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At least 91 records · Page 5

Growian rotor blades: Production development, construction and test

Development and construction of three 50 m rotor blades for a 3 MW wind turbine are described. A hybrid concept was chosen, i.e., a load carrying inflexible steel spar and a glass fiber reinforced plastic skin. A test blade was constructed and static loading tests, dynamic vibration tests and fatigue tests on critical welds as well as at the connection between spar and blade skin were performed. All test results show good accordance with calculated values, and were taken into consideration during the construction of two rotor blades.

Thiele, H. M.↗

Combined vibration/temperature/sideload environmental testing of UHF blade antennas

Service problems encountered on the F-4 aircraft showed that the environmental qualification requirements for the UHF blade antenna were not adequate. Although the individual environmental levels were stringent enough, only combined environmental testing could duplicate the conditions in which service problems occurred. Techniques for applying static side load simultaneously with vibration and temperature were developed. The combined environment testing was instrumental in the rapid assessment of antenna modifications and resulted in a final configuration which proved satisfactory in service. A need to include combined environmental testing for qualification of blade antennas was established.

Volker, R.↗

Structural Design of a 1/5th Scale Gravo-Aeroelastically Scaled Wind Turbine Demonstrator Blade for Field Testing

This paper presents the structural design of a 21-meter 1/5th scale SUMR demonstrator (SUMR-D) blade, which was designed to replicate the full-scale behavior of a 104-meter SUMR13 initial blade rated at 13.2 MW. This is a challenging structural design as two competing objectives were required including the traditional safety objectives and novel scaling objectives based on gravo-aeroelastic scaling (GAS) requirements. To satisfy the two competing requirements, the spar cap, shear webs and materials were optimized while also ensuring a manufacturable and cost-effective design solution. Based on the wind turbine operating conditions of the test site, which is the NWTC, the blade was analyzed under the extreme loading case and corresponding safety factors were applied. The final blade model had an acceptable maximum strain, buckling performance, and displayed a safe level of deflection under the extreme loading condition. The flutter speed and fatigue life of the blade were also vetted. The mode shape was analyzed for the installation of the blade sensors. This paper documents the structural design process of SUMR-D to achieve both the safety and scaling objectives. At the end, we provide an acceptable solution to control blade mass, limiting the blade deflection, blade max strain and buckling under extreme loading condition by optimizing spar cap, shear web, and core materials while satisfying scaling requirements.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Design and preliminary tests of a blade tip air mass injection system for vortex modification and possible noise reduction on a full-scale helicopter rotor

Full-scale tests were conducted on the Langley helicopter rotor test facility as part of a study to evaluate the effectiveness of a turbulent blade tip air mass injection system in alleviating the impulsive noise (blade slap) caused by blade-vortex interaction. Although blade-slap conditions could not be induced during these tests, qualitative results from flow visualization studies using smoke showed that the differential velocity between the jet velocity and the rotor tip speed was a primary parameter controlling the vortex modification.

Pegg, R. J.↗

Implementation of a Biaxial Resonant Fatigue Test Method on a Large Wind Turbine Blade

A biaxial resonant test method was utilized to simultaneously fatigue test a wind turbine blade in the flap and edge (lead-lag) direction. Biaxial resonant blade fatigue testing is an accelerated life test method utilizing oscillating masses on the blade; each mass is independently oscillated at the respective flap and edge blade resonant frequency. The flap and edge resonant frequency were not controlled, nor were they constant for this demonstrated test method. This biaxial resonant test method presented surmountable challenges in test setup simulation, control and data processing. Biaxial resonant testing has the potential to complete test projects faster than single-axis testing. The load modulation during a biaxial resonant test may necessitate periodic load application above targets or higher applied test cycles.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Full-Scale Wind-Tunnel Tests of a Propeller with the Diameter Changed by Cutting off the Blade Tips

Tests were conducted in order to determine how the characteristics of a propeller are affected by cutting off the tips. The diameter of a standard 10-foot metal propeller was changed successively to 9 feet 6 inches, 9 feet 0 inches, 8 feet 6 inches, and 8 feet 0 inches. Each propeller thus formed was tested at four pitch settings using an open cockpit fuselage and a D-12 engine. A small loss in propulsive efficiency is indicated. Examples are given showing the application of the results to practical problems.

Wood, Donald H↗

Design, Manufacture, and Testing of an Open-Source Benchmark Composite Hydrokinetic Turbine Blade: Preprint

In a trend toward clean energy alternatives, recent years have seen great strides in the marine energy space. Consequently, there is a pressing need for the design, development, and validation of novel energy harvesting technologies such as hydrokinetic devices, which capture kinetic energy from waves, tides, and currents. However, these devices span numerous concepts and designs that often lack solid benchmark research that can be freely referenced throughout their development. This work focuses on the design process of an open-source composite hydrokinetic turbine blade for a three-bladed marine turbine rotor assembly with a diameter of 2.5 m. The proposed blade consists of two structural composite skins that are bonded with an adhesive and filled with a foam core. This study also explores and contrasts the efficiency and resolution of low-fidelity rapid design methodologies and comprehensive high-fidelity approaches in the context of blade design, modeling, and analysis efforts, a key objective in this research. Blade hydrodynamic loads were modeled and applied to finite-element blade models to study deformations and potential failure. Ongoing and upcoming efforts will result in blade manufacture and structural testing at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. In future work, multiple blades will be deployed at the Living Bridge site at the University of New Hampshire and will be compared to rigid aluminum blades of the same geometry, developed by Sandia National Laboratories. Ultimately, this research will lay foundational groundwork for researchers and manufacturers, establishing a baseline composite blade design that will serve as a benchmark in the development of future hydrokinetic turbine blades.

blade design↗

Weight, center of gravity and modal test report for NTF fan blade set no. 3

A complete set of fan blades for the National Transonic Facility (NTF) at the NASA Langley Research Center was recently fabricated by Dynamic Engineering Inc. (DEI). These blades were the third complete set of blades fabricated by the NTF. The first set of blades was fabricated by NASA and installed in the tunnel in December 1981. This original set was destroyed in a mishap in January 1989. The second set of blades is currently in use in the NTF. The third set of blades recently fabricated by DEI is a spare set. In order to ensure that the blades met the requirements, DEI performed a series of tests on each of the completed blades. In addition, a model survey was conducted on each blade to define the dynamic characteristics. Discussed here are the blade tests conducted by DEI and the test results. The test set-ups and procedures are discussed in detail. The results obtained for each of the 27 blades are documented and comparisons are made between this set of blades and similar data for two previous sets of NTF fan blades.

Friedman, Inger P.↗

Development of an unsteady aerodynamics model to improve correlation of computed blade stresses with test data

A reliable rotor aeroelastic analysis operational that correctly predicts the vibration levels for a helicopter is utilized to test various unsteady aerodynamics models with the objective of improving the correlation between test and theory. This analysis called Rotor Aeroelastic Vibration (RAVIB) computer program is based on a frequency domain forced response analysis which utilizes the transfer matrix techniques to model helicopter/rotor dynamic systems of varying degrees of complexity. The results for the AH-1G helicopter rotor were compared with the flight test data during high speed operation and they indicated a reasonably good correlation for the beamwise and chordwise blade bending moments, but for torsional moments the correlation was poor. As a result, a new aerodynamics model based on unstalled synthesized data derived from the large amplitude oscillating airfoil experiments was developed and tested.

Gangwani, S. T.↗

Wind tunnel tests of rotor blade sections with replications of ice formations accreted in hover

Full scale reproductions of ice accretions molded during the documentation of a hover test program were fabricated by means of epoxy castings and used for a wind tunnel test program. Surface static pressure distributions were recorded and used to evaluate lift and pitching moment increments while drag was determined by wake surveys. Through the range of the tests, corresponding to those conditions encountered in hover and in flat pitch, integration of the pressure distributions showed negligible changes in lift and in pitching moment, but the drag was significantly increased.

Lee, J. D.↗

Summary of static load test of the Mod-0 blade

A static load test was performed on the spare Mod-0 wind turbine blade to define load transfer at the root end of the blade, and to validate stress analysis of this particular type of blade construction (frame and stringer). Analysis of the load transfer from the airfoil skin to the shank tube predicted a step change in spanwise stress in the airfoil skin at station 81.5 inches (STA 81.5). For flatwise bending a 40% reduction in spanwise stress was predicted, and for edgewise bending a 6% reduction. Experimental results verified the 40% reduction for flatwise bending, but indicated about a 30% reduction for edgewise bending.

Miller, D. R.↗

Fully Suspended, Five-Axis, Three-Magnetic-Bearing Dynamic Spin Rig With Forced Excitation

The Five-Axis, Three-Magnetic-Bearing Dynamic Spin Rig, a significant advancement in the Dynamic Spin Rig (DSR), is used to perform vibration tests of turbomachinery blades and components under rotating and nonrotating conditions in a vacuum. The rig has as its critical components three magnetic bearings: two heteropolar radial active magnetic bearings and a magnetic thrust bearing. The bearing configuration allows full vertical rotor magnetic suspension along with a feed-forward control feature, which will enable the excitation of various natural blade modes in bladed disk test articles. The theoretical, mechanical, electrical, and electronic aspects of the rig are discussed. Also presented are the forced-excitation results of a fully levitated, rotating and nonrotating, unbladed rotor and a fully levitated, rotating and nonrotating, bladed rotor in which a pair of blades was arranged 180 degrees apart from each other. These tests include the bounce mode excitation of the rotor in which the rotor was excited at the blade natural frequency of 144 Hz. The rotor natural mode frequency of 355 Hz was discerned from the plot of acceleration versus frequency. For nonrotating blades, a blade-tip excitation amplitude of approximately 100 g/A was achieved at the first-bending critical (approximately 144 Hz) and at the first-torsional and second-bending blade modes. A blade-tip displacement of 70 mils was achieved at the first-bending critical by exciting the blades at a forced-excitation phase angle of 908 relative to the vertical plane containing the blades while simultaneously rotating the shaft at 3000 rpm.

Morrison, Carlos R.↗

Flight Investigation of Effects of Transition, Landing Approaches, Partial-Power Vertical Descents, and Droop-Stop Pounding on the Bending and Torsional Moments Encountered by a Helicopter Rotor Blade

Flight tests have been conducted with a single-rotor helicopter, one blade of which was equipped at 14 percent and 40 percent of the blade radius with strain gages calibrated to measure moments rather than stresses, to determine the effects of transition, landing approaches, and partial-power vertical descents on the rotor-blade bending and torsional moments. In addition, ground tests were conducted to determine the effects of static droop-stop pounding on the rotor-blade moments. The results indicate that partial-power vertical descents and landing approaches produce rotor-blade moments that are higher than the moments encountered in any other flight condition investigated to date with this equipment. Decelerating through the transition region in level flight was found to result in higher vibratory moments than accelerating through this region. Deliberately induced static droop-stop pounding produced flapwise bending moments at the 14-percent-radius station which were as high as the moments experienced in landing approaches and partial-power vertical descents.

Ludi, LeRoy H.↗

Turbojet blade vibration data acquisition design and feasibility testing

A turbojet blade vibration data acquisition system was designed to allow the measurement of blade vibration. The data acquisition system utilizing 96 microprocessors to gather data from optical probes, store, sort and transmit to the central computer is described. Areas of high technical risk were identified and a two-microprocessor system was breadboarded and tested to investigate these areas. Results show that the system was feasible and that low technical risk would be involved in proceeding with the complete system fabrication.

Frarey, J. L.↗

Blade Motion and Bouncing Tests of KD-1 Autogiro

There are forwarded herewith the results of blade motion and bouncing tests on the Kellett KD-1 three-bladed autogiro. Motion picture records and two-component accelerometer records were taken in flight during glides at air speeds from 30 miles per hour to 100 miles per hour indicator readings. Calibration curves of correct indicated air speed and rotor speed as functions of air speed meter reading were established with a trailing pitot-static head and a rotoscope, at 2,000 ft. altitude and an air density of 0.00231 slug/ cu. ft., all tests being made at approximately that density.

Wheatley, John B.↗

Wind tunnel tests of a blade subjected to midchord torsional oscillation at high subsonic stall flutter conditions

A mechanical drive system for oscillating blades in a wind tunnel at frequencies up to 767 hertz and amplitudes of + or - 1.2 deg is described. High-speed motion pictures of schlieren images of the flow over a double-circular arc blade oscillating in harmonic motion about the midchord revealed extensive shock patterns at a nominal free stream Mach number of 0.7, a mean angle of attack of 4 deg, and reduced frequency of about 0.7. A phase lag resulting from the slow response of the flow to the motion of the blade increased with increasing reduced frequency. This phase lag, based on the difference between the time the blade attained its maximum angle of attack and the time required for the normal shock to reach its extreme downstream position, was nominally 100 deg at the above conditions.

Boldman, D. R.↗