Projects
Projects: Projects for Investigator |
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| Reference Number | EP/N021487/1 | |
| Title | FloWTurb: Response of Tidal Energy Converters to Combined Tidal Flow, Waves, and Turbulence | |
| Status | Completed | |
| Energy Categories | Renewable Energy Sources(Ocean Energy) 100%; | |
| Research Types | Basic and strategic applied research 100% | |
| Science and Technology Fields | ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering) 60%; ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES (Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences) 40%; |
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| UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation | Not Cross-cutting 100% | |
| Principal Investigator |
Dr V Venugopal No email address given Energy Systems University of Edinburgh |
|
| Award Type | Standard | |
| Funding Source | EPSRC | |
| Start Date | 13 April 2016 | |
| End Date | 31 October 2019 | |
| Duration | 42 months | |
| Total Grant Value | £745,542 | |
| Industrial Sectors | Energy | |
| Region | Scotland | |
| Programme | Energy : Energy | |
| Investigators | Principal Investigator | Dr V Venugopal , Energy Systems, University of Edinburgh (99.996%) |
| Other Investigator | Professor AGL Borthwick , Sch of Engineering and Electronics, University of Edinburgh (0.001%) Professor J Side , Institute Of Petroleum Engineering, Heriot-Watt University (0.001%) Professor N Barltrop , Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering, University of Strathclyde (0.001%) Mr A Vogler , Lews Castle College UHI, University of the Highlands and Islands (0.001%) |
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| Industrial Collaborator | Project Contact , Scotrenewables (Marine Power) Ltd (0.000%) Project Contact , Highlands & Islands Enterprise (HIE) (0.000%) Project Contact , Marine Scotland Science (0.000%) Project Contact , DNV GL (UK) (0.000%) Project Contact , Cape Breton University (CBU), Canada (0.000%) Project Contact , Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland (MASTS) (0.000%) Project Contact , National Institute of Ocean Tech (NIOT), India (0.000%) Project Contact , Nova Innovation Ltd (0.000%) Project Contact , Partrac Ltd (0.000%) |
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| Web Site | ||
| Objectives | ||
| Abstract | Tidal currents are known to have complex turbulent structures. Whilst the magnitude and directional variation of a tidal flow is deterministic, the characteristics of turbulent flow within a wave-current environment are stochastic in nature, and not well understood. Ambient upstream turbulent intensity affects the performance of a tidal turbine, while influencing downstream wake formation; the latter of which is crucial when arrays of tidal turbines are planned. When waves are added to the turbulent tidal current, the resulting wave-current induced turbulence and its impact on a tidal turbine make the design problem truly challenging. Although some very interesting and useful field measurements of tidal turbulence have been obtained at several sites around the world, only limited measurements have been made where waves and tidal currents co-exist, such as in the PFOW. Also, as these measurements are made at those sites licensed to particular marine energy device developers, the data are not accessible to academic researchers or other device developers.Given the ongoing development of tidal stream power in the Pentland Firth, there is a pressing need for advanced in situ field measurements at locations in the vicinity of planned device deployments. Equally, controlled generation of waves, currents and turbulence in the laboratory, and measurement of the performance characteristics of a model-scale tidal turbine will aid in further understanding of wave-current interactions. Such measurements would provide a proper understanding of the combined effects of waves and misaligned tidal stream flows on tidal turbine performance, and the resulting cyclic loadings on individual devices and complete arrays. The availability of such measurements will reduce uncertainty in analysis (and hence risk) leading to increased reliability (and hence cost reductions) through the informed design of more optimised tidal turbine blades and rotor structures. An understanding of wave-current-structure interaction and how this affects the dynamic loading on the rotor, support structure, foundation, and other structural components is essential not only for the evaluation of power or performance, but also for the estimation of normal operational and extreme wave and current scenarios used to assess the survivability and economic viability of the technology, and to predict associated risks. The proposal aims to address these issues through laboratory and field measurements.This research will investigate the combined effect of tidal currents, gravity waves, and ambient flow turbulence on the dynamic response of tidal energy converters. A high quality database will be established comprising field-scale measurements from the Pentland Firth, Orkney waters, and Shetland region, supplemented by laboratory-scale measurements from Edinburgh University's FloWave wave-current facility. Controlled experiments will be carried out at Edinburgh University's FloWave facility todetermine hydrodynamic loads on a tidal current device and hence parameterise wave-current-turbulence-induced fatigue loading on the turbine's rotor and foundation. | |
| Data | No related datasets |
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| Projects | No related projects |
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| Publications | No related publications |
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| Added to Database | 22/08/16 | |
