Abstract

The three-dimensional finite element modeling of a composite rotor blade is very hard and requires much computation effort. The efficient method to model a composite beam is necessary for the dynamic and aeroelastic analyses of rotor blades. In this study, the beam modeling method of a composite rotor blade is studied using VABS. The computer program, VABS (Variational Asymptotic Beam Section Analysis), uses the variational asymptotic method to split a 3-D nonlinear elasticity problem into 2-D cross-sectional analysis and 1-D nonlinear beam problem. The VABS can produce the sectional stiffness coefficients of composite rotor blades with various cross section and initial twist/curvatures, and recover the original 3-D distribution of displacement/strain/stress fields. The results of various cross section beams show that VABS gives us the accurate results comparared to commercial codes and does not need much computation effort. It can be concluded that VABS provides the efficient method to establish the FE model of a composite rotor blade.

Keywords

• VABS;
• FEM;
• Displacement;
• Stress resultant;
• Timoshenko-like beam;
• Stiffness