Abstract

Tidal power has huge potential as a source of predictable renewable energy in the UK, but the harsh operating environment increases the costs of manufacture and maintenance, and reduces the reliability of the resource. This talk will focus on the damage to tidal turbines caused by surface waves and ocean turbulence.

A number of recent studies have shown that the low-order models used to predict turbine load response to turbulence and waves are not capable of reproducing experimental results, even for very simple unsteady forcing. In this talk I will show that the cause of this discrepancy is that the models are based on 2D strip-theory, and also show how 3D effects impact the unsteady hydrodynamics. From this we can find the limits of applicability of 2D strip-theory models on 3D blade geometries. We will also look at the consequences of 3D unsteady flow effects on turbine modelling and fatigue life.