Modeling thermal damage for glass fiber composite wind turbine blade

What is it about?

A physics-based model describing the thermal interaction between a lightning channel and a composite structure has been developed. The model includes: (i) spatial and temporal evolution of the lightning channel as a function of the electric current waveform; (ii) temporary and spatially non-uniform heat flux generated at the composite structure, where the heat flux is an explicit function of the electric current waveform and the instant lightning channel radius; (iii) nonlinear transient heat transfer problem formulation for layered anisotropic composites that accounts for temperature-dependent material properties, a moving boundary of the expanding lightning channel, and phase transition moving boundary associated with instantaneous material removal due to sublimation. The model is applied for evaluation of thermal damage of the tip glass fiber reinforced polymer matrix composite panel of the Sandia 100-meter All-glass Baseline Wind Turbine Blade (SNL 100-00) subjected to lightning strike.

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Why is it important?

This work is concerned with lightning strike thermal damage modeling in glass fiber polymer matrix composites and its application to wind turbine blades. The lightning strike damage accumulation problem is essentially multiphysic. It originates from the interaction of the non-steady lightning plasma channel discharging an electric current up to 150 kA and inducing a severe heat flux at the surface of the composite structure. The resulting thermo-mechanical response of the composite structure may include matrix degradation and decomposition, delamination, and fiber breakage and sublimation, thus, leading to catastrophic failure.

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