Experimental and Numerical Study of a Vertical Axis Tidal Current Turbine

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Mechanical engineering department, Iran university if science and technology

2 School of Mechanical engineering, Iran university if science and technology

Abstract

Tidal energy is one of the renewable energy sources, typically harvested through tidal turbines. Tidal turbines are classified as either vertical or horizontal turbines based on their rotation axis. The present investigation concerns parameters that affect flow hydrodynamics in a vertical-axis tidal turbine. A 1:20 Hunter turbine model was manufactured and investigated in a laboratory followed by transient solution Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations. The simulations were carried out for both rigid lid surfaces and free surface assumptions while SST k-ω turbulence model was used for both cases and volume of fluid method was employed for the free surface model. Simulations results verified by Empirical data which showed a good agreement. The power coefficient reached 0.23 at the best case scenario and the maximum power coefficient occurs at a flow coefficient between 0.4 and 0.43  for all investigated flows. Furthermore, the free surface simulations showed that the flow deflection   on the turbine region leads to a greater torque exerted on the turbine blade. While the maximum mean torque coefficient for the rigid lid cases is 0.18, for the free surface cases the said coefficient reaches 0.4 showing a 120 percent increase. Additionally, the free surface cases power coefficient increased by 10 percent

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References

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Amirkabir Journal of Mechanical Engineering
Volume 52, Issue 4
July 2020
Pages 745-768

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