Abstract: A nonlinear aeroelastic analysis model of the composite wind turbine blade is presented. The composite structural model is an anisotropic thin-walled closed-section beam with bending-twist coupling produced by a special ply-angle configuration, referred to as circumferentially asymmetric stiffness (CAS). The aerodynamic model used in the present paper is the differential dynamic stall model developed at ONERA. By means of Galerkins method, the nonlinear aeroelastic equations are reduced to ordinary equations. The general aerodynamic forces are obtained from strip theory. The resulting equations are then linearized for small perturbation about the equilibrium point and the stability characteristics are investigated through eigenvalue analysis and time domain integration.

Key words: Composite thin-walled structure, Galerkin method, Nonlinear aeroelastic, ONERA model, Strip theory, Wind turbine blade