A BEM/RANS Interactive Method Applied to an Axial Tidal Turbine Farm

In this study, an interactive method coupling a boundary element method (BEM) with a viscous flow solver solving the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations is applied to multiturbine interaction problems. The BEM is first applied to a single turbine problem to predict its performance with/without yaw in noncavitating/ cavitating conditions. Improved wake alignment models, the full wake alignment and the unsteady wake alignment, are used to align the blade wake. The former is adequate for steady state with zero yaw, and the latter is used for unsteady predictions in the case of nonzero yaw in the incoming flow. The BEM results are compared with the experimental measurements and the results from full-blown RANS simulations for a range of tip speed ratios. The comparisons show satisfactory agreement between the numerical and experimental approaches. Afterward, the BEM/RANS coupling method is applied to multiturbine interaction problems with different layouts and different turbine-to-turbine offsets in an axial turbine farm. The method is shown to work well in this multiturbine interaction problem because of the capability of using a strictly Cartesian grid in the RANS method, which minimizes the artificial diffusion and improves the numerical accuracy of long-range flow development. Representation of a turbine by the body force/mass source fields in the BEM/RANS coupling approach reduces the number of cells required for 3D full-blown RANS simulations, and therefore reduces the computational cost in an efficient way.

Prediction of Performance of Tip Loaded Propeller and its Induced Pressures on the Hull

In this paper, a boundary element method (BEM) is applied to a tip loaded propeller (TLP) to predict its open water characteristics and induced hull pressures under fully-wetted and uniform inflow. Tip of a TLP blade has a winglet-like tip plate on the pressure side to improve the overall propeller efficiency over the traditional open tip propellers by preventing circulation loss toward the tip region. TLPs are also used to reduce the tip vortex strength and thus free from the trade off the propeller efficiency against the cavitation performance; therefore, predicting their performance early in the designing stage via numerical applications can provide the initial knowledge on the loading distributions and cavitation performance. In the present method, the trailing wake is first aligned using the full wake alignment (FWA) scheme by aligning the wake surface to the local stream in order to satisfy the force free condition. The FWA is shown to improve the open water characteristics of the TLPs compared to the simplified alignment scheme that ignores the details of the flow behind the trailing edge due to the simplicity of the method. Afterwards, a pressure-BEM solver is used to solve for the diffraction potentials on the hull and estimate the propeller-induced hull pressures. In this case, both the FWA and the unsteady wake alignment scheme (UWA), which considers the time dependency of the problem, produce the same results as the testing flow is assumed to be uniform. This paper briefly introduces the model TLP, proper ways to consider the viscous effect on the blade surface, wake alignment scheme, and the pressure-BEM solver. Then, the predicted open water characteristics of the benchmark TLP and its induced hull pressures are compared to the experimental data, as well as the results from unsteady full-blown Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes simulations for validations of the numerical predictions.

Prediction of Unsteady Developed Tip Vortex Cavitation and Its Effect on the Induced Hull Pressures

Reducing the on-board noise and fluctuating pressures on the ship hull has been challenging and represent added value research tasks in the maritime industry. Among the possible sources for the unpalatable vibrations on the hull, propeller-induced pressures have been one of the main causes due to the inherent rotational motion of propeller and its proximity to the hull. In previous work, a boundary element method, which solves for the diffraction potentials on the ship hull due to the propeller, has been used to determine the propeller induced hull pressures. The flow around the propeller was evaluated via a panel method which solves in time for the propeller loading, trailing wake, and the sheet cavities. In this article, the propeller panel method is extended so that it also solves for the shape of developed tip vortex cavities, the effects of which are also included in the evaluation of the hull pressures. The employed unsteady wake alignment scheme is first applied, in the absence of cavitation, to investigate the propeller performance in non-axisymmetric inflow, such as the inclined-shaft flow or the flow behind an upstream body. In the latter case, the propeller panel method is coupled with a Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) solver to determine the effective wake at the propeller plane. The results, including the propeller induced hull pressures, are compared with those measured in the experiments as well as with those from RANS, where the propeller is also simulated as a solid boundary. Then the methods are applied in the cases where partial cavities and developed tip vortex cavities coexist. The predicted cavity patterns, the developed tip vortex trajectories, and the propeller-induced hull pressures are compared with those measured in the experiments.

Effect of Wake Alignment on Turbine Blade Loading Distribution and Power Coefficient

This paper describes the use of a lifting line model in order to determine the optimum loading on a marine turbine's blades. The influence of the wake and its geometry is represented though the use of a full wake alignment model. The effects of viscous drag are included through a drag-to-lift ratio. Results for different number of blades and tip speed ratios are presented. Various types of constraints are imposed in the optimization method in order to avoid abrupt changes in the designed blade shape. The effect of the constraints on the power coefficients of the turbines is studied. Once the optimum loading has been determined, the blade geometry is generated for a given chord and camber distributions. Finally, a vortex-lattice method is used to verify the power coefficient of the designed turbines.

Panel Method for Ducted Propellers with Sharp Trailing Edge Duct with Fully Aligned Wake on Blade and Duct

A low-order panel method is used to predict the performance of ducted propellers. A full wake alignment (FWA) scheme, originally developed to determine the location of the force-free trailing wake of open propellers, is improved and extended to determine the location of the force-free trailing wakes of both the propeller blades and the duct, including the interaction with each other. The present method is applied on a ducted propeller with sharp trailing edge duct, and the predicted results over a wide range of advance ratios, with or without full alignment of the duct wake, are compared with each other, as well as with results from RANS simulations and with measurements from an experiment.