Development of a 3D simplified model for tidal turbine array calculation - Experimental validation
PhD thesis under the supervision of:
Abstract
New projects have recently been launched to build farms of several tidal or river turbines, which are part of the renewable energy systems. The turbine wake interactions in the farm must be considered, as they can affect the power production of the turbines. A steady-state Actuator force model using the RANS equations is developed in the present work to calculate the power production and the flow through arrays of tidal or river Darrieus turbines. It uses detailed three dimensional force distributions depending on the position on the turbine, obtained beforehand by a set of blade-resolved URANS simulations of the turbine. New power coefficient and force coefficient laws depending on the local velocity (flow velocity at the machine position) instead of the upstream velocity are established and appear to be independent from the local turbine blockage in an array. Those laws are used to construct a model that adapt the Actuator force distributions to the local velocity of the flow reaching each turbine, in order to simulate each turbine functioning close to its maximum efficiency point. The model is validated against experimental measurements on a reduced-scale Darrieus turbine. Different farm configurations are simulated and compared to results of the same model adapted in two dimensions. The distances between turbines that are optimizing the farm power production are especially investigated.
Jury’s members:
M. Sylvain GUILLOU, Professeur, HDR, Université de Caen, Rapporteur
M. Elie RIVOALEN, Professeur, HDR, INSA Rouen, Rapporteur
M. Jacques-André ASTOLFI, Professeur, Ecole Navale de Brest, Examinateur
M. Antoine DUCOIN, Maitre de conférences, Ecole centrale de Nantes, Examinateur
Invité: M. Olivier BERTRAND, Ingénieur, Artelia Eau & Environnement.