Investigation of Resin Pocket Area Effect on Crack Growth in Foam Core of Composite Wind Turbine Blade by the Finite Element Method

Resin pocket area is a common defect in manufactruring of sandwich composite using vacuum infusion process (VIP). In this paper, a numerical study is performed on crack growth behavior and failure modes of a sandwich composite wind turbine blade by means of extended finite element method (XFEM) and considering virtual crack closure technique (VCCT). The effect of resin pocket area on crack growth is investigated by considering different sizes for this area. Results of numerical analysis have shown that crack growth in the specimen initiates in foam core under loading nose and propagates through the middle of foam core and decreases its angle and grows towards the tapered area until it reaches to the core-face interface. Calculation of stress intensity factors (SIFs) has shown that first and second fracture modes are dominant modes in crack initiation and propagation steps, respectively. It is also observed that small and average sizes of resin pocket area in sandwich composite specimens delays the damage propagation and large resin pocket area accelerates damage progress. Finally, numerical and experimental results of crack growth path and load-displacement behavior of four-point bending test have shown a good accordance.