Experimental and numerical analysis of a six-blade tidal turbine
Abstract
Marine hydrokinetic (MHK) turbines are developed to harness the energy of currents in tidal channels. Before installing multiple devices in underwater arrays it is necessary to understand the interactions with the environment and with other MHK turbines located in their wake, to study the changes of the local flow hydrodynamics, the total power that can be extracted, and its variability. In this investigation we experimentally analyze the wake flow and power generation statistics of the scaled model of a Sabella D10 turbine for two different cases: a single turbine, and an array of two turbines aligned. In addition, we perform 3D numerical simulations of these cases by using a Blade Element Momentum Actuator Disk (BEM-AD) model for the turbines, coupled with the detached-eddy simulation (DES) approach for the flow, to predict the effects of these two cases and provide insights on the characteristics of the mean flow and the dynamics of turbulent coherent structures. The results show a good agreement of the model compared to the experimental measurements, and with similar studies on other devices. We also provide a detailed description of the flow past horizontal-axis MHK turbines, and the changes on the local flow dynamics using a numerical model with a low computational cost, emphasizing the effects on the turbulent statistics, the performance of the devices, the base design effect on the flow, and scour mechanisms.
Work supported by Chile's Marine Energy Research & Innovation Center (MERIC) CORFO project 14CEI2-28228. Powered@NLHPC: This research was partially supported by the supercomputing infrastructure of the NLHPC (ECM-02)- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AGUFMGC23E1256G
- Keywords:
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- 3307 Boundary layer processes;
- ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSESDE: 1630 Impacts of global change;
- GLOBAL CHANGEDE: 1635 Oceans;
- GLOBAL CHANGEDE: 4546 Nearshore processes;
- OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL