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Hydrostructural Optimization of a Marine Current Turbine Through Multi-fidelity Numerical Models

  • Research Article - Mechanical Engineering
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Abstract

A marine current turbine (MCT) that extracts energy from ocean currents should be hydrodynamically and structurally stable to generate uninterrupted power. This can be achieved through the shape optimization of MCT blades. In this work, a horizontal axis MCT of 0.8 m diameter was optimized through multi-fidelity numerical approach. The design parameters such as blade pitch angle (θ) and the number of rotor blades (NR) were modified to increase the power coefficient (CP) and to reduce the von-Mises stress (σv) using multi-objective optimization technique. A coupled fluid–structure interaction method is used for fluid and structural analysis of MCT. Also, an analysis for identifying the cavitation inception is incorporated. A surrogate-based optimization code was used to produce a Pareto optimal front. The MCT with CP = 0.451 encountered σv = 125.83 MPa and a high total deformation (TD) = 20.259 mm near the blade tip. The TD of the same MCT blade was later reduced to 1/3rd of its actual value by identifying an alternate turbine material. The losses due to vortices, wake generation, and cavitation study are discussed in the present work.

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Abbreviations

CAD:

Computer-aided design

CFD:

Computational fluid dynamics

FSI:

Fluid–structure interaction

KRG:

Kriging

LE:

Leading edge

MCT:

Marine current turbine

NSGA-II:

Non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II

PoF:

Pareto optimal front

PRESS:

Predicted error sum of squares

PS:

Pressure side

RBF:

Radial basis function

RSA:

Response surface approximation

SQP:

Sequential quadratic programming

SS:

Suction side

SST:

Shear stress transport

TE:

Trailing edge

TSR:

Tip speed ratio

A :

Rotor area (m)

C :

Cavitation number

C crit :

Critical cavitation number

C D :

Drag coefficient

C L :

Lift coefficient

C local :

Local cavitation number

C P :

Power coefficient

C P(Peak) :

Peak power coefficient

C PR :

Pressure coefficient

CR* :

Cavitation ratio

CV:

Cross-validation

c :

Chord (m)

D :

Turbine tip diameter (m)

D s :

Downstream distance from the turbine (m)

f :

Objective function

h tip :

Distance from the upper tip of the blade to sea surface (m)

k :

Turbulent kinetic energy

NR:

Number of rotor blades

P atm :

Atmospheric pressure (Pa)

P hyd :

Hydrodynamic pressure (Pa)

P local :

Local pressure (Pa)

P nor :

Normalized power (W)

P stat :

Static pressure (Pa)

P vap :

Vapor pressure (Pa)

Q :

Torque (Nm)

R :

Rotor radius (m)

r :

Local radius (m)

TD:

Total deformation (mm)

U T :

Free stream velocity (m/s)

V rel :

Relative velocity

V T :

Blade tip velocity

V* :

Normalized average velocity

Z :

Spanwise distance of the blade section (m)

\( \tilde{e} \) :

PRESS vector

α :

Angle of attack (°)

β :

Twist angle (°)

ρ :

Density (kg/m3)

σ v :

von-Mises stress (MPa)

Ω :

Angular velocity of rotor (rad/s)

θ :

Blade pitch angle (°)

ω :

Specific rate of dissipation

\( \varepsilon \) :

Turbulent dissipation

ERR:

Error

SUR:

Surrogate

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wave Energy and Fluids Engineering Laboratory, Department of Ocean Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India

    Karthikeyan Thandayutham & Abdus Samad

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  1. Karthikeyan Thandayutham
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  2. Abdus Samad
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Correspondence to Abdus Samad.

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Thandayutham, K., Samad, A. Hydrostructural Optimization of a Marine Current Turbine Through Multi-fidelity Numerical Models. Arab J Sci Eng 45, 935–952 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-019-04185-y

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