Abstract
Design, analysis and lifetime prediction of a horizontal axis ocean current turbine (OCT) composite blade has been investigated. Loading on a turbine blade under the Gulf Stream in South Florida location (26° 4.3N 79° 55W) at 25 meter depth is calculated and evaluated by using AeroDyn. Static analysis is performed by using NuMAD and ANSYS. Accumulated fatigue damage modeling is employed as a damage estimation rule based on the material fatigue property in DOE/MSU Composite Material Fatigue Database. During its service life, OCT blades are subjected to a large number of cyclic loads and random ocean current loads. The blades experience repeating and alternating stresses leading to fatigue loading. These loads are weighted by its rate of occurrence using the histogram measured by the SNMREC.