This paper present a blade vibration monitoring method based on strain gauges for a straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine with pitch control. NACA0018 airfoil sinusoid-pitched at centroid was employed, and experimental study was conducted to investigate vibration characteristics of the pitching airfoil. The mechanical model of blade with simply supported was built, meanwhile the impacts of arrangement of pitch control device and bearing constraint were analysed for blade safety. The distribution of measuring points of blade was discussed in this paper. Results show that pitch control device should be placed at the bottom of blade, and aligning ball bearing was suggested to be utilized at the top of blade for smaller bending stress. Static calibration experiment and wind tunnel experiment were conducted, and the experimental results can well capture the vibration characteristics of blade, showing the availability and reliability of the blade vibration monitoring method.
