Laboratory test and modelling of a small wind turbine blade with FEM

This study, realized in the Spanish public research organization CEDER-CIEMAT in 2015, compares computational Finite Element Method to experimental method in order to evaluate the accuracy of the first one. The simulations and experiments have been done for a small scale wind turbine blade, the Ceder 1500, in order to find its eigenfrequencies, strains and deflections under different loading conditions. Thanks to that comparison between both methods and a reverse engineering method, Ceder 1500 blade's mechanical properties have been determined and are exposed in this paper. To conclude, an analysis of the results and an improvement research for the model are presented.

Autorentext

After a first Master in Energy Engineering in France, Stéphane Belly specialized in renewable energy at the EUREC. During his studies he did research at the Spanish governmental CEDER-CIEMAT, focusing on small scale wind energy and structural issues of small blades.