FATIGUE LIFE INVESTIGATION ON WIND BLADES

Mechanical behaviour of wind blades made in composite materials has been investigate through a F.E.M. approach simulating a stress analysis over blade components. Nowadays, use of composite materials appear as wide in mechanical as well as in more field of engineering design since composite properties brings to wide and different applications due to their lightness, resistance and stress capacity. The composite materials used in wind blades appear really diffused but the peculiar mechanical framework needs a deep investigation about partial structural integrity as full. In this paper a simulation analysis by finite element code, over a concise wind blade part, has been performed showing, in the first step, the constitutive behaviour under classic load conditions, then developing a deep analysis under cyclic loads joint to thermal and chemical actions, so that a clear framework of the fatigue life can be characterized.