Supervisors: Lars P. Mikkelsen (DTU Wind Energy), Brian N. Legarth (DTU Mek), Ulrik Raimund (Jupiter Bach), Senthilkumar Arumugam (Jupiter Bach)
Examiner: Ole Gunneskov
Design of Composite Laminates for Large Wind Turbine Nacelle Applications
This report deals with examining a nacelle cover design. Wind turbine nacelle covers are conventionally built using steel or glass fibre composite materials. Recent trends in the wind energy industry has seen an increasing interest in advanced and sustainable materials. The current design which has been built using glass fibre, was the starting point of this project. The main load cases seen by the nacelle cover are the wind and snow loads.
The modelling carried out is divided into three main steps. First, the main load bearing component of the design was isolated and evaluated using numerical Finite Element Modelling. In the second step, alternative designs and materials were proposed for the main load bearing structure. The materials investigated were carbon and bamboo fibres. In the third step, by making use of symmetry, the existing and proposed designs were further examined. One of the design alternatives showed failure under critical snow load, whereas the carbon and bamboo panels showed excellent mechanical properties. Following the numerical study, the existing and proposed designs were evaluated with respect to their weight, cost and environmental footprint.