Various Wavy Leading-Edge Protuberance on Oscillating Hydrofoil Power Performance

Abstract

This paper is presented to compare various wavy leading-edge protuberances on oscillating hydrofoil performance and power efficiency. The unsteady turbulent 3D flow simulations were carried out by using the StarCCM+ software. The 3D hydrofoil with a straight at the leading-edge is a NACA0015 section with a chord of 0.24 m and an aspect ratio of 7. Four new types of hydrofoils are proposed with wavy leading-edge protuberance. The RANS equations with the realizable k–ε turbulence model are used to predict the turbulent flow around the hydrofoil under different conditions. In order to validate, a comparison of the numerical results of the forces coefficients and power efficiency of non-protuberance oscillating hydrofoil are shown in good agreement with experimental data. Then, four new profiles on the leading-edge of the hydrofoils are simulated and many results of the pressure distribution, vorticity contour, streamline velocity, and power coefficient for five hydrofoil types are presented and discussed. It is concluded that the hydrofoil of Type-M can achieve constantly higher efficiency of over 46% by employing appropriate heave and pitch amplitudes.

Keywords

• leading-edge protuberance
• oscillating hydrofoils
• pressure distribution
• hydrodynamic performance
• power efficiency