CFD based analysis of flow-driven vertical axis hydrokinetic turbines: blade hydrofoil and interactions effects

Abstract

In last years, interest in hydrokinetic energy conversion (HEC) technology has grown. However, HEC technology requires advancements to become successful for practical in-situ conditions. In this study we investigated the Darrieus type vertical axis hydrokinetic turbines (HKT). Simulations are carried out using commercial CFD package to study the hydrodynamic behavior of a three bladed turbine. Two HKT with same solidity equal to 0.17 were considered, a 1st with symmetric-NACA0018 blade hydrofoils and a 2nd with cambered-NACA4415 blades. Our simulations show a shift in instantaneous torque coefficients for two different tip-speed ratio (TSR) values. For TSR = 1, the 2nd HKT has a delay compared to the 1st HKT, while for TSR = 2 it has a lead. NACA0018 provides highest troque coefficients. For a hydrofarm use, it is important to consider the interactions between hydrokinetic turbines. We investigated the effect of streamwise distance on performance of a Darrieus turbine. A distance of about 11 times the diameter of HKT along the streamwise direction seems essential.