Application of 2D numerical model to unsteady performance evaluation of vertical-axis tidal current turbine

Tidal current energy is renewable and sustainable, which is a promising alternative energy resource for the future electricity supply. The straight-bladed vertical-axis turbine is regarded as a useful tool to capture the tidal current energy especially under low-speed conditions. A 2D unsteady numerical model based on Ansys-Fluent 12.0 is established to conduct the numerical simulation, which is validated by the corresponding experimental data. For the unsteady calculations, the SST model, 2x10(5) and 0.01 s are selected as the proper turbulence model, mesh number, and time step, respectively. Detailed contours of the velocity distributions around the rotor blade foils have been provided for a flow field analysis. The tip speed ratio (TSR) determines the azimuth angle of the appearance of the torque peak, which occurs once for a blade in a single revolution. It is also found that simply increasing the incident flow velocity could not improve the turbine performance accordingly. The peaks of the averaged power and torque coefficients appear at TSRs of 2.1 and 1.8, respectively. Furthermore, several shapes of the duct augmentation are proposed to improve the turbine performance by contracting the flow path gradually from the open mouth of the duct to the rotor. The duct augmentation can significantly enhance the power and torque output. Furthermore, the elliptic shape enables the best performance of the turbine. The numerical results prove the capability of the present 2D model for the unsteady hydrodynamics and an operating performance analysis of the vertical tidal stream turbine.