Abstract: There is great progress on research and development for tidal power equipment in the worldwide, and some of the power equipment has gradually applied on the commercial demonstration. Tidal turbine blade is the basis of energy conversion from tidal current to power energy, and is also the key component for power generation. Due to the advantages of composites such as light weight, high strength, corrosion resistance and easy forming, it has been the preferred material for the tidal current turbine blade. Based on the theory of blade element momentum and the composite mechanics, a composite tidal current turbine blade, which would be applied in a tidal with 2 m/s velocity, was developed. The finite element analysis results show that the blade can fulfill the serving requirements and has a high safety margin.

Key words: tidal current, blade, composite, structure design