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Performance investigation of a counter-rotating tidal current turbine by CFD and model experimentation

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Abstract

Global warming is one of the issues in the world, which is mainly due to the burning of fossil fuels. Thus, alternative energy is now paramount in the 21st century. In Korea, the tidal currents in the southwestern sea have a wide range of currents that are available for tidal current power generation. Single rotor turbines can obtain a theoretical maximum power coefficient of 59.3%, whereas dual rotor turbines can attain a maximum of 64%. In this study, the performance and efficiency of a counter-rotating tidal current turbine is investigated when changing the front and rear blade angles at different water velocities. The investigation was conducted by using Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and experimental methods highlighted in this study. When varying these parameters, changes in the streamlines were observed in the CFD results. The changes in flow stability over the blade surfaces observed in the numerical results were reflected in the power and power coefficient graphs presented in this study. The results obtained by the experiments were also shown to be in good agreement with the CFD results.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea Maritime & Ocean University, Busan, 606-791, Korea

    Nak Joong Lee & In Chul Kim

  2. Division of Naval Architecture and Ocean System Engineering, Korea Maritime & Ocean University, Busan, 606-791, Korea

    Beom Soo Hyun

  3. Division of Mechanical Engineering, Korea Maritime & Ocean University, Busan, 606-791, Korea

    Young Ho Lee

Authors
  1. Nak Joong Lee
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  2. In Chul Kim
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  3. Beom Soo Hyun
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  4. Young Ho Lee
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Young Ho Lee.

Additional information

Recommended by Guest Editor Hyung Hee Cho and Yulin Wu

Nak Joong Lee is currently undergoing his Ph.D. in Tidal Energy in the Korea Maritime and Ocean University. He completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering in 2009 and his Master’s Degree in Engineering in 2012. His research interests include small hydropower, fluid machinery and computational fluid dynamics.

Young Ho Lee is currently a professor in the Division of Mechanical and Energy Systems at the Korea Maritime and Ocean University. He completed his Ph.D. in Engineering in Tokyo. His research interests include particle imaging velocimetry, renewable energy, fluid machinery, and computational fluid dynamics.

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Lee, N.J., Kim, I.C., Hyun, B.S. et al. Performance investigation of a counter-rotating tidal current turbine by CFD and model experimentation. J Mech Sci Technol 30, 519–524 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-016-0104-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-016-0104-y

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