Hydrodynamic performance of a vertical-axis tidal-current turbine with different preset angles of attack

The instantaneous angle of attack on the blade has a significant effect on the hydrodynamic performance of a vertical-axis tidal-current turbine with straight blades. This paper investigates the influence of different preset angles of attack on the hydro-dynamic performance of a three-bladed, vertical-axis, tidal-current turbine both experimentally and numerically. Experiments are carried out in a towing tank. This tested turbine’s solidity is 0.1146. The preset angles of attack on the blade are -3°, 0° , 3° , and 5°, in the experiments. Experimental results show that with the increase of the preset angle of attack from -3°, to 5° , the hydrodynamic performance of the turbine is improved significantly with the power coefficients being increased from 15.3% to 34.8%, respectively. Compared to the result of a 0° preset angle of attack, the performance of the turbine with positive preset angles of attack is experimentally demonstrated to be beneficial. This performance improvement is also shown by numerical