Design And Analysis Of A Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Blade

Abstract

One of the most important design parameters for cost-effective VAWT is selection of blade material. VAWT blades must be produced at moderate cost for the resulting energy to be competitive in price and the blade should last during the predicted lifetime (usually between 20 and 30 years). At present, Aluminum blades fabricated by extrusion and bending are the most common type of VAWT materials. The major problem with Aluminum alloy for wind turbine application is its poor fatigue properties and its allowable stress levels in dynamic application decrease quite markedly at increasing numbers of cyclic stress applications. Under this backdrop, an attempt has been made in my project to investigate alternative materials as VAWT blade material.