Mathematical modeling of heat transfer in GO-doped reinforce polymer for anti-/deicing of wind turbines

Abstract Icing of wind turbine blades seriously affects the efficiency of wind power generation and threatens the safe operation of wind turbines. In order to improve the heat transfer efficiency of wind turbine blade anti-deicing components, a mathematical heat transfer model of graphene oxide (GO) doped reinforced polymer was established based on the thermal resistance law and the equivalent thermal conductivity. The heat transfer characteristic of glass fiber/epoxy resin (GF/EP) reinforced polymer composites modified with GO as heat transfer filler was presented by combining numerical calculation with finite element method. The correctness of the heat transfer mathematical model of GO/GF/EP composites was verified by comparing the numerical and experimental results with the finite element simulation results, which shows the maximum error is 7.11%. With the increasing of the content of GO in GO/GF/EP composites, the heat conduction paths composed of GO are formed in the composites. Thus, from the macroscopic point of view, the overall thermal conductivity of the material is greatly improved by 6.41%. The number of thermal paths in the composites is directly proportional to the content of GO. The increase of thermal conductivity channels promotes the heat transfer capacity of the composites, which making up for the low thermal conductivity of glass fiber and epoxy resin. The results show that the modification of GO can significantly improve the heat transfer performance of GF/EP composites, which can be employed in the anti−/deicing field of the wind turbine blades in the future.