Pultrusion of a vertical axis wind turbine blade part-II: combining the manufacturing process simulation with a subsequent loading scenario

This paper in particular deals with the integrated modeling of a pultruded NACA0018 blade profile being a part of EU funded DeepWind project. The manufacturing aspects of the pultrusion process are associated with the preliminary subsequent service loading scenario. A 3D thermo-chemical analysis of the pultrusion process is sequentially coupled with a 2D quasi-static mechanical analysis in which the process induced residual stresses and distortions are predicted using the generalized plane stain elements in a commercial finite element software ABAQUS. The temperature- and cure-dependent resin modulus is implemented by employing the cure hardening instantaneous linear elastic (CHILE) model in the process simulation. The subsequent bent-in place simulation of the pultruded blade profile is performed taking the residual stresses into account. The integrated numerical simulation tool predicts the internal stress levels of the profile at the end of the bending analysis. It is found that the process induced residual stresses have the potential to influence the internal stresses arise in the structural analysis.