QBlade — The Complete Guide: Wind Turbine Design and Simulation, Free for Non-Commercial Use
QBlade is software for designing and simulating wind turbines, born as a research project at TU Berlin and developed for more than 15 years. It designs airfoils and blades and runs a coupled simulation of the aerodynamics, the control system, the hydrodynamics (for floating offshore turbines) and the structural flexibility of the blades and tower.
QBlade Community Edition
QBlade (originally TU Berlin, Hermann-Föttinger-Institut)
Aero-servo-hydro-elastic wind turbine simulation. The Community Edition is free for non-commercial use only.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- Blade design — airfoils, twist and chord along the blade, in a graphical interface.
- Free vortex wake — more accurate aerodynamics than basic BEM, especially in unsteady conditions.
- Structure — a non-linear beam model for blades and tower.
- Floating turbines — waves, platform motion and moorings.
- Control — connect an external controller and test it in simulation.
Who may use it for free
The Community Edition is free for non-commercial use only — research, study and hobby — under the Academic Public License. Any commercial use, such as work for a client or product design, requires buying the paid Enterprise Edition. The Community Edition runs at about real-time speed; the Enterprise Edition is much faster and adds features. Read the licence terms on the official site before use.
Related tools
For a fully open alternative, free for commercial work too — OpenFAST. For airfoil analysis — XFOIL. To estimate a project’s yield and viability — SAM.
OpenFAST
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Aeroelastic simulation of wind turbines, from NREL.
Get it from the vendor
XFOIL
MIT — Mark Drela
Airfoil analysis and design at low Reynolds numbers — the classic reference in the field.
Get it from the vendor
XFLR5
XFLR5 Project
Aerofoil and aircraft analysis for low Reynolds numbers.
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SAM — System Advisor Model
NREL
Technical and financial modelling of renewable energy systems — annual yield and payback.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
QBlade is a complete, convenient graphical environment for wind energy students and researchers. For commercial work you need a paid licence, or move to OpenFAST.