The wind energy has been recognised as one of the rising sustainable energies in the world. The wind turbines are subjected to high aerodynamic loads and they cause vibrations due to the wake formation. The magnitude of the applied loads has significant effects on the crack propagation. The fatigue loads have been identified as one of the key sources of damage, with delamination as the main cause for the failure of the turbine blades. The article presents a review of fatigue damages that have been experienced in the wind turbine blades, and factors that are influenced due to the fatigue loads are discussed. The causes and effects of the fatigue loads have been highlighted, and the ways for preventing the fatigue damage by improving the design lifetime are mainly concentrated in review. The overall review gives an idea for determining and reducing the crack growth in wind turbine blades.

Present research endeavours towards the development of a methodology to enhance the life of hyperelastic materials in automotive suspension (leaf spring) system. The durability of the elastomeric (rubber) material in the insert was determined at various loading conditions for better operation. Three different rubber materials were used as the models including the currently used rubber material in the suspension system. The non-linear finite element analysis was carried out for the three different materials with the uniaxial stress–strain data as the input source for the material properties. A suitable hyperelastic model was also used as the input for determining the deformation and the stress concentration in the leaf spring tip insert. The failure of the tip insert was determined in various loading conditions and the best design for limited stress concentration with higher reliability was determined in the three models. The overall results are tabulated and compared for better utilization of rubber as a tip insert in the automotive industry.

This paper reports the effect of incorporating Inconel particles as filler for enhancing the delamination and mechanical strength of glass-fiber-reinforced epoxy composites. It is intended for application in renewable energy. Glass fiber plays a vital role in renewable-energy industries for its non-corrosiveness and lower maintenance cost. The mechanical properties of glass fibers make the renewable industry for effective utilization in the manufacturing of turbine blades in onshore and offshore environments, as well as the addition of fillers enhances the mechanical properties of the material. This study comprises validating three different compositions of Inconel blended with epoxy resin for the preparation of laminates using a vacuum-infusion process. The tensile and flexural properties of the composites were experimentally examined and validated for the enhanced use of structural applications in the field of renewable energy. In addition to the mechanical characterization, a finite-element validation was used to determine the delamination effect. The Ansys Composite PrePost (ACP) module was used to validate the Inconel-blended composite materials. The flammability characteristics were determined as per the UL-94 standard for both vertical and horizontal flame tests. The water-absorption characteristics were also estimated for the three different proportions of the Inconel-filled laminates. The study reveals that the incorporation of Inconel powder enhanced the mechanical properties, contact angle and the fire-retardant characteristics of the glass-fiber epoxy-blended laminates.