Aeroelastic analysis of membrane blade via panel-BEM coupling

This paper aims at introducing a methodology for aeroelastic analysis of membrane blades using panel-BEM coupling. The proposed methodology is used for evaluating the performance of a membrane blade with the baseline platform similar to the NASA-Ames Phase VI blade. The performance of the membrane blade is compared with the rigid baseline blade. The studied membrane blade has certain aerodynamic advantages over its rigid counterpart. For the studied blade and at higher wind speeds, the axial induction factor for membrane blade is nearer to the Betz optimum value of 1/3 and as a result the membrane blade is more efficient in producing power. The performance of the membrane blade is further examined via high fidelity FSI analysis. The same trend as in panel-BEM coupling is also observed in the high fidelity model, namely for higher wind speeds the studied membrane blades is more efficient than its rigid counterpart.