Welcome to Blades
On the Blades Team, we focus on designing, optimizing, and testing the blades for Rice Wind Energy’s turbine. Our activities lie perfectly at the intersection of aerodynamic theory and implementation, where we aim to continuously scale our design understanding, enhance our materials testing, and most importantly, continue innovating in blade design.
About the Blades Team
Given the specialized software and extensive theory and testing associated with developing wind turbine blades,
Blades was founded as a subteam beginning the 2024–2025 competition year. Having a dedicated subteam allows Rice Wind Energy to bring more focus and dedication to the difficult yet critical task of developing a capable set of wind
turbine blades.
Our work on the blades team centers on understanding the principles of aerodynamics and blade design theory while using advanced software, like QBlade, to simulate key parameters such as glide ratios and coefficients of power. This
analytical process helps us refine our designs before creating scaled prototypes using 3D printers. These prototypes are rigorously tested in Rice’s on-campus wind tunnel to validate our simulations and empirically determine the
most effective designs for our final blades.
Throughout the year, we aim to continuously improve our design process and explore new materials, such as composites and carbon fiber- reinforced filament, to enhance performance and address challenges with previous materials like
Tough 1500 Resin.
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