A one dimensional discrete approach for the determination of the cross sectional properties of composite rotor blades

C. MARTIN SARAVIA; L. JOAQUÍN SARAVIA; VÍCTOR H. CORTÍNEZ

RENEWABLE ENERGY

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2015 vol. 80

0960-1481

This work presents the theoretical aspects of a one dimensional computational approach for the determination of the cross sectional stiffness of composite rotor blades. The method is based on a vector variant of the classical lamination theory embedded into a geometrically exact large deformation-small strain thin-walled beam formulation, which is naturally oriented to multibody problems. The procedures rely on a one-dimensional discretization of the aerodynamic profile of the blade; this generates groups of finite segments of composite laminates which are assembled to find the stiffness properties of the blade cross section. The formulation accounts for warping and transverse shear; the warping problem is solved numerically by means of a one dimensional finite element formulation. The numerical tests show that the formulation gives very accurate results.