Numerical and experimental study of the interaction between two marine current turbines

Abstract

Abstract-The understanding of interaction effects between marine energy converters represents the next step in the research process that should eventually lead to the deployment of such devices. Although some a priori considerations have been suggested recently, very few real condition studies have been carried out concerning this issue.We therefore ran trials on 1/30 th scale models of three-bladed marine current turbine prototypes in a flume tank. Our work focuses on the case where a turbine is placed at different locations in the wake of a first device. The interaction effects in terms of performance and wake of the second turbine are examined and compared to the results obtained on single-device configurations. Besides, we are currently developing a three-dimensional code based on a vortex method, which will be used in the near future to model more complex layouts.The experimental study shows that the second turbine is deeply affected by the presence of an upstream device and that a compromise between individual device performance and inter-device spacing is necessary. Numerical results show good agreement with the experiment and are promising for the future modelling of turbine farms.

2002–2012: 10 Years of Research Progress in Horizontal-Axis Marine Current Turbines

“…Recently, an experiment has been conducted by Mycek and co-workers (same research team as with Maganga) to study the effects on wake created by an upstream HAMCT towards a downstream HAMCT by using two 1/30th scale horizontal-axis turbines [97]. The experimental results were similar to those obtained by their previous work [93] and those of Bahaj's team.…”

Influence of turbulence on the wake of a marine current turbine simulator

“…But the velocity deficit reported by Mycek et al [23] is significantly lower than reported by Chamorro & Porté-Agel [22]. The integral length scales are not reported, but it seems likely that the high-intensity case of [23] will have large length scales, whereas the low-intensity case will have small length scales due to the flow straighteners used to achieve low intensities. The wind tunnel experiments of [22] are likely to have small integral length scales, as commonly found in wind tunnels.…”

“…However, cross-comparing between the different studies shows a large overall variation in the measured velocity deficits. At x/D = 4, the variation in velocity deficit is from ≈ 0.1 [23] to ≈ 0.6 [24] highlighting the sensitivity of the wake to different flow conditions. [23], (c) Myers et al [24], (d) Krogstad & Eriksen [25], (e) Myers & Bahaj [9].…”

Tidal Current Turbine Wake and Park Layout in Transient Environments

“…Based on this limited output the results of wake investigation are limited to the decay of the wake, [11], the increase in turbulence intensity, [4], and the change of these under influence of waves, [14]. The actual formation of the wake and large scale transients of the wake with waves as described in 1.1 have not been investigated yet and accounted to be covered by the turbulence intensity = ( ).…”