Performance evaluation and experimental validation of hybrid glass-carbon fibre reinforced composites for wind turbine blade applications

Abstract The selection of blade material is an important aspect of wind turbine design, as it influences the cost and efficiency of the turbine. E-glass composites are widely used due to their low cost, whereas carbon composites offer superior mechanical properties but remain expensive for wind turbine applications. Consequently, hybrid glass-carbon composites are gaining attention for balancing cost and mechanical performance. However, limited data and a lack of systematic evaluation restrict their application in wind turbine blades. In this study, hybrid glass-carbon composites were investigated through material characterization and response surface methodology-based optimization, followed by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis and experimental validation using an H-Rotor vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT). A composition comprising 37.898 wt.% glass fibre and 27.102 wt.% carbon fibre was identified as optimal, providing a balance between cost and mechanical performance. Compared with the E-glass blade model, the optimized hybrid blade model demonstrated a 2.35% increase in aerodynamic torque and a 10.63% increase in the power coefficient at the optimum wind speed. At 12.5 m s –1 , the hybrid blade model achieved a predicted service life of 53.17 years. The optimized hybrid blade also exhibited a 15.46% reduction in weight compared with the E-glass blade model and a 27.09% reduction in cost relative to the carbon blade model. Experimental investigation of the hybrid H-Rotor VAWT further validated the CFD predictions, with a deviation of 8.24% in power, attributed mainly to generator efficiency and mechanical and aerodynamic losses. Both CFD and experimental investigations identified a cut-in wind speed of 2.5 m s –1 and an optimum wind speed of 7.5 m s –1 , demonstrating good agreement between the numerical and experimental results. Overall, the results demonstrate that glass-carbon hybrid composites can provide a favourable balance of weight, cost, and aerodynamic performance, making them a promising material option for wind turbine blade development.