Date of Award
2019
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics
Department
Mechanical, Industrial and Systems Engineering
First Advisor
Carl-Ernst Rousseau
Abstract
An experimental investigation was conducted to evaluate the performance of composite materials for a vertical wind turbine. The materials used were polyester resins with fiberglass reinforcement, corrugated aluminum core composite, and a polypropylene honeycomb core composite. Quasi-static tensile experiments were conducted using an Instron 5585 and following ASTM Standard D638. Tensile Modulus, Tensile Strength and other material characteristics were calculated using digital image correlation data acquisition and MATLAB. Blast experiments were conducted on the materials using a shock tube apparatus to investigate the dynamic response and performance. The 6.35mm Polyester Resin composite had the lowest deflection when normalized with thickness. This material had the highest tensile modulus and yield strength as well showing that of the materials tested it is the optimal choice for the wind turbine.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
McQueen, Anthony, "MATERIAL CHARACTERIZATION OF COMPOSITES FOR A VERTICAL WIND TUBRINE" (2019). Open Access Master's Theses. Paper 1506.
https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/theses/1506