Investigation of Hydrokinetic Tidal Energy Harvesting Using a Mangrove-Inspired Device

Jafar Zanganeh (), Kiva Gwynne, Zhengbiao Peng () and Behdad Moghtaderi
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Jafar Zanganeh: Priority Research Centre for Frontier Energy Technologies & Utilisation, The University of Newcastle, University Drive, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
Kiva Gwynne: Priority Research Centre for Frontier Energy Technologies & Utilisation, The University of Newcastle, University Drive, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
Zhengbiao Peng: Priority Research Centre for Frontier Energy Technologies & Utilisation, The University of Newcastle, University Drive, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
Behdad Moghtaderi: Priority Research Centre for Frontier Energy Technologies & Utilisation, The University of Newcastle, University Drive, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 22, 1-17

Abstract: There is a trend towards harvesting tidal energy in shallow water. This study examined how tidal energy can be harvested using a device of oscillating cylinders inspired by the roots of mangroves. A specific focus was placed on optimising the configuration of these devices, informed by the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of wake interference in the von Kármán vortex street of the cylinders. A maximum efficiency of 13.54% was achieved at a peak voltage of 16 mV, corresponding to an electrical power output of 0.0199 mW (13.5% of the hydrokinetic energy of the water) and a power density of 7.2 mW/m 2 for a flow velocity of 0.04 m/s ( R e = 239 ). The configuration of upstream cylinders proved to have a significant impact on the power generation capacity, corroborated further in CFD simulations. The effect of wake interference was non-trivial on the magnitude and quality of power, with tandem arrangements showing the largest impact followed by staggered arrangements. Though with comparatively low energy densities, the device’s efficiencies found in this study indicate a great potential to harvest tidal energy in shallow water, which provides a consistent baseload power to supplement intermittent renewables (e.g., solar and wind).

Keywords: tidal energy; energy harvesting in shallow waters; renewable energy; mangroves; wake interference; intermittent renewables (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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