Optimized Carbon Fiber Composites in Wind Turbine Blade Design
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Montana State Univ., Bozeman, MT (United States)
The objective of this study is to assess the commercial viability to develop cost-competitive carbon fiber composites specifically suited for the unique loading experienced by wind turbine blades. The wind industry is a cost-driven market, while carbon fiber materials have been developed for the performance-driven aerospace industry. Carbon fiber has known benefits for reducing wind turbine blade mass due to the significantly improved stiffness, strength, and fatigue resistance per unit mass compared to fiberglass; however, the high relative cost has prohibited broad adoption within the wind industry. Novel carbon fiber materials derived from the textile industry are studied as a potentially more optimal material for the wind industry and are characterized using a validated material cost model and through mechanical testing. The novel heavy tow textile carbon fiber is compared with commercial carbon fiber and fiberglass materials in representative land-based and offshore reference wind turbine models. Some of the advantages of carbon fiber spar caps are observed in reduced blade mass and improved fatigue life. The heavy tow textile carbon fiber is found to have improved cost performance over the baseline carbon fiber and performed similarly to the commercial carbon fiber in wind turbine blade design, but at a significantly reduced cost. This novel carbon fiber was observed to even outperform fiberglass when comparing material cost estimates for spar caps optimized to satisfy the design constraints. This study reveals a route to enable broader carbon fiber usage by the wind industry to enable larger rotors that capture more energy at a lower cost.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Wind Energy Technologies Office; USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Energy Efficiency Office. Advanced Manufacturing Office; USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Transportation Office. Vehicle Technologies Office; USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000; AC05-00OR22725; NA0003525
- OSTI ID:
- 1592956
- Report Number(s):
- SAND-2019-14173; 682570
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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