Failure Mode Estimation with Inter-Fiber Failure Analysis of Composite Wind Turbine Blade

This paper provides an overview of the failure mode estimation result with 3D finite element (FE) analysis model of wind turbine blade. In order to predict the realistic behavior in the whole blade region, fiber failure (FF) and inter-fiber failure (IFF) analysis were applied to account delamination or matrix failure on composite materials. The Puck's fracture criteria were used for the IFF evaluation. For the comparison of FE analysis result with the measured data of static test, a 3.5m down-scaled wind turbine blade was designed and fabricated using glass fiber epoxy composite materials. A nonlinear static structural analysis was performed and then the failure mode and the location were estimated with the FF and IFF analysis.