Optimization design on wind turbine blade sectional stiffness

An optimization design model was developed to optimize the wind turbine blade sectional stiffness. In this model, the thickness and the width of the spar caps are chosen as the optimization variables. The optimization objection is making the flap stiffness of the section have maximum value while keeping fixed aerodynamic profile and not increasing the mass. An improved particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm was used to do the section optimization design. Results of the computational example show that designing the thickness and the width of the spar caps reasonably can get better sectional flap stiffness. So It also verifies that this model is efficient. The optimization results have some certain guiding value for structural design.