As a rapidly developing and expanding country, Malaysia is expected to see an increase in its electricity consumption in the near future. Although known for its abundance of natural resources, specifically petroleum and natural gas, Malaysia has pledged to reduce its dependency on conventional resources and aims to become a carbon-neutral nation by the year 2050. This can be achieved by unlocking sustainable alternatives from the ocean, such as waves and tidal current energy, which are known to be abundant, continuous, and clean. Although various studies had identified several locations along the Straits of Malacca with potential to be used as deployment sites for tidal stream turbines, most of them were focused only on theoretical resource assessment. Since detailed three-dimensional flow models for the Malacca Strait have yet to be thoroughly developed, examined, and discussed, this study aims to provide a preliminary methodology for setting up a three-dimensional numerical model for this region. The analysis of the study consists of three steps: pre-processing using Blue Kenue; processing with Telemac 3D; and post-processing, which visualizes the simulation outcome. The output from the simulation is validated against published measurement data to ensure the accuracy and robustness of the numerical model. The simulation outcome reveals that the southeast part of the Malacca Strait could be a promising area for deploying tidal stream turbines due to the high tidal current velocity in that area. Additionally, it is also observed that the kinetic energy flux increases towards the southeast part of the strait due to the strait's narrow size in that area. Overall, a detailed procedure for setting up a three-dimensional flow model for the Strait of Malacca is presented, and it is hoped that this work could highlight some of the complexity involved in developing an ocean-scale model for this region.
Malaysia is rich in natural resources including coal and fossil fuels. These natural resources, however, will diminish and pollute the ecosystem. Thus, researchers have proposed the use of renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, wave, and other energies as potential solutions to resolve the issue. This study focuses on tidal energy, specifically the vertical axis tidal turbine (VATT) for shallow water application. While a majority of the VATT research shows that this device can work effectively in deep water, its effectiveness in shallow water has yet to be explored comprehensively. To analyse the turbine's performance, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method was applied. The Darrieus turbine was used in this study since it is the ideal turbine design for shallow water in Malaysia with an average current speed of 1.0 ππππβ1. The Darrieus turbine model used in this project is 5 metres tall and 4.3 metres in diameter. The simulation was evaluated based on wake characteristics. The Darrieus turbine was designed using the NACA0018 airfoil. Following the results of single turbine analysis, the wake has recovered to its ambience velocity at 60 metres behind the device. The wake generation due to the multi-row configuration of the devices was also examined. The three-turbine configuration verifies the concept that installing two turbines side by side boosts the performance significantly. Notably, the improvement is sufficient to mitigate the adverse effects due to the turbulence wakes from upstream turbines. The findings demonstrate that by employing a staggered design (1 device upstream and 2 devices downstream), the wake can recover its initial velocity faster due to a shorter wake generation distance.
Malaysia highly depends on non-renewable energy sources like fossil fuels to supply the country's growing energy needs. On the other side, the oil and gas industry is facing challenges due to the depletion of fossil fuel supplies. Renewable energy is an alternative to fossil fuels that has been developed as a means of maintaining steady development in Malaysia. This is due to the slow average current speed in the sea around the country. Various renewable energy sources have been researched, with tidal energy garnering the most interest. This study focuses on tidal turbine array configuration for shallow water applications by using a Savonius turbine. The turbine layout is challenging to deploy the tidal array properly, and the wake interaction between the devices must be studied. The multi-row and single-row arrays have been studied using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. The numerical research using a CFD technique is used to explore the effect of turbine spacing and capacity on the array's wake production. The vertical axis turbine is represented by a hypothetical 'actuator' cylinder and a 'Savonius' disc (VATT). Following the domain configuration, the turbine has been configured to static modes. According to the findings, the VATT model has a faster wake recovery and follows the definition of the distant wake. When working in shallow water, staggered arrays with bigger spacing are recommended since there is a lower chance of wake mixing between the rows.
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