Wind Turbine Blade Structure Parameterization Using T4T

Abstract

A software tool named “T4T” (Tools for Turbomachinery) has been developed for the parametric design of turbomachinery and wind turbine blades. The complete design procedure is object-oriented and parametric, providing the ability to the user to define various types of blades. It has been developed in QT C++, utilizing OpenCascade graphical and computational libraries. The software allows the user to design the outer surface either by specifying some physical parameters for each blade section, or by directly interpolating a surface through a cloud of points. The new/enhanced version of “T4T” software tool, introducing the definition of internal blade structure for wind turbines rotors, is fully parametric and customizable, allowing the user for defining the internal blade structure, including shear webs. The computational procedure finally produces compound solids, which can be further imported to mesh generation and analysis software through standard geometry exchange protocols, for cooperation with CFD and CSD solvers.