Aerospace Engineering Commons^™

Investigation Of Ply Waviness In Wind Turbine Blades: Experimental And Numerical Analysis, Sunil Kishore Chakrapani

Sunil Kishore Chakrapani

Composite materials used in fabricating wind turbine blades use large tows, stitched fibers which are relatively thick compared to the composites used in many other applications. Thick fibers enables manufactures to save cost of the fiber and build up the thickness quickly, but introduces defects such as waviness, dry patch etc. Waviness in composites has been shown to degrade the tensile and compressive strength of the laminate. Waviness in a critical portion of the blade can lead to the catastrophic failure of the blade which is costly not only from the cost of the equipment but also the loss of …