Measurements and predictions of forces,pressures and cavitation on 2-D sections suitable for marine current turbines

Abstract

An investigation has been carried out into the lift, drag and cavitation characteristics of two-dimensional foil sections, which may typically be used as a starting point in the design of blade sections for marine current turbines. Cavitation tunnel experiments and numerical predictions using a panel code were carried out on four representative sections derived from the NACA series 4415, 6615, 63—215 and 63—815. The experimental lift and drag results show reasonable correlation with published wind tunnel data. The sections were modelled numerically using the two-dimensional panel code XFoil. The numerical cavitation predictions in most cases showed satisfactory agreement with the experiments and it is considered that such predictions could be used with reasonable confidence for predicting cavitation at the preliminary design stage. Overall, the results of the investigation provide detailed information that should assist in the design and operation of marine current turbines.

Keywords

cavitation section data marine current turbines

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Fraenkel

P L

Power from marine turbines

Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs, Part A: J. Power and Energy, 2002, 216 (A1), 1–14.

Bahaj

A S

Myers

L E

Cavitation prediction in operating marine current turbines. Renewable energies in maritime island climates. In Proceedings of Conference C67 of the Solar Energy Society, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 2001.

Carlton

J S

, Marine Propellers and Propulsion, 1994 (Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford).

Abbot

I H

Von Doenhoff

A E

Theory of Wing Sections, 1959 (Dover Publications, New York).

Shen

Y T

, Wing sections for hydrofoils—Part 3: Experimental verifications. J. Ship Res., 1985, 29(1), 39–50.

Viviani

Becchi

Pittaluga

Traverso

Ferrando

Elefante

Soave

Numerical and experimental evaluation of new propeller sections with enlarged cavitation bucket. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Ship and Shipping Research (NAV'2003), Palermo, Italy, June 2003.

Satchwell

C J

Turnock

S R

Structurally-efficient aerofoils for wind turbines. In Proceedings of the European Wind Energy Conference and Exhibition (EWEC'89), 1989, (Part 1, pp. 78–82 (Institution of Electrical Engineers, London).

Bertagnolio

Sorensen

Johansen

Fuglsang

Wind turbine airfoil catalogue. Report Riso-R-1280, Riso National Laboratory, Denmark, 2001.

Hoffmann

M J

Reuss Ramsey

Gregorek

G M

Effects of grit roughness and pitch oscillations on the NACA 4415 airfoil. Report NREL/TP-442–7815, Ohio, 1996 (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) Revised 12/99.

10.

Rae

W H

Pope

Low-Speed Wind Tunnel Testing, 1984 (John Wiley, New York, Chichester).

11.

Garner

H C

Rogers

E W E

Acum

W. E.A.

Maskell

E C

Subsonic wind tunnel wall corrections. AGARDograph 109, 1966.

12.

Drela

Giles

M B

Viscous-inviscid analysis of transonic and low Reynolds number airfoils

Am. Inst. Aeronaut. Astronaut. J., 1987, 25 (10), 1347–1355.

13.

Drela

XFoil: an analysis and design system for low Reynolds number airfoils. In Conference on Low Reynolds Number Airfoil Aerodynamics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, 1989.