Modal Analysis and Comparative Fatigue Life Study to Evaluate the Potential Application of Bamboo Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Composite in Bladeless Turbines

The carbon footprint of the constituent materials of energy generation structures has been a technological obstacle to overcome. Regarding wind energy, one of the observed disadvantages is the pollution from synthetic fiber-reinforced composites and steel throughout the entire life cycle of the structures that make up wind turbines. Given the need for more eco-efficient renewable energy, the viability of applying vinyl ester composite reinforced with bamboo fibers in bladeless turbines (BT) was analyzed, considering the fatigue failure mechanism of this multiphase material. In this sense, a modal analysis to determine the natural vibration frequency of the fundamental mode of a typical BT structure made with the aforementioned biocomposite and a comparative fatigue life study were performed. It is concluded that the studied material can be applied in BTs in wind incidence scenarios that do not cause stresses above 10 MPa in the structure. Finally, this research points towards a possible technological improvement through hybrid composites, in which synthetic fibers could increase the fatigue resistance of the eco-friendly material and possibly expand its applicability to BTs.