Shaping array design of marine current energy converters through scaled experimental analysis
Shaping array design of marine current energy converters through scaled experimental analysis
Marine current energy converters or tidal turbines represent an emerging renewable energy technology that can provide a predictable supply of electricity. Single devices are in operation around the world with aspirations to deploy farms or arrays of multiple devices.
We present an experimental study that has characterised the downstream wake flow around a 1/15th-scale turbine in a large circulating water channel and a series of experiments involving static actuator disks at 1/120th-scale allowing simulation of multiple-device layouts.
Our analysis demonstrates that the near wake is highly turbulent with structures generated by the rotor and support structure. This region of flow may prove difficult to numerically simulate with a high degree of accuracy. In the far wake the performance of static actuator disks can be matched to mechanical rotors reducing scale and cost facilitating replication of complex array geometries. Here the ambient turbulence and geometric properties of the device/channel drive the wake recovery towards free stream conditions.
Devices operating downstream of others will be subject to a non-steady flow field making comparative performance difficult. We discuss the possibility of unequal device specification and rated power within an array (unlike wind farms) providing a more representative measure of array performance
83-94
Bahaj, A.S.
a64074cc-2b6e-43df-adac-a8437e7f1b37
Myers, L.E.
b0462700-3740-4f03-a336-dc5dd1969228
15 September 2013
Bahaj, A.S.
a64074cc-2b6e-43df-adac-a8437e7f1b37
Myers, L.E.
b0462700-3740-4f03-a336-dc5dd1969228
Bahaj, A.S. and Myers, L.E.
(2013)
Shaping array design of marine current energy converters through scaled experimental analysis.
Energy, 59, .
(doi:10.1016/j.energy.2013.07.023).
Abstract
Marine current energy converters or tidal turbines represent an emerging renewable energy technology that can provide a predictable supply of electricity. Single devices are in operation around the world with aspirations to deploy farms or arrays of multiple devices.
We present an experimental study that has characterised the downstream wake flow around a 1/15th-scale turbine in a large circulating water channel and a series of experiments involving static actuator disks at 1/120th-scale allowing simulation of multiple-device layouts.
Our analysis demonstrates that the near wake is highly turbulent with structures generated by the rotor and support structure. This region of flow may prove difficult to numerically simulate with a high degree of accuracy. In the far wake the performance of static actuator disks can be matched to mechanical rotors reducing scale and cost facilitating replication of complex array geometries. Here the ambient turbulence and geometric properties of the device/channel drive the wake recovery towards free stream conditions.
Devices operating downstream of others will be subject to a non-steady flow field making comparative performance difficult. We discuss the possibility of unequal device specification and rated power within an array (unlike wind farms) providing a more representative measure of array performance
Text
ca606e84212203d4d92ce58483233463.pdf
- Version of Record
More information
Published date: 15 September 2013
Organisations:
Energy & Climate Change Group
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 357411
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/357411
ISSN: 0360-5442
PURE UUID: bc5c71ab-51f3-450b-a3ea-f01fa3ed0f71
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 03 Oct 2013 10:17
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:12
Export record
Altmetrics
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics
