INVESTIGATION ON TIDAL TURBINE ARRAYS WITH A COUPLED DES-BEM MODEL
In order to develop tidal current energy, the effect turbines have on their surrounding flow and how these devices perform when installed in an array need to be better understood. This requires studying the hydrodynamics related to tidal turbines and their wakes. Detailed information on flow charact...
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| Tipo de recurso: | tesis de maestría |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2017 |
| País: | Chile |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:repositorio.anid.cl:10533/232839 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10533/232839 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Ingeniería y Tecnología Ingeniería Civil |
| Sumario: | In order to develop tidal current energy, the effect turbines have on their surrounding flow and how these devices perform when installed in an array need to be better understood. This requires studying the hydrodynamics related to tidal turbines and their wakes. Detailed information on flow characteristics is needed to comprehend wake interaction and changes on the ambient flow due to tidal turbines. However, there have been limited approaches that are able to analyze multiple tidal turbines simultaneously. Here we propose a numerical methodology that couples Blade Element Momentum (BEM) with Detached- Eddy Simulation (DES) to simulate tidal turbine arrays and obtain detailed information on the mean and instantaneous flow. Simulations are carried out using real rotor data and validated with existing experimental and modeled results on three different array configurations. The model shows good correlation with experimental mean flow profiles and turbine performance measurements. We show that wakes of downstream turbines are characterized by higher levels of turbulence and temporal fluctuations than upstream turbine ones. Downstream regions show higher levels of turbulent kinetic energy and Reynolds stresses, along with stronger presence of vortical structures. The more complex flow faced by downstream turbines produced lower power and thrust coefficients on them. Moreover, performance measurements and induced bed shear stress showed considerably higher temporal fluctuations for posterior rows in the studied arrays. These results help understand the behavior of turbines in an array and how their performance and impacts change when devices function together. Furthermore, the proposed methodology is validated for its use on different array configuration and turbine designs. |
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