Aerodynamic and Structural Design of MultiMW Wind Turbine Blades beyond 5MW

A unified approach was taken to the design of wind-turbine blades for multiMW machines up to 10 MW. Using input from standard existing machines, three baseline versions were designed. Then - after up-scaling - using the aero-elastic code FLEX5 a typical extreme load case was selected. As a result, weights seem to increase more than might be expected by an empirical law deduced from statistical data. However, some further investigations are needed, e. g. buckling and fatigue analyses. The authors regard the method developed here as a useful approach for pre-design investigation. One important aspect seems to be the need for high-quality GRPs, with admissible strength of more than 120 MPa.