Simulation of vertical tidal turbine based on OpenFOAM and influence of inlet turbulence

Abstract

This paper first introduces the basic theory of CFD method, including basic control equations, finite volume method, control equation solving algorithm and turbulence model selection. Second, based on OpenFOAM, an open-source fluid mechanics software, a numerical simulation method of vertical axis tidal turbine was proposed by using k-ω SST turbulence model and PIMPLE algorithm. The hydrodynamic characteristics of the vertical axis turbine were studied, and the calculation results were compared with experiments. The higher consistency proves the feasibility of the numerical simulation method proposed in this paper. Finally, the influence of inlet turbulence on numerical simulation was explored, and a set of effective CFD simulation strategies was concluded, which provided a valuable reference for future CFD simulation and research on vertical axis tidal turbines.