Full-scale structural testing of wind and tidal turbine blades

Finnegan, William, Meier, Patrick, Jiang, Yadong, Vanhari, Afrooz Kazemi, Fagan, Edward, Hung, Le Chi, & Goggins, Jamie. (2020). Full-scale structural testing of wind and tidal turbine blades Paper presented at the Civil Engineering Research in Ireland (CERI 2020), Cork, August.

Abstract

Renewable energy is now viewed as being the preferred alternative to energy generation from fossil fuels. Wind energy has been established as a leading form of renewable energy, with tidal energy showing promise in recent years as 15 GWh was generated in 2019. However, with the advancements in these sectors, new engineering challenges within key components are presented. The turbine blades, which convert the energy in the resource to useful mechanical energy, are a key component that is being developed to improve operational performance. The Sustainable & Resilient Structures Research Group provide design and structural testing solutions for the development of wind and tidal turbine blades. In this paper, the capabilities and facilities of the group are presented that includes expertise in numerical modelling and large-scale structural testing, which uses a state-of-the-art multi-actuator load introduction system. Case study examples of wind and tidal turbine blades that have been tested by the group have been detailed in this paper, along with details of the in-house structural modelling software BladeComp and other numerical models that have been developed by the group. Further details are available at: http://www.nuigalway.ie/structures/

Funder

Science Foundation Ireland
Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland

Publisher

Civil Engineering Research Association of Ireland

Rights

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

cbn

Collections

Civil Engineering (Conference Papers)