Fatigue Effects in Composite Tidal Turbine Blades caused by Discrete Point Loading during Service

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Tidal stream turbines experience a range of hydrodynamic effects loads which drive the blade bending moment fatigue consideration. However, most preliminary models consider only the shear profile and turbulence as the predominant flow conditions. The importance of waves on the flow conditions is determinant in the design process by the IEC, however most of specifications make an emphasis on steady state loading. The presence of a turbine alters the height and length of waves as some studies propose, which might suggest how this can be exponentiated when a whole array is placed and how neighbouring turbines might experience completely different load cases. As the mean turbine performance shows to be unaffected by these dynamic loads, perhaps it is necessary to study the long-term effects of these envelope load cases.The objectives of the PhD project are (1) to accurately profile pressure distributions across tidal blades and compare the effect these have on blade bending against discrete point loading using coupled fluid-solid multiphysics finite element models that will be developed (2) develop novel methods by which means discrete loading can most closely match hydrodynamic loading by developing error minimisation tools (3) design novel, testable, force transfer mechanisms based on 2 for both static and cyclic blade loading and (4) provide loading and design recommendations for FASTBLADE based on 1-3 above.