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Numerical Investigation of Power Generated by Turbine Farms

Prajapati, Seezan
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin159216993609908

Abstract Details

2020, MS, University of Cincinnati, Engineering and Applied Science: Aerospace Engineering.
With the increasing demand of energy for our daily needs, much attention has been directed over the past few decades towards exploring alternative sources of energy such as Solar Energy, Wind Energy, Bioenergy, to extract the needed additional energy. Though we have developed different methods to extract energy, we are still in pursuit for a low-cost renewable energy source, and a method that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Water currents seem to represent a very efficient source. As water covers three quarters of the earth’s surface, and is constantly moving because of the Earth’s natural gravitational force and Tidal forces, we could develop a technology to generate energy using water currents. Also, ocean water is an inexhaustible resource. With the help of marine tidal turbines (Hydrokinetic turbines), we can convert water currents to usable power. So, for the past decade, researchers have been investigating Tidal turbine farms to generate large amounts of energy. To maximize the combined total power output in a Tidal turbine farm, the two criteria that have been studied more often lately are the spacing between the turbines, and different arrangements of turbines in arrays that will generate the maximum energy by minimizing unfavorable wake interactions between the turbines. Other criteria that need to be taken into consideration are: cabling costs, maintenance costs, turbine material, effect on sea life, etc. The idea of building Tidal turbine farms will only be plausible, if the total power output of, for example, four turbines, combined, is greater or close to the total power output of four individual turbines, while maintaining the efficiency in a favorable range. Also, an excessive amount of turbulent flow flowing towards a rotor will decrease the life span of the blades and the total power output, if the turbines are placed too close to each other in a row in the streamwise direction. On the other hand, Macleod et al. (2002) found that increasing the streamwise distance between turbines in a row beyond 5D (D = Diameter of the rotor) apart will only increase the cabling cost, but will not improve the total energy output. In the current research, the rotor has been replaced by an actuator disc. This concept has been used here because it can accurately compute turbulence intensity and wake decay, greatly simplifies analysis, and has been widely used to predict the performance of the tidal turbine [Rahman et al. (2018)]. The present research will numerically analyze different turbine-placement configurations by varying the number of turbines and using different spacings (longitudinally and laterally) between the turbines, to understand the effects on the total power output under steady flow conditions. This study will use steady flow assumption, because the goal is to compare power outputs, and unsteady simulations would take far more CPU times. Also, according to Li (2012), steady flow code requires 9GB of RAM, while the unsteady flow code requires 43GB. The main objective of this research will be to design an effective tidal-array configuration suitable for confined spaces that will generate
Shaaban Abdallah, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Kelly Cohen, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Urmila Ghia, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
126 p.
Aerospace Materials
Farm design; Staggered arrangement; Longitudinal spacing; Turbine placement; Power output; Lateral spacing

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Prajapati, S. (2020). Numerical Investigation of Power Generated by Turbine Farms [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin159216993609908

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Prajapati, Seezan. Numerical Investigation of Power Generated by Turbine Farms. 2020. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin159216993609908.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Prajapati, Seezan. "Numerical Investigation of Power Generated by Turbine Farms." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin159216993609908

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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