Abstract: Different finite element modeling approaches of root connection for wind turbine blades were studied in this paper. The computed results of the stress level in the connection bolts obtained by two different modeling methods, namely the full-scaled and 1/N scaled FE models, were compared with the results calculated by the theoretical analysis. Hence the theoretical results were calculated first and then the full-scaled and 1/N scaled FE model were modeled and analyzed. The comparison shows that the difference between the theoretical results and the two FEM results is very small, illustrating that both of the two modeling approaches are acceptable in terms of obtaining reasonable results. Further study also shows that the full-scaled model is closer to the reality, but setting up the 1/N scaled model requires less modeling work and is therefore more efficient.

Key words: wind turbine blade, root connection, finite element, full-scaled model, 1/N scaled model