The world is facing an imminent energy crisis. In order to sustain our energy supply, it is necessary to advance renewable technologies. Despite this urgency, however, it is paramount to consider the larger environmental effects associated with using renewable resources. Hydropower, in the past, has been seen as a viable resource to examine, given that its basics of mechanical to electrical energy conversion seem to have little effect on the environment. Discrete analysis of dams and in-stream diversion set-ups, although, has shown otherwise. Modifications to river flows and changes in temperature (from increased and decreased flows) cause adverse effects to fish and other marine life because of changes in their adaptive habitat. Recent research has focused on kinetic energy extraction in river flows, which may prove to be more sustainable, as this type of extraction does not involve a large reservoir or large flow modification. The field of hydrokinetic energy extraction is immature; little is known about the devices’ performance in the river environment and their risk of impingement, fouling, and suspension of sediments. The governing principles of hydrokinetic energy extraction are presented, along with a two-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of the system. Power extraction methods are compared and CFD model validation is presented. It is clear that more research is required in hydrokinetic energy extraction with an emphasis toward lower environmental and ecological impacts.
Hydrokinetic energy extraction (HEE) has received increasing attention recently as a sustainable means to alleviate the strain on current energy technologies. HEE extracts kinetic energy, rather than potential (as in traditional hydropower dams), and can be applied to tidal, some ocean, and river energy applications. In this paper, we will focus primarily on river hydrokinetic energy extraction. Although many new types of hydrokinetic devices have been proposed, there has been a dearth of research applying computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to further our fundamental understanding of these systems. Furthermore, the bulk of work in this field continues to draw conclusions for hydrokinetic turbine performance purely based on wind turbine theory. In our previous publications, we have shown that this is, at best, a broad estimate. The comparisons of wind turbine theory to hydrokinetic governing principles and CFD are discussed in this paper. This work presents a CFD analysis for a submerged water wheel turbine for both 2D and 3D cases. Insights into the resulting flow, behavior, and the implications for power extraction and the environmental impact are discussed.
The world is facing an imminent energy supply crisis. Our well-being is linked to the energy supply, and energy is in high demand in both the developed and the developing world. Therefore, in order to sustain our energy supply, it is necessary to advance renewable technologies. Despite this urgency, however, it is paramount to consider the larger environmental effects associated with using renewable resources. Hydropower, in the past, has been seen as a viable resource to examine given that its basics of mechanical to electrical energy conversion seem to have little effect on the environment. Discrete analysis of dams and in-stream diversion set-ups has shown otherwise though. Modifications to river flows and temperatures (from increased and decreased flows) cause adverse effects to fish and other marine life because it changes their adaptive habitat. Recent research developments have focused on kinetic energy extraction in river flows, which prove to be more sustainable as this type of extraction does not involve a large reservoir or large flow modification. The field of hydrokinetic energy extraction is immature. Little is known about their performance in the river environment, and their risk of impingement, fouling, and suspension of sediments. Basic principles of hydrokinetic energy extraction are presented along with a computational fluid dynamics model of the system. Through examining these principles it is clear that more research is required in hydrokinetic energy extraction with emphasis towards lower environmental and ecological impact.
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