Camber effect on the stability and power performance of a right-swing hydrofoil turbine

Abstract

In this study, performance of a right-swing turbine with a cambered hydrofoil was analyzed by CFD numerical simulations to assess its stability and power efficiency. It is found from the analysis that the right-swing trajectory, which is close to the kinematics of flying or swimming creatures, has advantages over the left-swing trajectory in terms of stability with a slight loss of the power efficiency. A cambered hydrofoil can be utilized to offset this loss, but doing so negatively affects the stability at the turning positions of the flapping motion. Consequently, in order to guarantee stability and high efficiency of a right-swing hydrofoil turbine, camber shapes adjustable at the positions of flapping motion, which is an excellent feature of flight and swimming creatures, are mandatory. Eventually, the analysis results of this study will be utilized to develop a high-performance flapping hydrofoil turbine.

Keywords

• Right-swing turbine
• Camber
• Stability
• Power efficiency