Overview

NuMAD (Numerical Manufacturing And Design) is an open-source software program written in MATLAB which simplifies the process of creating a three-dimensional model of a wind turbine blade. The tool manages all blade information including aerodynamic, and material properties as well as, material placement. The blade information can be modified by a structural-optimizer in NuMAD or it can be used to run the other tools below in a stand-alone mode:

  • The ANSYS® commercial finite element package

  • The NWTC codes PreComp, BModes, and FAST,

  • PLOT3D file format for CFD mesh building

When used in conjunction with these other tools, NuMAD provides computation of blade cross section properties, various structural analyses, and estimation of blade aeroelastic instability.

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