Velocity measurements collected by an upward-looking acoustic Doppler current profiler were used to provide the first study of ambient turbulence in Alderney Race. Turbulence metrics were estimated at middepth during peak flooding and ebbing tidal conditions. The dissipation rate ε and the integral lengthscale (L) were estimated using two independent methods: the spectral method and the structure function method. The spectral method provided ε and (L) estimates with standard deviations twice lower than that obtained from the structure function method. Removal of wave and Doppler noise-induced bias when estimating the dissipation rate was shown to be a crucial step in turbulence characterization. It allowed for a significant refining in (L) estimates derived from the spectral and structure function methods of 35 and 20 respectively. The integral lengthscale was found to be 2-3 times the local water depth. It is considered that these findings could be valuable for current turbine designers, helping them optimizing their designs as well as improving loading prediction through the lifetime of the machines. Highlights ► The first study of ambient turbulence in Alderney Race is provided. ► Two independent methods are used to quantify turbulence metrics. ► Removal of wave and Doppler noise-induced bias is a crucial step. ► The integral lengthscale was found to be 2-3 times the local water depth. ► Unique dataset of turbulence metrics computed at mid-depth are provided.
An experiment was performed to study the power production by a Darrieus type turbine of the Dutch company Water2Energy in a tidal estuary. Advanced instrumentation packages, including mechanical sensors, acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP), and velocimeter (ADV), were implemented to measure the tidal current velocities in the approaching flow, to estimate the turbine performance and to assess the effect of turbulence on power production. The optimal performance was found to be relatively high (C p ~ 0.4). Analysis of the power time history revealed a large increase in magnitude of power fluctuations caused by turbulence as the flow velocity increases between 1 and 1.2 m/s. Turbulence intensity does not alone capture quantitative changes in the turbulent regime of the real flow. The standard deviation of velocity fluctuations was preferred in assessing the effect of turbulence on power production. Assessing the scaling properties of the turbulence, such as dissipation rate, , the integral lengthscale, , helped to understand how the turbulence is spatially organized with respect to turbine dimensions. The magnitude of power fluctuations was found to be proportional to L and the strongest impact of turbulence on power generation is achieved when the size of turbulent eddies matches the turbine size.
Tidal circulation and tidal stream resource in Aldemey Race (Raz Blanchard) were assessed by using a towed acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) system and tidal modeling. Optimal Interpolation (OI) was applied to process the underway velocity measurements recorded at neap tide flood and ebb flow. The interpolation technique allows reconstructing space-time evolution of the velocity field within the domain during surveying periods. The method employs velocity covariances derived from numerical simulations by a 2D hydrodynamic model MARS. Model covariances are utilized by the OI algorithm to obtain the most likely evolution of the velocity field under the constraints provided by the ADCP observations and their error statistics. The resulting velocity fields were used for assessing the tidal stream resource at site. The largest overall difference between the kinetic power density derived from simulated and interpolated velocity fields was found for ebb tide. Model simulations constrained by velocity measurements demonstrated a significant (up to 30%) decrease of power available in the flow. A significant change in spatial pattern of power density distribution was also identified. It is demonstrated that by merging high resolution velocity measurements at tidal energy site with modeling the tidal stream potential estimation becomes more accurate.
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