Stress and Failure Analysis of Trailing Edge Joints in Wind Turbine Blades Containing Manufacturing Defects

Trailing edge joints in wind turbine blades are potential source of failure. To gain an understanding of this failure, bonded joints with nonparallel adherends are analyzed in this paper. The stress states and consequent failure conditions in the bondlines of the joints are examined. A computational parametric study is conducted to investigate the effects of geometry and material properties on the location of critical stress states and potential failure modes. The finite element computations in the parametric study are supported by an analytical model, which uses the beam-on-elastic-foundation assumption in the classical Euler beam theory. The failure analysis of the joints is then applied to the case of defects resulting from manufacturing.