Analysis of cavitation for the optimized design of hydrokinetic turbines using BEM

Paulo Augusto Strobel Freitas Silva, Léo Daiki Shinomiya, Taygoara Felamingo de Oliveira, Jerson Rogério Pinheiro Vaz, André Luiz Amarante Mesquita and Antonio Cesar Pinho Brasil Junior

Applied Energy, 2017, vol. 185, issue P2, 1291 pages

Abstract: Hydrokinetic turbines are a promising technology for renewable energy production from river, tidal and marine currents. This paper proposes an innovative approach applied to optimization of horizontal axis hydrokinetic turbines (HAHTs) considering the possibility of cavitation. The minimum pressure coefficient is the criterion used for identifying cavitation on blades. Blade Element Momentum (BEM) theory is employed for the rotor design. During the optimization procedure, chord length at each blade section is corrected by a modification on the local thrust coefficient in order to prevent cavitation. The hydraulic parameters as lift, drag and minimum pressure coefficients are calculated by XFoil. Additionally, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) techniques are used to validate the proposed methodology. Cavitation volume in the water flow through the rotor, with and without geometrical modifications, is evaluated using a Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) approach coupled to the Rayleigh-Plesset model to estimate the vapor production rate. The methodology is applied to the design of a 10m diameter Hydrokinetic Turbine (HT) rated to 250kW output power, for a flow velocity of 2.5m/s. The flow around the optimized rotor presents a reduction of the vapor volume without a major variation upon the turbine output power. A comparison with the Horizontal Axis Rotor Performance Optimization (HARP_opt) code was carried out, demonstrating good behavior. CFD simulations revealed that the proposed design method minimizes cavitation inception, yielding a useful tool for efficient HT design at rated conditions.

Keywords: Hydrokinetic turbines; Cavitation; Blade optimization; BEM; Rayleigh-Plesset model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261916302549
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:185:y:2017:i:p2:p:1281-1291

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.02.098

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().