The mast support for small vertical axis wind turbine is considered an important parameter during the design process of wind turbine structure. It has been receiving a great attention by researchers and academics. This study presents a numerical investigation on the static and buckling strength behaviors of whole wind turbine mast structure by means Finite Element Analysis (FEA) technique. The FEA simulations are performed in order to evaluate the reliability and the strength of the mast structure under the extreme wind conditions (IEC 61400-2 and Eurocode 1991-1-4 standards) and gravity loads. The simulation results show that the mast structure will not undergo structural failure because the maximum stress induced is less than the yield strength of the material and the maximum displacement is within material allowable deformation limit. In addition, the buckling strength of the structure meets requirement of design.

Electrochemical methods, weight loss and surface analysis technique were used to study the effect of glutamic acid on the corrosion of Fe-19Cr stainless steel in 1 M hydrochloric acid solution. Results revealed that the corrosion inhibition of glutamic acid of Fe-19Cr in 1 M HCl was enhanced in the presence of the iodide ions due to synergistic effect. In the absence of KI, the inhibition of Fe-19Cr corrosion by glutamic acid was glutamic acid concentration dependent. Potentiodynamic polarization curves demonstrated that glutamic acid acts as a mixed type inhibitor. Self-Assembled Monolayers of glutamic acid were able to protect stainless steel from corrosion effectively. The adsorption of the inhibitor onto the stainless steel surface follows Langmuir adsorption isotherm. The value of free energy of the adsorption indicated that there is a physical interaction between the glutamic acid and the stainless steel surface.