Structural Analysis of Carbon Fiber 3D-Printed Ribs for Small Wind Turbine Blades

This work provides a structural analysis of small-scale 3D-printed wind turbine ribs subjected to compression. The ribs were manufactured according to NACA 23015 and NACA 633618 geometries, with polylactic acid (PLA) and polylactic acid with carbon fiber additives (CF-PLA). In addition, holes were manufactured into the sample bodies by either 3D printing or drilling for being compared with solid samples. The compression testing was performed by following the ASTM 695D standard, whereas the beginning and propagation of delamination were assessed with the ASTM 5528 standard. Experimental results revealed that 3D-printed built-in holes provided higher compression strength, hence higher structural efficiency, than the drilled samples. Significant improvement by adding carbon fiber additives into the PLA resin system in comparison to raw PLA was detected for at least one of the studied airfoil profiles. NACA geometries also represented a key parameter for avoiding stress concentration areas, as the FEM modeling supported. However, in damaged areas, fracture mechanisms were observed such as bead-bridging, which is a key parameter in reinforcing and consolidating the specimen bodies. Working in better interphase bonding and different additives between beads and layers is highly suggested for future studies.