Fluid Structure Interaction Modelling of Tidal Turbine Performance and Structural Loads in a Velocity Shear Environment

Mujahid Badshah, Saeed Badshah and Kushsairy Kadir
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Mujahid Badshah: Department of Mechanical Engineering, International Islamic University, Sector H-10, Islamabad Capital Territory 44000, Pakistan
Saeed Badshah: Department of Mechanical Engineering, International Islamic University, Sector H-10, Islamabad Capital Territory 44000, Pakistan
Kushsairy Kadir: Electric Engineering Section, UniKL British Malaysian Institute, Gombak 53100, Malaysia

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 7, 1-13

Abstract: Tidal Current Turbine (TCT) blades are highly flexible and undergo considerable deflection due to fluid interactions. Unlike Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) models Fluid Structure Interaction (FSI) models are able to model this hydroelastic behavior. In this work a coupled modular FSI approach was adopted to develop an FSI model for the performance evaluation and structural load characterization of a TCT under uniform and profiled flow. Results indicate that for a uniform flow case the FSI model predicted the turbine power coefficient C P with an error of 4.8% when compared with experimental data. For the rigid blade Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) CFD model this error was 9.8%. The turbine blades were subjected to uniform stress and deformation during the rotation of the turbine in a uniform flow. However, for a profiled flow the stress and deformation at the turbine blades varied with the angular position of turbine blade, resulting in a 22.1% variation in stress during a rotation cycle. This variation in stress is quite significant and can have serious implications for the fatigue life of turbine blades.

Keywords: tidal energy; marine energy; tidal turbine; Fluid Structure Interaction (FSI); CFD; performance evaluation; velocity shear; structural loads (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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