Description

The successful commercial development of tidal stream turbines will depend on optimising the power output from an array of devices within a small deployment area. The spacing of the turbines within the array is itself dependent on the wake characteristics of the surrounding turbines as well as the local hydrodynamic flows. Initial work has shown that current numerical modelling techniques do not accurately predict the wake from a turbine and that hybrid numerical models need to be developed to better predict the wake.

This project, which will be undertaken in collaboration with Mississippi State University, will therefore aim to develop advanced numerical techniques to model the wake behind a turbine and consequently the interaction of the turbines in different array configurations….