Design and Performance Evaluation of a Hydrokinetic Composite Turbine System

Abstract

The utilization of kinetic energy from the river is promising as an attractive alternative to other available renewable energy resources. Hydrokinetic turbine systems are advantageous over traditional dam based hydropower systems with reference to "zero-head" and mobility. Although sharing similar design principles as wind turbine systems, hydrokinetic turbine systems have significant differences in terms of free surface effects and cavitation. In this work, a three-blade horizontal axis hydrokinetic composite turbine system was designed and tested in a water tunnel. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation was conducted for the chosen hydrofoils and to characterize wake flow behind the hydrofoil, the result was compared with particle image velocimetry (PIV) solutions. A simulation model was developed based on blade element momentum (BEM) theory for the turbine system and comparisons between experiment and simulation were performed. The experimental data includes measurement of tip-speed ratio, torque and power generated by the turbine at various blade pitch settings and water velocities. The results indicate that the developed numerical method provides satisfactory prediction of the performance of the hydrokinetic composite turbine system.

Meeting Name

SAMPE Conference and Exhibition: Education and Green Sky-Materials Technology for a Better World (2013: May 6-9, Long Beach, CA)

Department(s)

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Second Department

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Keywords and Phrases

Blade-Element Momentums; Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulations; Free Surface Effect; Hydrokinetic Turbines; Particle Image Velocimetries; Satisfactory Predictions; Significant Differences; Wind Turbine Systems; Computational Fluid Dynamics; Computer Simulation; Engineering Education; Exhibitions; Hydrofoils; Kinetics; Renewable Energy Resources; Tunnels; Turbomachine Blades; Turbine Components

International Standard Book Number (ISBN)

978-1934551158

Document Type

Article - Conference proceedings

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2013 Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering (SAMPE), All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 May 2013

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