Predictions of Wake and Central Mixing Region of Double Horizontal Axis Tidal Turbine

Stephen Oppong, Wei Haur Lam*, Jianhua Guo, Leng Mui Tan, Zhi Chao Ong, Wah Yen Tey, Yun Fook Lee, Zaini Ujang, Ming Dai, Desmond Robinson, Gerard Hamill

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Predicting the velocity distribution of double horizontal axis tidal turbines (DHATTs) is significant for the effective development of tidal streams. This current research gives an account on double turbine wake theory and flow structure of DHATT connected to single support by using the joint axial momentum theory and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. Characteristics of single turbine wake were previously studied with two theoretical equations predicting the initial upstream velocity closer to the turbine, and it’s lateral distributions along the downstream of the turbine. This current works agreed with the previous wake equations, which was used for predicting the velocity region along the downstream of the turbines. Flow field separating the two turbines is complicated in nature due to the indirect disturbance of turbines and no report was found on this central region. The Central region in the downstream flow is initially suppressed due to the blockage effects with a high velocity close to the free stream. Lateral expansion of two turbine wakes penetrated the central region with velocity reduction and followed by the flow recovery further downstream. This work provides more understandings of the wake and its central mixing region for double turbines with a proposed theoretical model.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1983-1995
Number of pages13
Journal KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering
Volume24
Issue number7
Early online date05 Jun 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01 Jul 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This study was supported by Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin City (Grant No. 18JCYBJC21900), Science Fund for Creative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of the Peoples Republic of China (Grant No. 51621092) and UM-MoHE High Impact Research Grant ENG 47.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, Korean Society of Civil Engineers.

Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • Double turbine
  • Flow structure
  • Marine renewable energy
  • Tidal current turbine
  • Wake

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Civil and Structural Engineering

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