Re-Wind releases repurposed wind turbine blades design catalog
This catalog presents designs and details of structures and products made from End-of-Life repurposed wind turbine blades that are available from the Re-Wind Network.
The Re-Wind Network is a network of faculty, staff and students at five academic institutions – Georgia Institute of Technology, University College Cork, Queen’s University Belfast, City University of New York and Munster Technological University – and industry affiliates.
Models of the blades used in the designs were produced at the Georgia Institute of Technology using in-house software from LiDAR scans or documentation of four decommissioned wind turbine blades.
Graphics were produced in Rhinoceros® and Enscape™ software. The blades used in the designs are listed below. They represent typical sizes and lengths of blades currently coming out of service throughout the world.
1. 13.4m blade from a Nordex N29 250 kW turbine.
2. 21m blade from a Vestas V44 600 kW turbine.
3. 37m blade from a General Electric GE 1.5-77 1.5 MW turbine.
4. 46.7m blade from a Liberty Clipper C96 2.5 MW turbine.
The Re-Wind advantage
The Re-Wind Network provides architectural design, structural
engineering analysis and design, and construction management and logistics services to those wishing to repurpose their End-of-Life wind
turbine blades. The Re-Wind Network will work with a client to:
- Develop architectural concepts and designs for potential repurposed structures.
- Construct an exterior surface model of the blade in Rhinoceros® from LiDAR point clouds or manufacturer documentation of the blade.
- Construct a “thick” engineering analysis model of the blade from internal point clouds, physical measurements and in-house algorithms.
- Conduct selected testing of materials extracted from the blade to provide the physical and mechanical property data for a blade.
- Provide Finite Element Analysis (FEA) models for two and three dimensional analysis of the entire blade or parts of the blade for use in third-party finite element method (FEM) codes.
- Provide engineering section properties (EI, EA, GJ, kAG) of the blade at selected locations for use in third-party structural engineering codes.
- Conduct structural and stress analysis of the repurposed structures made from the blade including all connections and attachments.
- Perform full-scale testing of prototypes of the repurposed structures made from the blade.
- Perform site investigations and recommend foundations and support structures for the repurposed structures.
- Provide construction cost-estimates, Life Cycle Costs (LCC) and Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) of the repurposed structures made from the blade.
- Provide on-site construction management during construction of the repurposed structures.
The catalogue is available online here.
