单桩结构的潮流能水轮机尾流流场分析

为降低潮流能水轮机尾流效应对机组间距的影响,合理布置水轮机位置,通过数值模拟和水槽实验的方法对具有单桩支撑结构的潮流能水轮机尾流流场进行研究,在此基础上分析具有单桩支撑结构和不同安装高程对潮流能水轮机尾流流场的影响。结果显示:数值模拟与水槽试验总体上数值模拟与实验结果的趋势具有一致性;单桩结构对纵向近尾流场造成影响,会产生一个谷值突变;安装高程越高则导致沿转轮中心直线处的流速恢复越快。     

海流能水平轴水轮机尾流场流速研究

运用简化风车理论,对海流能水平轴水轮机叶片进行设计,在浪流水槽中进行水轮机模型试验,应用计算流体力学软件Fluent对水轮机进行数值模拟,研究水流流速、尖速比、桨距角和叶片尺寸对尾流场流速的影响。研究结果表明,尾流截面轴心处流速比边缘流速小,横向机组间最佳轴间距为2D。水轮机下游8D范围内为急速增大区,纵向机组间最佳纵间距为8D。水流流速越大、尖速比越小、叶片尺寸越小对下游机组布置越有利,桨距角对尾流场流速恢复影响不明显。     

偏流条件下水平轴水轮机水动力学性能与尾流场研究

针对水平轴水轮机在偏流条件下的复杂水动力学问题,借助计算流体力学(CFD)数值模拟方法,建立了水轮机的计算模型并通过试验数据验证了模型及方法的可靠性,之后对不同偏流角下的水平轴水轮机的水动力学性能及尾流场进行了研究。结果表明,随着偏流角的增大,水轮机的平均功率系数和推力系数逐渐下降,而瞬时功率系数、推力系数和压力脉动系数的波动幅值逐渐增大。此外,水轮机的尾流场将变得十分复杂和不稳定,并在下游相应位置处出现反向漩涡,但尾流速度恢复明显加快。     

安装高程对潮流能水轮机尾迹特性影响试验研究

为探究安装高程对潮流能水轮机尾迹特性的影响,以模型潮流能水轮机为研究对象,采用ADV采集尾流场速度数据,对比分析不同高程下的尾流场特性,揭示安装高程对潮流能水轮机尾迹特性的影响规律.结果表明:随着安装高程的增加,转轮后方尾流速恢复速度逐渐加快,而湍流强度和雷诺切应力恢复速度有逐渐减小的趋势;横向尾流场水动力特性沿转轮中...     

水平轴潮流能水轮机尾流特性研究

文章以水平轴潮流能水轮机为研究对象,采用CFD方法对水轮机的尾流特性进行分析。通过网格无关性验证与已发表文献的比对,验证了CFD方法的精度。通过不同叶尖速比下的水轮机性能曲线,进一步分析了水轮机的尾流场速度分布特征。通过分析尾流场中轴向、径向和切向速度的分布特点,研究了水平轴潮流能水轮机尾流的微观结构特征及其演化规律。研究结果表明:尾流横向影响范围在以中心轴线为中心的1D范围内;在近尾流处,尾流速度具有周期性,轴向速度随着尾流下移而逐渐减小;在尾流旋转过程中,径向速度向外扩散并逐渐衰减,切向速度分量沿轴向逐渐衰减。     

阻塞比对潮流能水轮机尾流特性影响数值模拟研究

首先通过对比分析数值模拟结果与水槽实验尾流场速度数据,验证数值模拟的准确性。通过在软件STAR-CCM+中改变水槽宽度的模型,使水轮机阻塞比分别在9.8%、14.7%和29.5%的情况下进行模拟计算,分析潮流能水轮机尾流特性的变化。结果显示,阻塞比的变化不仅会改变水轮机扫略区域外流体速度,影响远尾流恢复速度,还会对尾流的旋转和湍动能分布造成影响;但随着槽宽增加阻塞比减小,其对尾流特性影响逐渐减弱。     

基于致动盘的潮流能水轮机尾流场研究

相比于三维CFD叶片真实模拟,致动盘方法将水轮机简化为流场中分布有作用力的核心区域,所需网格大大降低,节省了计算资源和计算时间。文章介绍了一种精度适中、计算成本较低的潮流能水轮机CFD致动盘数值模拟模型,将动量理论与CFD方法相结合,通过致动盘来模拟水轮机对流场的作用,通过求解Navier-Stokes方程获得尾流场。对比基于致动盘理论的数值模拟结果与真实水轮机的水槽实验数据,结果表明,致动盘数值模拟在远尾流处的结果比近尾流处更加接近实验值,致动盘方法很容易捕捉到远尾流的流场情况。研究结果可为潮流能大规模利用的数值模拟提供依据和参考。     

多工况条件下变叶片数潮流能水轮机能量及流动特性研究

文章建立了潮流能水轮机水动力性能数值计算模型,通过实验验证了利用该模型预测水轮机尾流的准确性,并利用该模型研究了潮流能水轮机在不同叶片数和不同叶尖速比条件下的能量和流动特性。研究结果表明:该数值计算模型在预测尾流速度亏损和湍流强度方面具有较好的精度,尤其在远尾流区,数值计算结果与实验结果保持一致;当叶尖速比(TSR)为4.5左右时,3叶片和4叶片的潮流能水轮机具有相对较高的获能系数,此结果对于水平轴潮流能水轮机的设计具有一定的指导意义。     

水平轴潮流水轮机转轮尾流特性数值分析

针对潮流水轮机转轮尾流对机组之间水力性能的干扰问题,利用CFD分析软件Fluent对单个水平轴潮流水轮机转轮模型和10倍转轮直径间距下的两台机组模型在额定流速条件下进行三维流场的数值模拟。结果表明,在水轮机转轮旋转平面内不同半径位置处的尾流流速恢复情况明显不同,离旋转轴线越远,尾流流速恢复越快,其流速亏损也越少;当水轮机组之间串列布置,且来流方向与旋转平面垂直情况下,下游机组运行受上游机组转轮的尾流影响较大,应尽量避免该布置方式。     

不同交错排布对潮流能垂直轴水轮机性能的影响

为了优化潮流能垂直轴水轮机排布方案,采用计算流体动力学(CFD)方法得到双水轮机在不同轴间距H、不同相对位置角(RPA)β及前后排水轮机不同尖速比λ下平均功率系数CP变化规律,分析流场的速度和涡量云图,解释变化机理.同时,对比单、双水轮机尾流速度分布情况,探究双水轮机尾流特性.结果表明:后排水轮机处于前排水轮机尾流区内...     

Tidal farm analysis using an analytical model for the flow velocity prediction in the wake of a tidal turbine with small diameter to depth ratio

A tidal turbine is a device converting hydrodynamic power into electrical power. Lately, more and more projects have been developed in order to optimize the productivity of this kind of energy. In such research with industrial interest, under the impact of the wake effect on the output power, the analysis of a tidal farm layout is regarded as the first priority. Simple approaches such as those developed for wind farms could be used in tidal turbine arrangement optimization. These methodologies can be improved by taking into account the turbulence in tidal farms and tidal turbines' mechanical characteristics. The goal of this work is to propose a predictive analytical model to estimate the tidal speed in the far wake of tidal turbines with small diameter to depth ratio (20% here). It is a first step prior to integrate the wake model in a tidal farm layout optimization algorithm. The wake model development is achieved reanalyzing the far wake's equations used in wind farm applications. A turbine represented by an Actuator Disc (AD) in conjunction with a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) numerical model is used as a reference for this purpose. The CFD-AD model has been validated with experimental results from literature. The novelty of the present work consists in expressing the far wake's radius expansion as a function of the ambient turbulence and the thrust coefficient. The proposed equation is used in conjunction with the Jensen's model in a manner that the velocities downstream a tidal turbine can be estimated. The velocity distribution in the far wake of a single turbine obtained by the proposed model is in good agreement with the CFD numerical model. As a matter of fact, the model provides satisfactory accuracy in the cases of two parks: one with five aligned turbines and one with ten staggered turbines.     

Numerical investigations of the effects of different arrays on power extractions of horizontal axis tidal current turbines

As the tidal current industry grows, power extraction from tidal sites has received widespread attention. In this paper, a blade element actuator disk model that is coupled with the blade element method and a three-dimensional Navier–Stokes code is developed to analyse the relationship between power extraction and the layout of turbine arrays. First, a numerical model is constructed to simulate an isolated turbine and the model is validated using experimental data. Then, using this validated model, the power extraction of horizontal axis tidal current turbines using different tidal turbine arrays and rotation directions is predicted. The results of this study demonstrate that staggered grid array turbines can absorb more power from tidal flows than can rectilinear grid array turbines and that staggered grid array turbines are less affected by the rotation of upstream turbines. In addition, for staggered gird arrays, the relationships between power coefficients, lateral distance and longitudinal distance are discussed. The appropriate lateral distance is approximately 2.5 turbine diameters, whereas for the longitudinal distance, the largest value possible should be used. The relative power coefficient can achieve 3.74 when the longitudinal distance is 6 times the turbine diameter. To further increase the power extraction, this study suggests an improved staggered grid array layout. The relative power coefficient of the improved four-row turbine arrays is approximately 3–4% higher than that of the original arrays and will increase as the distance between the second-row and third-row increases. Considering only the first two rows of turbines, the total power extraction can be 11% higher than for an equivalent number of isolated turbines.     

Investigation of the performance of a staggered configuration of tidal turbines using CFD

This paper investigates the influence of wake interaction and blockage on the performance of individual turbines in a staggered configuration in a tidal stream farm using the CFD based Immersed Body Force turbine modelling method. The inflow condition to each turbine is unknown in advance making it difficult to apply the correct loading to individual devices. In such cases, it is necessary to establish an appropriate range of operating points by varying the loading or body forces in order to understand the influence of wake interaction and blockage on the performance of the individual devices. The performance of the downstream turbines was heavily affected by the wake interaction from the upstream turbines, though there were accelerated regions within the farm which could be potentially used to increase the overall power extraction from the farm. Laterally closely packed turbines can improve the performance of those turbines due to the blockage effect, but this could also affect the performance of downstream turbines. Thus balancing both the effect of blockage and wake interaction continues to be a huge challenge for optimising the performance of devices in a tidal stream farm.     

Hydrokinetic turbine array characteristics for river applications and spatially restricted flows

Multiple hydrokinetic turbines in three array configurations were characterized computationally by employing Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equations. The simulations were conducted for pre-existing turbines operating at their optimum power coefficient of 0.43 which was obtained by design and optimization process. Mechanical power for two adjacent units was predicted for various lateral separation distances. An additional two-by-two turbine array was studied, mimicking a hydro-farm. Numerical simulations were performed using actual physical turbines in the field rather than using low fidelity models such as actuator disk theory. Steady state simulations were conducted using both Coupled and SIMPLE pressure-velocity solvers. Steady three dimensional flow structures were calculated using the k-ω Shear Stress Transport (SST) turbulence model. At a lateral separation distance of 0.5D_t, the turbines produced an average 86% of the peak power a single turbine producing. Interaction effects at lateral separation distances greater than 2.5D_t were negligible. The wake interaction behind the upstream turbines causes a significant performance reduction for downstream turbines within 6D_t longitudinal spacing. Downstream turbines employed for the present study performed around 20% or less of a single unit turbine performance for the same operating conditions. Downstream turbines yielded comparable reductions in power to that of experimental results.     

Evaluation of the effects of turbulence model enhancements on wind turbine wake predictions

The modelling of wind turbine wakes is investigated in this paper using a Navier–Stokes solver employing the k–ω turbulence model appropriately modified for atmospheric flows. It is common knowledge that even single‐wind turbine wake predictions with computational fluid dynamic methods underestimate the near wake deficit, directly contributing to the overestimation of the power of the downstream turbines. For a single‐wind turbine, alternative modelling enhancements under neutral and stable atmospheric conditions are tested in this paper to account for and eventually correct the turbulence overestimation that is responsible for the faster flow recovery that appears in the numerical predictions. Their effect on the power predictions is evaluated with comparison with existing wake measurements. A second issue addressed in this paper concerns multi‐wake predictions in wind farms, where the estimation of the reference wind speed that is required for the thrust calculation of a turbine located in the wake(s) of other turbines is not obvious. This is overcome by utilizing an induction factor‐based concept: According to it, the definition of the induction factor and its relationship with the thrust coefficient are employed to provide an average wind speed value across the rotor disk for the estimation of the axial force. Application is made on the case of five wind turbines in a row. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parabolic RANS solver for low‐computational‐cost simulations of wind turbine wakes

A numerical framework for simulations of wake interactions associated with a wind turbine column is presented. A Reynolds‐averaged Navier‐Stokes (RANS) solver is developed for axisymmetric wake flows using parabolic and boundary‐layer approximations to reduce computational cost while capturing the essential wake physics. Turbulence effects on downstream evolution of the time‐averaged wake velocity field are taken into account through Boussinesq hypothesis and a mixing length model, which is only a function of the streamwise location. The calibration of the turbulence closure model is performed through wake turbulence statistics obtained from large‐eddy simulations of wind turbine wakes. This strategy ensures capturing the proper wake mixing level for a given incoming turbulence and turbine operating condition and, thus, accurately estimating the wake velocity field. The power capture from turbines is mimicked as a forcing in the RANS equations through the actuator disk model with rotation. The RANS simulations of the wake velocity field associated with an isolated 5‐MW NREL wind turbine operating with different tip speed ratios and turbulence intensity of the incoming wind agree well with the analogous velocity data obtained through high‐fidelity large‐eddy simulations. Furthermore, different cases of columns of wind turbines operating with different tip speed ratios and downstream spacing are also simulated with great accuracy. Therefore, the proposed RANS solver is a powerful tool for simulations of wind turbine wakes tailored for optimization problems, where a good trade‐off between accuracy and low‐computational cost is desirable.     

Wind tunnel investigation on the effect of the turbine tower on wind turbines wake symmetry

In wind farms, the wake of the upstream turbines becomes the inflow for the downstream machines. Ideally, the turbine wake is a stable vortex system. In reality, because of factors like background turbulence, mean flow shear, and tower‐wake interaction, the wake velocity deficit is not symmetric and is displaced away from its mean position. The irregular velocity profile leads to a decreased efficiency and increased blade stress levels for the downstream turbines. The object of this work is the experimental investigation of the effect of the wind turbine tower on the symmetry and displacement of the wake velocity deficit induced by one and two in‐line model wind turbines (,D= 0.9 m). The results of the experiments, performed in the closed‐loop wind tunnel of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim (Norway), showed that the wake of the single turbine expanded more in the horizontal direction (side‐wall normal) than in the vertical (floor normal) direction and that the center of the wake vortex had a tendency to move toward the wind tunnel floor as it was advected downstream from the rotor. The wake of the turbine tandem showed a similar behavior, with a larger degree of non‐symmetry. The analysis of the cross‐stream velocity profiles revealed that the non‐symmetries were caused by a different cross‐stream momentum transport in the top‐tip and bottom‐tip region, induced by the turbine tower wake. In fact, when a second additional turbine tower, mirroring the original one, was installed above the turbine nacelle, the wake recovered its symmetric structure. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Wind turbine performance in shear flow and in the wake of another turbine through high fidelity numerical simulations with moving mesh technique

We present numerical simulations of two horizontal axis wind turbines, one operating under the wake of the other, under an incoming sheared velocity profile. We use a moving mesh technique to represent the rotation of the turbine blades and solve the unsteady Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes equations with a shear stress transport k ? ω turbulence model. Temporal evolution of the lift and drag coefficients of the front turbine show a phase shift in the periodic cycle due to the non‐uniform incoming free stream velocity. Comparisons of the lift and drag coefficients for the back turbine with the unperturbed behaviour of the front demonstrate the complex non‐linear interactions of the blades with the wake, with a significant decrease in overall performance and two peaks at specific points in the cycle associated with local angle of attack modification in the wake. The vorticity field in the near wake shows tilting of the vortex lines in the wake due to the shear and a faster diffusion of the tip vortical signature compared with the uniform free stream velocity case. Observations of the wake–wake interaction show good agreement with recent studies that use different methodologies. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

实度对导流罩式水轮机性能影响的数值研究

为了研究转子密实度对导流罩水轮机的影响,建立导流罩水轮机的三维数值模型,利用CFD方法考察多组不同实度叶片下的导流罩水轮机性能参数和流场流速及压力分布.结果显示,额定流速下叶片实度的改变对导流罩式水轮机的水动力性能产生显著影响,实度增加,最大功率系数下降,且导流罩对涵道内流体的增速作用减弱.