Learning Forum

[Sushil Sharma]

I am working with the transient simulation of a wind turbine blade. I tried to plot the directional deformation of my model in different directions (seen in the attached figure). The load I applied has all three components. My question is, when I plot directional deformation in the x direction, it shows a minimum at the tip location (which is not the case for the cantilever) rather than at the blade's root. What may be the reason for having such a deformation plot?

thank you

[peteroznewman]

The X directional deformation of the root is 0, the tip is X =  -0.121 m while the center is X = +0.0688 m.  You ask why the minimum is not at the root, but the root doesn't move while the tip moves in the -X direction relative to the root and the middle moves in the +X direction relative to the root.

If you sum the pressure over the profile at every 1 m long station along the wing span and decompose the sums into Fx and Fy, you will see how the forces cause deformation in the X and Y directions. The forces interact with the bending stiffness in each direction and result in the deformation shown in the plot. Does that make sense now? 

 The Y directional deformation of the root is 0 and the tip is Y = 5.02 m.