CFD Simulation of a Horizontal Axis Hydrokinetic Turbine   L.T. Contreras, Y.U. López and S. Laín   2017/04/25

Abstrac

This study presents three-dimensional full transient numerical simulations of a horizontal axis hydrokinetic turbine, HAHT with particular emphasis on the analysis of its hydrodynamic characteristics. Hydrokinetic turbine performanceis studied using a time-accurate Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) commercial solver. A physical transient rotorstator model with a sliding mesh technique is used to capture changes in flow field at a particular time step. A shear stress transport (SST) turbulence model has been employed to model the turbulent features of the flow. The studied rotor has three blades, based on NACA4412 airfoil. Two operation conditions
have been considered: shaft parallel to the incoming flow (SP configuration) and shaft inclined an angle Alpha around 30 degrees regarding the main stream (SI configuration). As a result, the decrement of
the hydrodynamic performance of the turbine with the inclined axis is quantitatively evaluated regarding that of the parallel axis. Moreover, a preliminary study of the vorticity dynamics in the
wake of the inclined rotor is performed

Authors and affiliations

L.T. Contreras(1), Y.U. López(2) and S. Laín(1)
1. Modelling, Analysis & Simulation of Environmental & Industrial Processes (PAI+) Research Group
2. Energy Research Group. Energetics and Mechanics Department, Faculty of Engineering, Universidad Autónoma de Occidente, Cali (Colombia)

Key word

CFD simulation, transient analysis, inclined axis, hydrokinetic turbine, turbulence model.

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