DETERMINISTIC DECOMPOSITION OF THE UNSTEADY FLOW IN A UNIDIRECTIONAL AXIAL TURBINE FOR OWC PLANT

The "twin-turbine" configuration has recently emerged as a feasible possibility for unidirectional turbines to be introduced in Oscillating Water Column wave energy plants without requiring auxiliary rectifying systems. Previous investigations by the authors have been focused on the development of a numerical CFD model to analyze the performance of a unidirectional axial turbine for twin turbine configuration in an OWC system. In this paper, all these numerical databases are further post processed using a deterministic framework to give more insight about the flow patterns within the turbine. The final objective is the analysis of the unsteady features of the flow and the stator-rotor interactions using a deterministic decomposition. The present study reveals that levels of deterministic unsteadiness in the inter-row region are moderate, being more intense as the flow rate is decreased. Turbulence intensities are also observed to be clearly prominent in case of lower flow rates. Although these findings appear to be contradictory with the high-efficiency low flow rates of the turbine, the major levels of stator-rotor unsteadiness at higher flow rates (shown by the deterministic decomposition) justify the serious penalty in the aerodynamic efficiency as the turbine flow rate is increased. Finally, some advices with respect the design of the vane row in the turbine stage are given to control the generation of turbulence and stator-rotor interaction.