Fibreglass wind turbine blades: Damage tolerant design and verification

This paper presents the damage tolerant design and verification of a composite materials wind turbine blade expected to be manufactured with the manufacturing process named OneShot Blade® technology. This technology allows the production of wind turbine blades without adhesives and/or bonding processes, leading to a significant reduction in labour hours, costs and materials. Here, the OneShot Blade® oriented design of a 10-meter long fibreglass blade is introduced. Two different configurations (conventional and lightened) have been investigated highlighting their damage tolerant characteristics. Structural performances have been evaluated to verify that the structure complies with the IEC 61400-2 and Germanischer-Lloyd (GL) regulations by considering several loading conditions. Finally, comparisons against a similar wind turbine blade, manufactured by means of a standard process, has been presented, to highlight the advantages of the proposed technology.