To better understand hailstone impact, the LS-DYNA explicit dynamics code was employed to simulate hailstone impact on the blade leading edge. A Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics approach (SPH) was chosen to represent the hailstone geometry. It was found that the forces and stresses created during hail impact are significant and in some cases damaging, therefore posing both short and long term risks to the material integrity. It was also found that coating systems such as the gel coat provide essential – and in extreme conditions, sacrificial – protection to the composite substrate.

ORCID iDs

Keegan, Mark Hugh ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8072-0814, Nash, David and Stack, Margaret ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6535-6014;
  • Item type:Conference or Workshop Item(Paper)
    ID code:42830
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    4 February 2013
    Published
    Keywords:blades, leading edge, hailstone, impace, composites, Mechanical engineering and machinery, Mechanical Engineering, Mechanics of Materials, Energy Engineering and Power Technology, Computational Mechanics, Numerical Analysis, Modelling and Simulation, Ceramics and Composites
    Subjects:Technology > Mechanical engineering and machinery
    Department:Faculty of Engineering > Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:12 Feb 2013 16:16
    Last modified:21 Nov 2023 02:26
    Related URLs:
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/42830
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)