A Darrieus type vertical-axis wind turbine with a "troposkien" blade shape has been pr oposed by Sandia Laboratories as an alternate to conventional horizontal axis, propeller-type machines. The troposkien (Greek for turning rope) shape eliminates blade bending and thereby results in a more efficient. minimum material blade design. Manufacturing considerations have resulted in a prototype blade shape t hat deviates slightly from the troposkien shape. The effect on the stress distr ibution of

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... s alternate blade shape is investigated. Analytical models of . the blades were constructed using a general purpose, nonlinear, dynamic finite element structural code. This code accounts for the large deflection effects of the various blade shapes through incremental applications of angular velocity. tThis work was supported by the u.S. Energy Research and Development Administration.