An experimental investigation is performed to assess the characteristics of the fluid– structure interactions and microburst-induced wind loads acting on a wind turbine model sited in microburst-liked winds. The experiment study was conducted with a scaled wind turbine model placed in microburst-like winds generated by using an impinging-jet-typed microburst simulator. In addition to quantifyin...

A short overview of composite materials for wind turbine applications is presented here. Requirements toward the wind turbine materials, loads, as well as available materials are reviewed. Apart from the traditional composites for wind turbine blades (glass fibers/epoxy matrix composites), natural composites, hybrid and nanoengineered composites are discussed. Manufacturing technologies for win...

Wind turbines reliability is affected by stochastic factors in the turbulent inflow and wind turbine structures. On one hand, the variability in wind dynamics and the inherent stochastic structures result in random loads on wind turbine rotor and tower. On the other hand, the inherent structural uncertainties caused by imperfect control of manufacturing process introduce unpredictable failures ...

The aim of this paper is to investigate the performance of a specially designed micro wind turbine for urban environment where the wind speed is usually low. Differing from the traditional wind turbine that can be connected directly to the grid, the micro wind turbine is linked to a small generator and mainly used for local applications. The advantage of the micro wind turbine is that, apart fr...